Mike Noga @ The Brass Monkey,Sydney (17/5/11)

Thu 19th May, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Mike Noga told his people that he wasn’t confident of pulling a crowd after booking The Brass Monkey in Cronulla last minute. They told him it would be full, but he was right. The few who headed out on Tuesday night to see the The Drones’s drummer sing were rewarded, however, with a soulful and intimate performance from one of Australia’s most talented new singer-songwriters.

First to take the stage was Sydney singer-songwriter Bradley Cork who played to crowd of about 10 friends, some bar staff, a hack from Faster Louder and his little accomplice. Cork strummed his amplified acoustic guitar and sang loud and passionately despite the small audience. His songs created an interesting contrast, with his smooth vocals and chords juxtaposed to some dark imagery in his lyrics. Cork introduced his second last song with “This is a song about a horse, and shooting it’’; although mildly macabre, the shooting of the horse turned out to be a sweet metaphor.

Sydney three-piece 49 Goodbyes followed Cork. With Emma Smith on rhythm guitar and lead vocals, Courtney Botfield on backing vocals and Mike Anderson on lead guitars, played a set of mostly alt-country tunes. At times, Anderson’s guitars behind the girls’ harmonies headed towards an almost Pink Floydian direction though, which was appreciated. The group formed two years ago when Botfield placed an ad on Faster Louder that simply said: “Emmylou looking for her Gram Parsons”. In tribute to their bonding over those two legendary country artists, 49 Goodbyes sung the Parsons-Emmylou Harris collaboration A Song For You.

When Noga arrived with the lovely Myf Warhurst (who has backing vocals credit on the album) there were still less than 20 people in the room. He joked that it was the dictionary definition of “intimate”. Noga was in town to tour his sophomore solo album The Balladeer Hunter. The album was recorded with an accomplished band of musicians but at the Monkey Noga was accompanied only by his amplified acoustic guitar, harmonica, soulful voice and poetry.

From the first chord and lyric the small audience knew it had happened upon a special occasion. Noga made eye contact with just about everyone in the room and told us anecdotes about (an obviously) evil man on a walking stick and a family accident involving half-chewed Weatbix and an unfortunately-timed inhale.

His second song of the night was The Cold Year; a cruisey, lyric-driven number on the album that Noga somehow transformed into a rolling and fervent rock song on stage. He followed with Ballad of an Ordinary Man and showed deceptive vocal range. Aided by The Monkey’s acoustics and sound engineer, Noga’s deep voice rose with an impassioned connection to his words. He wailed out poetry, foot-stomped and strummed raucously. There was more intimate engagement with the crowd before Noga asked us to find the references to his muses in Piss on a Butterfly. John Lennon and Bruce Springsteen were obvious but the other two may take a second listen.

Noga finished his set with M’Belle, which he said was the closest thing to a single he would ever write. His voice is at its best in M’Belle; Noga plays harmonica, plucks strings and he could be channelling any number of great songwriters, including Bob Dylan, Paul Kelly or a Tim Rogers.

Had there have been a dozen more people we would have demanded an encore. But Noga had paid his dues, and more. After his final song, Noga came over to the bar, mingled, sold copies of The Balladeer Hunter and continued to widen the smiles on everyone’s faces.