The Basics @ The Railway Hotel12/6/09

Sun 14th Jun, 2009 in Gig Reviews

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A chilly night in Fremantle shouldn’t have deterred many punters from coming to see one of Australian rock’s hidden treasures, who played an endearingly gaffe-stricken set of masterful old-school tunes and were smiling all the way through.

The night’s lone support act Simon Kelly and his rhythm section treated the early comers to a set of quality reggae-tinged tunes, albeit in a fairly subdued style. Far from being a visually-explosive live act, the Kelly trio – including new drummer John Brown – let the music do the talking with a combination of soulful, skilled playing and low-key vocals. It gives the impression of a semi-swaggering innocence, or at least wise use of the benefits of musical subtleties. The tall, dark and dreadlocked Kelly played to a crowd that stuck to the fringes of the venue, a few of whom were the kind of natty dressers that the main act seems to inspire; scarves, well-cut jackets, tweeds with skinny jeans. Kelly accessorised himself with either a black telecaster or an acoustic guitar, depending on the song. When switching between the two he revealed a nice line in stage banter, with some tongue-in-cheek evolutionary theory that involves a simian / alien orgy in Africa, after a mind-expanding monkey mushroom frenzy summoned the visitors to Earth, naturally resulting in the human race. “But you didn’t come here for a science lesson; you came here to listen to music,” he conceded, launching into more well-crafted faux-reggae, featuring some nifty harmony vocals from bassist Gavin Arnold.

The Railway Hotel wasn’t as full as it should have been, if you work on the assumption that The Basics are one of the best live trios around. The barman’s theory was that most fans had caught them at the Art Gallery on Thursday, where they pulled about 500 punters. Hitting the stage looking far more everyday than their publicity shots would have you believe, there wasn’t a suit in sight (including their recent promo-pic birthday suits).

Bassist Kris Schroeder got things going with the first of many new songs in the set, a dark dynamic galloping number with The Basics’ trademark harmony-vocal wizardry, which they got through without a hitch. From there the night only got messier for them; drummer Wally de Backer took over lead vocal duties for Keep The Door Open and Money (Gimme Gimme) , losing his hi-hats in the former and his drum stool in the latter. He finished the songs, standing, having made adjustments without dropping a beat or missing a note – that’s how good these guys are, even when shit happens. It dropped on Schroeder next, with harsh electric crackling coming through the amp he’d borrowed from Simon Kelly’s bassist. “You realise this is gonna blow in a minute don’t you?” Schroeder announced with a cheeky grin, seeking permission to continue.

Permission granted, they continued with the new frustrated-love track Like a Brother and The Executioner, followed by Trouble In His Head, with guitarist Tim Heath taking his turn singing lead and dutifully forgetting the lyrics to his own tune. The Basics picked up the pace in the second half with the ultra-rocking Karolina and new release With This Ship (with an impromptu variant Rip This Shit as introduction), wrapping things up after a couple more with a sublimely poppy number that may or may not have been called Wait For You. The crowd managed to heckle them into playing an encore.

After the sort of set where they’d probably come off stage saying it was a shit gig – and from their perspective it might have been – it only endeared them to us more for making light of their fuck-ups and taking the technical flaws with good grace. The Basics confirmed they are consummate pros and didn’t disappoint.

Were you there? Find yourself in Shardelite’s gallery