The Icecream Hands + The Lovetone + The Wakeups
@ the Annandale Hotel 13Sep02
Friday the 13th! Ooooh! Spooky! What better night to launch my return to the writing scene? And to launch a new record as well, it turns out! My last Friday 13th on the music scene was 13Sep96. I had organized a moderately successful Harbour Cruise for a band that broke up soon afterward… what can I say? It was with that as the background that I headed cautiously back to a revamped Annandale to check out a band I have been waiting at least 8 years to see!
So who was here to see The Wakeups here tonight? Well, it appears that not a few were, in fact, and that many of them disappeared after their set! This is the biggest crowd for a support act I have seen here for quite a while (let’s face it – for almost four years). The Wakeups’ rock with four cranked pieces and an attitude cranked to match. But theirs is more the alternative rock than the typical pub rock. With all this going for it, I found the Rugby League had more to offer, and I haven’t seen that for a good four years either (I didn’t enjoy it that much, despite Easts winning).
The Lovetone showed a little more promise, with a Hammond Organ, Fender Jagstang and periwinkle-clad punters for openers. These guys set a You Am I-styled tone down to the singer/guitarist’s fuckin mutton- fuckin-chops and fuckin every fuckin thing fuckin else. But what about the fuckin tuner, man! Yeh – Tim Rogers attitude and vocab but definitely not the Tim presentation, mate! Save for the two Triple J current-faves which surprised a couple of us I’m sure, I still had to say “bring on dessert!”
My first experience with Icecream Hands was back in 1994 when I was sent their Supermarket Scene record and I must have missed a fair number of opportunities to have seen them since then. But this being the LP launch and following three singles over the past few months it was a must-be-at! Some 300 or so punters and industry-types agreed. Those harmonies, the Hammond (obviously on loan to and wasted on the previous band), the chick dancing quite inappropriately all over the place near the lighting desk; this is what I’ve been missing for all those years. Oh well, here I am, not disappointed in the least (unless they don’t do Supermarket). What’s with the constant Elvis “thangyouverymuch” though, Charles?!
The highly polished sound, lighting and studio-quality performances make Icecream Hands is the best band I have seen for years (taking the considerable break into consideration). Normally when one sees a band whose work they’re not familiar with, you tend to just stand there and wait for the more familiar songs… well, not with these guys. I actually had to drag myself away toward the end and probably missed those songs that have been going through my head all day (goddammit!) In a word (actually, more in the vocab of the Lovetone guy)– su-fuckin-perp! Thank you, gentlemen! Thank you! «««««