Kisstake@ Mustang Bar, Perth(28/10/10)

Mon 1st Nov, 2010 in Gig Reviews

The band’s name is Kisstake and the members are Poor Stanley, Clean Simmons, Fake Frehley and Pizza Criss – get the picture? Whilst it is fair enough to deride people who make a living out of playing other peoples’ music you can cut these guys a bit of slack as they all have other jobs , probably only get paid with a decent beer rider and only play a few times a year just for a hoot.

The brainchild of Perth music industry stalwart Bob Gordon(Stanley) this parody of 70’s glam metal rockers Kiss is quite simply brilliant. Whilst done with tongues firmly planted in cheeks, the songs are treated with some reverence and played with professionalism so that the whole satirical thing still works. Lead guitarist Frehley displayed impressive chops and was ably backed up by the rest of the band. Without being cruel, some of the bodies only just managed to squeeze into their tight lycra costumes but in a weird way that kind of added to the ahem ‘visual spectacle’.

The attention to detail was impressive with Gordon’s hilarious mimicry of his more famous counterpart’s stage patter and rock star moves, Simmon’s bass solo (complete with the requisite blood), Frehley’s 70’s style indulgent lead guitar solo (sadly no rockets from the neck), stage smoke and playing guitar in the crowd was mostly achieved on the confines of a small stage.

On a cold and windy Thursday night in Northbridge and with seemingly little promotion, the crowd was always going to be small but once the band warmed up and a few more beers were sunk everyone in attendance was very enthusiastic. There was the odd Kiss die-hard in the audience, especially the three gents (one of whom had his face painted such was his devotion) who spent most of the night playing air guitar at the front of the stage and received almost as much attention as the band at times. Most interesting to note however was the younger walk-in punters who once seeing what was going on, broke into broad grins, grabbed a few beers, started nodding their heads and stayed until stumps were called and were still grinning broadly as they spilled out into the night.

There is no need to be a massive Kiss fan to enjoy this show just a tolerance for rock and roll with Spinal Tap elements for a couple of hours should suffice. For what it’s worth most of the songs chosen are from the “classic” Kiss Alive 1 era in the 1970’s and the band recreated them and the now silly stage moves faithfully. The decision not to include much of the disco/hair metal that was spat out by Kiss in the 80’s and 90’s is, with a few notable exceptions, one for which we should be truly grateful.

Music can be a serious business but every now and then it doesn’t have to be. It’s like if you always watch art house movies maybe once in a while you should head to your local multiplex for the latest popcorn blockbuster, leave your brain at the door and just be entertained – a Kisstake gig is like this. If you occasionally indulge yourself with a bit of loud, dumb, fun rock and roll you should seek these guys out at their next guilt free gig.

Gordon and his scaly mates were living every wanna-be rockstar’s dream for a couple of hours on Thursday night and judging by the amount of people lining up for a photo with the band afterwards you can only be envious you weren’t one of them.