Guitars a blaze with punk pop rock, these four Swedish girls cut a fine line between gloss and grit. Touring their third album, Kiss and Tell, the band have taken a more sixties sweet pop route than their previous punk rock efforts.
With ample hype and critics comparing them to The Hives and The Donnas, the Sahara Hotnights need exactly just that – a big hot night – to prove themselves a rock’n’roll deal.
First up the Hell City Glamours share their ‘kiss my arse’ version of rock’n’roll glam to the crowd of early punters. Offering over a set of loud stage antics and hairspray hair, they go down a treat with harder edged fans. There’s not much to say about the Red Riders, their watered down version of too-young-to-remember the ‘60’s nostalgia feels out of place in a room full of grown ups. And if there’s one niggling thing to whinge about… Why the hell isn’t there a girl support band? Sydney she-rockers Squat would have done the night justice.
Rock’n’roll hype…It’s the best and the worst thing to happen to a band with an Australian audience – tall poppy we’ll cut you down. Last time the Sahara Hotnights hit our sandy shores, they blasted The Datsuns’ fans away with rocky punk tunes from the Jennie Bomb album. Needless to say this time round, the Sahara’s have a lot to live up to.
Some call their new album Kiss and Tell ‘bubblegum pop’ or ‘middle of the road’. Hot Night Crash and Emphty Heart are cute and sweet as front gal Maria Andersson warms up the crowd with the new toe-tapping material. The influence of legendary Swedish producer Pelle Gunnerfeldt (The Hives, Fireside) who worked on the new album is paramount but after the first few Sahara songs there is one factor that is clear. There is absolutely nothing middle of the road about the live delivery here.
It’s a hard venue to fill, the Gaelic Club. Sound floats up and get lost in the high ceiling, the echoey room is long and dark and it’s difficult to see the crowd from the stage. Tonight the room is only half full, despite recent media hype about the girls, these four musicians don’t seem phased. They aren’t interested in rallying up the crowd. In an almost arrogant garage way, the Sahara Hotnights start each song barely a breath after the last. As if to say, pay attention or miss out on us.
Getting on a roll, Stay/Stay Away manages to stir up the crowd and pull off overly trendy keyboards. It’s Maria’s strong vocals that really rock this song as she gets out a ‘finger in your face’ attitude that is reminiscent of 70’s punkers X-ray Spex. Perhaps it’s her clipped vocals and foreign accent. But by the end of the song the Sahara Hotnights are sounding more like Pat Benatar and The Buzzcocks than The Donna’s or The Hives.
One stand out feature of the Sahara Hotnights are the Asplund sisters, Johanna (bass) and Jennie (guitar). Together they add dimension with their dual string attack and sweeter than honey back up vox. During Who Do you Dance For? and Keep Calling My Baby they build a gorgeous vocal bed, a la Veruca Salt style, for Maria’s main vocals. It’s with this strength that they leave great bands like Sleater Kinney and The Spazzys in the dust.
It is true, the Hotnights have altered their punk rock tempo and deliver music that is more accessible but they definitely haven’t gone soft. Last time round they proved they had speed and rock gusto and tonight they have melody and musicianship.
Some say that Swedish bands are twenty years behind in their music discoveries. That when they take hold of their ‘new’ genre, as we saw The Hives do in recent years, that they truly feel they have discovered the music form for the first time and embrace it with absolute energy. If there is any truth in this theory, it lies with guitarist Jennie Asplund as she opens up each riff like there is no tomorrow. There needs to be more ladies like this on stage!
In some of the slower songs the band teeter on lacking in soul. A phenomenon that happens with other Swedish bands. Take for example the Hellacopters - a band who epitomise the hard rock’n’roll music of AC/DC. While the music hits the mark, often the vocals carry an unconvincing vibe to the said music genre. A nuance that relates to the way the Swedish accent carries through to English lyrics – those odd inflections and strange intonations on words. A trait more noticeable on the quieter tracks that demand a soulful delivery. Lacking in soul or just another case of English ethnocentrism? If only we could break out of this one language mould.
Accents aside, by the end of the Sahara Hotnights very short, but sharp’n’sexy set, they’ve proven themselves to be a truly smart rock’n’roll band that can take direction over their sound and format.
