Six Ft Hick @ Annandale Hotel,29/06/05

Wed 6th Jul, 2005 in Gig Reviews

Is it possible for the Corbett brothers to rock any harder?  Every music fan was blown away by the standout performance of Six Ft Hick during the Annandale Fifth birthday gig. Despite being the support for Dallas Crane instead of the main act,  this quintet from Bris-vegas showed everyone how loud rock and on/off stage antics should be done and with six new tracks on their playlist it’s clear there is no slacking going on after hours. 

Six Ft Hick are well known for their physical stage performance and this gig was one of the best yet. After opening with the new track Flight Of The Shitbird the younger of the two singers and brothers, Ben, decided it was high time to stir up the crowd (the bulk of them looked like they had just come from church) who were waiting patiently for the headliners to come on, leaping off the stage with no warning and running through the middle of the well groomed couples, singing and gyrating furiously. A sight well worth the ticket price but this proved to be just the beginning. 

For those of us up the front (having sweat dripped on us from above) we were all well impressed with Dan’s excellent (and LOUD) guitar work, here’s a guy who knows his chops and played even better then usual, which is saying a lot. Any guy with such perfectly shaped facial hair has to be tight. 

The fourth track Cleaning It is a crowd favourite. The line ‘I was just cleaning it, and it went off’, sounds like you just got caught doing something that will make you blind, went over very well. Sometime around the new tracks Magnets (sweet) and My Urn Is An Ashtray (these guys have the best lyrics!) Ben leaped out into the crowd which parted for him so fast they had clearly learned their lesson, climbed onto a bar table, and squirted some shaving cream onto his chest. Now Ben is a guy with a nice yet not too hairy crop of chest hair, but instead of pulling out a razor he grabs a lighter from his pocket and I’m thinking ‘Is shaving cream flammable?’ Turns out that yes, it is. After setting himself on mint scented fire for a few seconds, Ben quickly puts it out and carries on freaking out the ‘jeans and high heels’ crowd with more simultaneous gyrating and singing. A fine rock moment. 

Some fast and furious bass work was on show from Tony who easily keeps up with the frantic pace of any ‘Hick performance, and when you meet a drummer who signs his name ‘Fred the Cunt’ you know some XXXX sounds are coming your way. It’s a shame Fred didn’t play a track under his alter ego – Rocky Outcrop.  I would have loved to see the looks on everyone’s faces when he sang the line ‘get the strap-on out baby, ‘cause we’re swapping sides tonight!’ Dirty, dirty man.

The rest of the set was just as powerful as the start and everyone was blown away by a band that most had not expected to see, yet all in the crowd had to acknowledge the fine rock outing they had just experienced.

It’s always worth the trip to see the young and frantic Ben alongside his tattooed, cool-as-fuck brother Geoff. Both can sing the socks off you on any night, and tonight was a killer show that made Dallas Crane look old and sound dull.
You should never let a better band open for you, no matter how long you’ve been on repeat on TripleJ.

The best gig I’ve seen since Bob Log at the Hoey.

Ben has his own band Gentle Ben & His Sensitive Side who are well worth checking out. Geoff also with The Tremors who are totally awesome and will be supporting the Hot Snakes soon. Get out there!