dwarfthrower
30-12-2006, 10:50 AM
Renowned country music hater Mrs Dwarf is a changed woman, and now the proud owner of a Gleny Rae & The Tamworth Playboys CD. With the dwarflings safely ensconced at their grandparents, we trundled down to the footy club to watch the show. Typical rural gig setup, a makeshift stage on the back of a truck in front of the changerooms, mixing desk in a tent at about centre-half-forward. Catering by the SES and scouts gave the affair a decidedly local feel.
By the time 7:30 rolled around a decent crowd had gathered to see what the fuss was all about. A bit of a mixed bag of punters ranged from families and older folk checking out the deviation from their usual sleepy existence, to rockabilly scenesters complete with rolled-up shirtsleeves and brylcreemed hairdos. Blue jeans, boots and hats were pretty much the order of the evening.
The stage kicked into life as compere Neil MacArthur took the stage. Neil is a bit of a tool but a reasonably funny poet (when he hasn't drunk so much he forgets the words to his own rhymes). After regaling the crowd with a semi-coherent rant about shopping trolley rage he introduced the first act for the evening by getting their name wrong.
http://www.zgeek.com/forum/gallery/files/6/3/2/gatorbait_thumb.jpg
Melbourne three (and sometime four) piece outfit Gatorbait play a lovely stripped-back country style. Drummerless - as country began - the boys do justice to a number of Hank Williams, Faron Young and Johnny Cash numbers as well as a good swag of original tracks in the same vein. Certainly tight enough to do justice to their subject matter, they still sounded a little "new". The guitarist was of the opinion that volume equalled talent and the singer would have done a lot better to drop the tortured fake American accent. But overall they put on a pleasant enough set that had most of the crowd well and truly warmed up (although that could also be attributed to the Bundy & Coke flowing freely from the bowls club).
http://www.zgeek.com/forum/gallery/files/6/3/2/glenyrae_thumb.jpg
Gleny Rae & The Tamworth Playboys took the stage next. These guys were definitely the surprise packet of the evening. Fresh from a sold out residency at this year's Tamworth festival, former Toesucking Cowgirl Gleny Rae and her new lineup belted out original and cover songs in a Western Swing feel with a more than noticeable Aussie feel ("Redneck Lovesong" is a classic Romeo & Juliet style ditty about a girl from Nyngan who falls for a roo shooter from Bourke). I couldn't fault their performance at all. Each of the band members put on a virtuoso performance as the flavour of the set swung from bluegrass to zydeco to rockabilly and back again.
http://www.zgeek.com/forum/gallery/files/6/3/2/detonators_thumb.jpg
Headline act The Detonators saw out the night in a blast of high-energy dirty blues-based rockabilly which saw the last remnants of the senior citizen brigade pack up their folding chairs and call it a night. Reminiscent of early George Thorogood, Chuck Berry and the classic rockabilly sounds of the fifties, vocalist and Golden Harmonica winning harp player James Moloney and the boys put on a tour-de-force of original rockabilly and rhythm n' blues tracks.
All in all a very well put together evening. Good variation in the lineup ensured there was something to cater to all tastes and no big waits in between sets kept everything moving along nicely. Looking forward to next years being even bigger and better.
By the time 7:30 rolled around a decent crowd had gathered to see what the fuss was all about. A bit of a mixed bag of punters ranged from families and older folk checking out the deviation from their usual sleepy existence, to rockabilly scenesters complete with rolled-up shirtsleeves and brylcreemed hairdos. Blue jeans, boots and hats were pretty much the order of the evening.
The stage kicked into life as compere Neil MacArthur took the stage. Neil is a bit of a tool but a reasonably funny poet (when he hasn't drunk so much he forgets the words to his own rhymes). After regaling the crowd with a semi-coherent rant about shopping trolley rage he introduced the first act for the evening by getting their name wrong.
http://www.zgeek.com/forum/gallery/files/6/3/2/gatorbait_thumb.jpg
Melbourne three (and sometime four) piece outfit Gatorbait play a lovely stripped-back country style. Drummerless - as country began - the boys do justice to a number of Hank Williams, Faron Young and Johnny Cash numbers as well as a good swag of original tracks in the same vein. Certainly tight enough to do justice to their subject matter, they still sounded a little "new". The guitarist was of the opinion that volume equalled talent and the singer would have done a lot better to drop the tortured fake American accent. But overall they put on a pleasant enough set that had most of the crowd well and truly warmed up (although that could also be attributed to the Bundy & Coke flowing freely from the bowls club).
http://www.zgeek.com/forum/gallery/files/6/3/2/glenyrae_thumb.jpg
Gleny Rae & The Tamworth Playboys took the stage next. These guys were definitely the surprise packet of the evening. Fresh from a sold out residency at this year's Tamworth festival, former Toesucking Cowgirl Gleny Rae and her new lineup belted out original and cover songs in a Western Swing feel with a more than noticeable Aussie feel ("Redneck Lovesong" is a classic Romeo & Juliet style ditty about a girl from Nyngan who falls for a roo shooter from Bourke). I couldn't fault their performance at all. Each of the band members put on a virtuoso performance as the flavour of the set swung from bluegrass to zydeco to rockabilly and back again.
http://www.zgeek.com/forum/gallery/files/6/3/2/detonators_thumb.jpg
Headline act The Detonators saw out the night in a blast of high-energy dirty blues-based rockabilly which saw the last remnants of the senior citizen brigade pack up their folding chairs and call it a night. Reminiscent of early George Thorogood, Chuck Berry and the classic rockabilly sounds of the fifties, vocalist and Golden Harmonica winning harp player James Moloney and the boys put on a tour-de-force of original rockabilly and rhythm n' blues tracks.
All in all a very well put together evening. Good variation in the lineup ensured there was something to cater to all tastes and no big waits in between sets kept everything moving along nicely. Looking forward to next years being even bigger and better.