Our entrée to this year’s excellent Queenscliff Music Festival was provided by Howlin’ Steam Train who served up Southern fried country, swamp-infested blues and butt-shakin’ boogie rock with a ’60s garage twist. The mind-bending King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard proved to be masters of controlled mayhem. The band’s Theremin-spiked echo-laden madness transported us to another galaxy and pummelled us into puddles of awe. Their frenetic assault, mastery of unexpected time changes and fraternal approach to chewing up the stage was nothing short of entrancing. Amidst the brain-melting wall-of-sound it was possible to detect faint echoes of The Strokes, The Wipers, Pere Ubu, New York Dolls, The Telescopes and even Clinic, yet these intergalactic sonic magicians managed to sound fresh and fiercely original.
Legendary Australian hard rock hit-makers Baby Animals rolled out all the classics plus an unlikely yet effective cover of Michael Jackson’s Beat It. The Cat Empire was embraced by a huge, swaying audience that ecstatically absorbed the band’s sunny rhythms. One of the many highlights of the band’s well-received set was the rich and playful vocal presence of the nattily attired Harry James Angus. When Lily and King unleashed a thunderous trombone in the regal surrounds of the Vue Grand, all of Saturday morning’s cobwebs were cheerfully annihilated. Lily’s dextrous multi-instrumentalism was a glorious highlight while the duo’s ragged New Orlean’s stomp was impossible to resist.
The Harlots, who brought a literary flourish to proceedings with their clever wordplay, featured the visceral talents of frontman Tom Pitts, positively buzzing with primal energy. King Cannons, inked to the max, were a tight and anthemic powerhouse led by a charismatic singer sporting a large black hat and an admirable set of vocal cords. Clairy Browne & The Bangin’ Rackettes brought glamorous star power, sassy dance moves and sexy soul to a large and electrified audience, while the funky, groove-machine that is Deep Street Soul pumped out incendiary covers of the MC5’s Kick Out The Jams and Cream’s Sunshine of Your Love.
Jordie Lane’s rich and resonant vocals, warm stage presence and natural professionalism shone through as he treated a Sunday lunchtime audience to his creative take on country music. The gracious, humble and talented Mia Dyson received a warm welcome from the huge crowd which she proceeded to impress with smokey vocals and luscious liquid guitar licks. The Tom Richardson Project moved effortlessly from buoyant reggae rhythms to punchy funk rock and managed to inspire a mass sing-along. When I first experienced the joys of British India years ago, they were supporting a reformed Huxton Creepers at The Tote. They were an incredibly youthful ’60s tinged garage punk band who rocked the small stage as if they were headlining an arena. At QMF they appeared to be equally youthful yet their sound has clearly expanded and developed to reflect the fact that they actually are playing now to enormous audiences. Their unaffected command of the stage and melodic yet hard edged indie rock looks set to propel them ever upwards.
Our wonderful weekend drew to an energetic close with Money For Rope featuring a guest appearance from the always entertaining Fraser A Gorman.
BY GRAHAM BLACKLEY
Photo credit: Elena Ksefteris
LOVED: The full-throttle performance of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard.
HATED: Missing out on the rockin’ steam train due to a large queue.
DRANK: Southern Bay Draught at Lombardys On Hesse and Southern Ocean Ale and Jamieson Beast IPA at the Vue Grand.
