Borich X Borich, The TimMcMillan Band, Ezekiel Ox AndThe Fury @ The Hifi, Melbourne(31/01/10)

Fri 5th Feb, 2010 in Gig Reviews

When Kevin Borich began his music career, with the La De Dah’s, I’m not sure anyone could have predicted that 47 years later, he would still be rocking out at some of Australia’s best music venues. Together with son Lucius (Yep, that guy from Cog) on drums, they blasted the HiFi with an unlikely trio of support acts.

First up was Fading Hour, friends of Lucius’, and surely one of Melbourne’s favourite unsigned rock bands. With heavy Tool influences, they were a pleasant surprise to kick off the night, especially once singer Mick Camilleri opened his mouth. With a dedicated little fanbase dancing in front of the stage, the band commented on how excited they were to be on the other side of the stage at the HiFi, after seeing so many gigs there themselves. The energy and intensity of their set warmed up the crowd very nicely for the rest of the evening, and gave everyone a hint as to the quality of the music they would be enjoying.

Ezekiel Ox And The Fury were an almost jarring change from the moody, heavy rock of Fading Hour. Somewhat folksy, they were toe-tappingly enjoyable, and put a smile on nearly everyone’s faces. When Zeke Ox himself exclaimed over the appropriateness of playing a father-son gig the same weekend that he himself had become a father, the crowd cheered and applauded, and the warm fuzzy feeling they had already set about weaving through the venue increased ten-fold.

The set then took a somewhat alarming turn, as the band turned political, rambling about the importance of making changes and fighting for change, before a scorching, screaming version of Bob Dylan’s Masters Of War. After the song drew to a very loud close, they disappeared off stage leaving many scratching their heads as to how such a cheery, mellow sort of band had suddenly morphed into whatever it was we had just seen.

The Tim McMillan Band were up next, and they were definitely the highlight of the night. With their genre-defying (goblin-core, I believe they define themselves as, although there was a longer turn of phrase that basically took the piss out of the many metal subgenres) blend of incredible riffs and silly lyrics, it was jaw-droppingly good. The – œyarns’ between songs were intricately woven, and involved tales of mountain bandits, McDonalds chicken nuggets dropping from trouser legs, dead goblin mascots and face-melting shreds (literally, face-melting). In all honesty I have never laughed so hard at a gig, a sentiment shared by the people wiping tears of laughter from their faces around me.

Including all kinds of brief covers, from Lady GaGa and Jason DeRulo (with the very talented Rachel Snow on violin) to Red Hot Chili Peppers and Led Zeppelin, the highlight, was hearing an actual – œface-melting shred’. McMillan’s hands moved so fast over the guitar they were a blur, but he made it look easy and oh-so-enjoyable. A cross between Flight Of The Conchords and Tenacious D, they are definitely a band I would pay to see several times over.

By the time Borich X Borich took to the stage, three hours into the gig, we were wondering what could possibly be left. The answer was immediately obvious: classic rock, and lots of it. With Harry Brus on bass guitar (overheard from random audience member “That bass guitarist is f-ing awesome!!”), the Borich father-son team pulled out some scorching guitar riffs and drum solos. They were obviously enjoying themselves, in fact I don’t think I have ever seen anyone enjoy what they were doing as much as Lucius was. It looked as though it was the best day of his LIFE, the enormous grin and random bursts of excited laughter definitely endeared him to everyone. It made us all feel as though we were part of something very special, and the proud looks his father gave him as he belted the skins through another solo suggested the same thing. Pulling out covers from across several decades of rock, and enjoying every single one, Borich X Borich (And Brus) looked as though the stage were made for them, seeming perfectly at home and in tune with the HiFi.

And while it started to get a little repetitive towards the end of the set, there was no denying that three of Australia’s greatest rock musicians had just been on that stage, casting a very unique spell over a venue that has seen more than its fair share of brilliant musicians, and they had loved every single second of it.

CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS FROM THE GIG HERE