Jeff Martin & The Armada @ TheMetro Theatre, Sydney(09/11/08)

Tue 11th Nov, 2008 in Gig Reviews

As expected, The Tea Party’s forever-and-ever-amen devotees were out in solemn force at Sydney’s Metro Theatre on Sunday evening. The reason being the presence of the evergreen and perpetually sexy Jeff Martin, and his new band The Armada. They claim to be saving rock – œn roll one gig at a time. And if the intense excitement in the air throughout the entire, epically long gig was anything to go by – they may be more successful than most in completing their mission.

Country-themed support act Henry Wagons swaggered on stage, acoustic guitar in hand, to inform the gathered crowd he was about to regale us with songs of “death, destruction and the avoidance of the likes of that you’ve never seen”. It was an odd sentiment, and a camp, dramatic and banter-filled performance soon followed. Perhaps Wagons doesn’t want to be seen as either a serious or comedic musician. Guttural and Cash-voiced, he straddles some weird world in between, and doesn’t quite pull it off.

In true OTT Martin style, the lights dimmed to a darker shade of purple, the crowd roared…and we waited 10 minutes through what sounded like the soundtrack to 2001: A Space Odyssey. Finally, straight outta Hendrix’s wardrobe, the three-piece stride on stage to deafening cheers. It’s all about hair, scarves, meticulously kept beards and balls to the walls, ribcage vibrating, heart surging rock – œn roll.

There’s no mucking around here. Launching immediately into the highly impressive Morocco from the Armada’s debut self-titled album, Jeff and co had everyone whipped into an immediate frenzy with their dirtier-than-Tool-at-their-most-supreme vibe. I could compare what Martin did over the next hour and a half to about a million acts and he matched each and every single one of them. Not to mention covering around four decades of partial covers. The ones I picked up on included Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love, The Doors 5 to 1, John Lennon’s Imagine, Jimi Hendrix’s Voodoo Child, and Massive Attack’s Inertia Creeps. Inevitably, there were at least two Tea Party tracks, including a slightly less cohesive, but nevertheless brilliant version of Heaven Coming Down.

Quite simply, the Armada are sex. I’m shocked and slightly disappointed no women made the mad leap on to the stage to molest Jeff as he strummed one of his many guitars. And do I mean many. There were at least a dozen guitar changes, including a custom made, double-necked, 18-string utilised for a bunch of acoustic songs crooned upon a stool.

Amongst them is a heartbreaking country and blues themed tune (written for the late grandmother who “raised” him), The Rosary. Another track, the powerful crescendo ridden balled Broken also makes a sincere impression. Just as the crowd reached somewhere near antsy, the somewhat schmaltzy spotlight on a stool antics abruptly ceased, and the blissful arrogance returned.

The BB King-meets-Robert Plant groove heavy Black Snake reinvigorates everyone from the tipsy faithful at the front to the sound dude at the back. Bassist Gareth Forsyth gets mega points for not only proving himself an exceptional artist, but also one who gyrates, grooves and jumps around with fervent passion to his own music. Drummer Wayne Sheedy gives a beyond solid performance throughout the whole set, with precise brute force drumming straight out of alternative heaven.

This was more of a treat than any of us deserved on a Sunday from these illicit, dirty saviours. “ROCK – œN ROLL IS BAAAACK!” proclaimed Martin at the set’s conclusion. With The Armada around, I can’t help but feel he is almost certainly correct.