Matterhorn & Hollywood GunClub @ The Gov, Adelaide(17/09/2011)

Mon 19th Dec, 2011 in Gig Reviews

There are some nights that really give you that itch to crank up your favourite tunes, grab a couple of cold beers and maybe even head out to catch a live band. Quite often for most of us, this seems to happen not long after winter ends, when we come out of hibernation and get a sneak peak at the coming summer with an early warm spring night. Saturday was one of those nights for me and I was very keen for doing all of the above. As a supporter of original music, I generally only catch cover bands when they happen to be providing background music to accompany my catching up with friends for drinks. I prefer them to a DJ but I wouldn’t usually go out specifically to see one.

This night at The Gov, however, there were two cover bands sharing the bill, both which offer something enticing to hard rock and metal fans and are quite different to the usual cover bands you would randomly stumble into at your local pub.

First up on the night was Hollywood Gun Club. When these guys initially hit the live scene, they were promoted as being a tribute to 80s Hollywood rock, which to me, sounded like the tribute I had been waiting for. Unfortunately for me at the time, they weren’t quite paying tribute to this specific scene at all but they were aiming at bringing back the energy and fun of a good rock show which was synonymous with this time and place in rock history. The HGC set usually consists of a good mix of hard rock anthems from the US and the UK, and all from the 70s to the 90s.

At this particular gig, the band opened with the rockin’ Deep Purple classic Burn and continued to keep the decent sized rock crowd entertained with a high energy set which kept up the pace which they set from the start, with a mix of stadium rock hits such as Whitesnake’s Here I Go Again and David Lee Roth’s Just Like Paradise. Toward the end of the set, the band added a few more members to their line-up with the addition of a brass section to fill out the sound of Extreme’s Get the Funk Out and also to Aerosmith’s Dude Looks like a Lady, both which were probably the highlight of the set. The only way to end a set full of so many huge hard rock hits, is with a medley of Queen’s biggest. This was the perfect way to end the set, which was played perfectly by the band and got everybody in the party spirit.

Next up was Matterhorn, another hard rock cover band but one which takes a darker approach. Where HGC play the party rock anthems, Matterhorn play the party metal anthems.

Most of the punters at this gig seemed to be fans of what both bands were doing tonight. As with HGC, Matterhorn launched straight into their set with plenty of energy and didn’t let it slip for a minute. Even though the bands they covered were a little bit darker and heavier, the Matterhorn set still had a fun vibe to it and they certainly kept the party mood in the room til the end of the night. Metal anthems like Iron Maiden’s Two Minutes to Midnight and Dio*’s Holy Diver had the devil horns up and the fists pumping in the crowd til the end of the set.

As the night came to a close, everyone in attendance seemed to be suitably impressed with both bands (for good reason), as they complemented each other, yet contrasted nicely with their different take on what constitutes a party anthem for hard rock fans.
I, for one, find it very comforting to know that there are alternatives out there to the usual cover bands, ones who cater for the refined tastes of us hard rock and metal fans who like to get out and catch up and drink and who don’t necessarily care to hear Summer of 69 and Blister in the Sun for the millionth unwanted time.