SixFtHick, Gentle Ben, SculHazzards, Butcher Birds @ TheZoo, Brisbane, 23/11/2007

Mon 3rd Dec, 2007 in Gig Reviews

Alighting broodily, Butcher Birds draw in a knot of 50 or so with a typically droning assault of thick guitars and toffee-like bass. The Brisbane foursome mix the pace well as they wend darkly through The Deal, Mower, Julia and more. Stacey’s vocals are strong and husky, and the yummy melodies wrapped up in all the distortion are best summed up by the enthralling guitar-bass interplay of Sweet Sweet Cones.

Scul Hazzards don’t so much alight as ignite. Vocalist Steven Smith would be jailed should guitar abuse ever be criminalised, but, here, punters eagerly push forward to soak up his intense sonic squallings. Throughout, dissonance battles melody without final resolution, and Smith’s frenzied vocals, Tiffany Milne’s snarling bass and Leigh Fischer’s thundering drums provide an immersive aural experience. Junket and Vague Dream from EP Count Less Dead form a punishing one-two, but the absence of Plastic Protective is a bit of a disappointment.

Ben Corbett’s aggressive strut, sexy hip twitches and throaty vocal crooning are all deployed to devastating effect as Gentle Ben & His Sensitive Side make a sultry return from long hiatus. Newcomers Kate Jacobson and Tony Giacca slot in with silky ease as the now fivesome unleash several violently named new tunes on a very willing crowd who are as much a Glutton for Punishment as Corbett himself.

Jacobson’s vibraphone and dusky backing vocals are a welcome addition to perennial favourite The Beginning of the End, but it’s Dylan McCormack’s echoing, jagging guitar and the howling action of Spell Of The Moon that prove the highlight. The audience gives it up in spades for Corbett’s provocative flamenco footwork and “La Luna” moaning at the very end.

Ben soon returns with brother Geoff Corbett in SixFtHick guise. In place of the sartorially elegant lounge crooner’s black shirt is a blue wifebeater symbolic of the decay from sophistication to depraved Queensland swamp rock.

Opening blast White Light, Wet Heat detonates with concussive force and, from there, the pace rarely abates. Ben and Geoff stalk the stage, delivering The Five Tips, Ashtray, Nervous Ticks, 40c and more with vocal ferocity and unfeigned machismo – their stage shtick honed razor sharp by their recent European jaunt. Beat Me sees Ben discard the singlet and masochistically apply belt to his shoulders while Geoff flogs the chorus with equal viciousness.

A generous selection from new long player On The Rocks slot alongside, the title track, Subject To Change, Salt In My Veins and the burlesque-assisted titillation of Live Girls easily holding their own against their more venerable (but equally licentious) cousins from Canetrash.

The debauchery is finally complete when, at two minutes to one, SixFtHick encore with a blistering rendition of Dogshit Blues. A mini-mosh erupts against the stage. Geoff threshes and screams while Ben collapses against the drum riser, sweat pouring from his body. He howls repeatedly into the microphone in his now satin-gloved (taken from one of the burlesque girlies) hand before finally stumbling off stage leaving us all quite appropriately hot and bothered.