The King Khan & BBQ Show,Royal Headache @ The CornerHotel, Melbourne (02/06/2010)

Sat 5th Jun, 2010 in Gig Reviews

“I am declaring war on Xavier Rudd and everything that motherfucker stands for. You’re going down you fucking asshole.” Despite the insulting nature of Arish Khan, aka King Khan’s words, Xavier Rudd should not take it too personally; it’s just part of the act. During the rest of Wednesday night’s sweaty set at the Corner Hotel, he also managed to insult Midnight Oil, closeted homosexuals, his father, the crowd and absolutely anything and everything in good taste.

Known for mooning Lindsay Lohan, getting arrested for drug possession in Kentucky and crafting some of the most irreverent, riotous rock and roll on the planet, the King Khan and BBQ Show (former Spaceshits band mate Mark Sultan) are two of the most divisive performers on the underground music scene and during their set, they proved why.

Scraggly punk four piece Royal Headache started things off with a tight, abrasive set. Punk’s not really my thing but these guys sounded just how I imagined punk rock should sound. Singer Shogun snarled and spat, the guitars and drums were suitably pounding. The crowd seemed to be pretty into it, and their 7” S/T is out now, so if you punk is your thing, I would suggest you check them out.

The red curtain opened with the chorus of Queen’s We Are The Champions thundering over the loudspeakers. Wearing sequined tights and a feathered headpiece, a shirtless and jewel-laden Khan stepped out, fist pumping and manboobs jiggling screaming “Lou Reed just invited us back to his hotel room!” He then launched into the most blistering manic rendition of Johnny B Goode that you’re ever likely to hear. It set the tone for the night. Pomp, bravado and vintage rock and blues with a modern twist.

These guys have been playing together for over 15 years now, and it shows. The interplay between Khan and BBQ both vocally and on guitar sounds ragged, but it is a raggedness that sounds right, an aesthetic choice from two musicians with an innate understanding of each other’s abilities.

The highlight of the set was the deliciously disgusting blues/punk dirge Tastebuds structured around Khan’s searing rhythm guitar and BBQ’s pounding stomp box. As well as being insanely catchy, the song contains possibly the grossest chorus lyric since Slipknot sang “I want to slit your throat and fuck the wound.” Only a performer as engaging as Khan could pull off rhymes like “Tastebuds on my cock/Let me love you baby around the clock/Tastebuds on your cunt/So you can lick my booty from the front/Tastebuds on your shit/So you can taste a nugget on my prick/Tastebuds on my nuts/So I can taste up inside your butt” without sounding like a total jerk.

The size of Khan’s personality was a liability at times however. For a band renowned for their live show antics, it seemed that Khan was often saying things just to shock, like the songs he introduced with, “we’re bringing finger banging back in fashion” and later, “this song is dedicated to labia. Who in here likes labia?” Being crass for the sake of being crass is not an attractive quality in anyone, and Khan is no exception.

When he shut up though, the duo played some pretty exceptional songs. The surf rock guitar line and growling vocals of Hold Me Tight is the best song The Cramps never made, while the shuffling Love You So is a sweet side where you’d never expect to find one; like scraping dog shit from your shoe and finding a fifty dollar note stuck to the bottom.

King Khan & BBQ Show are a unique live act. But the reason it work’s so well isn’t because of the performative aspects of the band; it’s because of tight, interesting songwriting. These guys are musicians first and performers second, and that’s the way it should be.

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