X, Six Ft Hick @ Hush Hush,Esplanade Hotel (16/06/2007)

Sun 24th Jun, 2007 in Gig Reviews

Deloris San Miguel and co make good with the first night of monthly series ‘Hush Hush’ in the Espy’s lavish Gershwin Room. Upon arrival punters were greeted with an opening burlesque act before young buds The Breaks kicked the noise off. All mop top hair and country guitar riffs, these kids did alright. When they moved into a more psychadelic angle they really looked the goods.

The Jarrah Thompson band hit the stage in a wall of feedback and wailing guitars. It was about Jarrah and his axe and there was some nice art rock white noise moments. But unless you like the classic guitar hero, you may not like these guys’ eight-minute long lead brakes.

It seemed none of this mattered because Six Ft Hick took the stage. The Hick are one of those bands that just have it -raw passion, energy and a fuck off attitude. They let rip with a number of tracks from their latest album Cane Trash. Dan Baebler ’s guitar sounded huge and, with Tony Giacca burning it up on bass, we were in for something special. The Corbett brothers were charismatic as always as Ben prowled with trademark bare skinned chest and dual vocalist Geoff providing the sensible older brother influence; not that you’d call Six Ft Hick sensible.

This was the first show where I hadn’t seen a Hick member bleeding, on fire or drinking from a punter’s boot. Although these antics were missing tonight, a stellar set full of Cane Trash gems together with a few older classics and some brand new tracks saw the Brisbane boys tear the Espy apart. Finishing with Ramones hit ‘Chinese Rocks,’ Six Ft Hick made sure they were the stars of tonight.

That said, the legendary X came on and gave the Hick an early run for their money. Decked out in waist coat and top hat, Steve Lucas looked about as nice as an X member is ever going to look. New bass player Kim Volkman did a thumping job in making up for the late Ian Rilen and Kathy Green was as solid as a rock up back on the skins. They ran through a few X classics like ‘Movin’ On’ and ‘T.V. Glue’. Lucas’ trademark banchy howl was on and the way he moved from a low down, dirty, old man grumble to the most ear shattering, high pitched scream was brilliant. His guitar sound was so cool – dirty old school rock at it’s best.

When Lucas and crew are on song there is no one better. They are the original Oz punks. But as good as they sound at times, it doesn’t take long before it fell apart. A run of technical problems hampered the set – Lucas broke a string so Kim and Kathy were forced to battle on alone. More equipment failures saw an already lengthy set prolonged and the room began to thin. Still, X frontman managed to coax the faithful into demanding an encore. But it all became a bit too much when he broke a string -again – before the first note even began. What began as a promising special X gig fizzled out into nothing particularly inspiring.