I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; Australia is home to one of the most unbelievable musicians I’ve ever seen, and most people don’t even know he exists. Mr Wally DeBacker (or Gotye to his friends) is the backbone of this – œ60s-tinged pop outfit fronted by two – œrangas’ from Melbourne.

In anybody else’s hands this would be another money-grabbing revivalist group who are trying to bank in on the success of fellow Victorians Little Red. But even Little Red, with their happy-go-lucky drummer Taka, are no match for the fantastic skills of DeBacker. Though he is technically a backing singer in this act, he takes lead vocals and a sizeable amount of songs, completely overshadowing the rightful frontman with his flabbergasting ability to beat the shit out of his kit and sing in perfect harmony at the same time.

Those who tuned into Gotye’s solo records know what kind of man they are dealing with, but it’s truly wonderful to see Wally bust it out with no hang-ups. At the Hoey nobody knows his name and he is content to win over a completely new legion of fans who shake their head in disbelief when he really gets cracking. Not to discredit his red-head bandmates – they are equally impressive, and having admitted to indulging in a little revelry aboard their Virgin flight earlier that evening, are spectacularly rowdy and hilarious.

The Basics are kind of like what Eminem did with D12 (yes, it seems convoluted but hear me out!). As a solo artist, Wally achieved critical acclaim and then came back to resurrect his other band and make them famous too. Now if course, it’s not really the same because knowing DeBacker he probably had The Basics and about four other projects on the backburner the whole time. Still, given his growing national profile, it’s refreshing to see that Wally is willing to completely abandon all semblance of a stable career (his band flies between Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney every week in August) in favour of just playing tunes.

And when the band starts ripping out Neil Young, The Kinks and The Clash covers, the small sweaty room is translated into a musical Mecca. This can largely be credited to the accessibility, affordability and friendliness of The Hopetoun. Jake Stone from bluejuice is behind the bar, Rai Thistlethwaite of Thirsty Merc fame is spilling his beer in his enthusiastic cheering and you really get the impression that this is a pub where real musos come to see other musos play.

The Basics, with their dynamic show, are the epitome of this ideal; playing an encore even after killing their chops with a non-stop hour-and-a-half set. This week is the last chance you can see this band play for less than ten bucks. Do yourself a favour – it’ll definitely erase the bad taste of missing out on MGMT and Kooks tickets. Besides, the Basics are better anyway!