Review
– Teddy Sexuals + Amber Rees + Bullcha
@ the Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills 18May00
Whateverthehell they’ve done to the old Excelsior Surry
has dragged it kicking and screaming out of the 1940s and into the 00’s with a
look akin to what they were trying to do at the Waterloo in the early 90s, or
maybe the old Springfields? It is working, from this night’s perspective at
least – it looks great, sounds good, and beats the old in-the-corner set-up
days of yore!
We were expecting two artists tonight but it
turns out that Amber Rees’s
backing band, with another bassist and singer (duh!) used to perform under the
name of Bullcha. This was a band
who would be best described as Powderfinger + Cold
Chisel + Counting
Crows + Moving Pictures/1927 + Mondo Rock,
fronted by Jon Stevens/Dave (FiniScad) Thomas, and featuring Eric (Mondo
Rock) McCusker on
keys (playing like Don Walker and Tom
Scholz!), Alec (Moving Pictures) Frost on guitars and Phil (Cold
Chisel) Small on
bass! What a line-up for an impromptu three-tune set! And what an act for Amber to follow – platinum blonde, ¾-length black
jacket, string-back lamé-like top, burgundy pants and a Lee Kernaghan-style
Stetson.
Musically lighter than Bullcha, there were moments (like the closer and
opener) when they could have been the same band. Amber to me
is reminiscent of gilli moon and Amada Easton,
ballsier but less inspiring! She has the songs, she has the presentation, she
has the attitude, and she has the band. She lacked stage-presence, but not for
want of trying; vocal meat (she was sounding quite thin overall); the strength
on the high Mariah
Carey/Minnie
Ripperton octaves. A good show, but I was feeling very flat
toward the end and not at all like sticking around for the next act, who had
better pull something out of somewhere so that I don’t bail! ««¾
Teddy
Sexuals love a good show - they have some great songs,
some good ideas about their stage act, gallivanting around like idiots, and can
pull a crowd (and some serious babes too!).
Tonight, they left the bear-suits and Birdmanesque
armbands behind, dragging out the shades and black jackets to half-fill the
established look (see 19Dec00
review). But the combination of the 11pm 10:30 start, the flat feeling from Amber
and the lack of rabbit-from-hat appearances, I just couldn’t stay for the whole
show.
The
initial The
Knack impression has gone, thankfully! There is the support, both
live and on radio, the seeming longevity from within, the self-enjoyment of the
job at hand, but from where I stood the crowd just weren’t interested in the
show at all, offering obligatory and polite applause between tunes and the
occasional head-nod during the
EP tracks. How, then, could the punter/critic enjoy a show that the fans
were not, preferring to catch up with each other over listening to an otherwise
up-and-coming band with all the marketing flare of a soon-to-be-successful act!
Is it me, the room, the weather, the lack of je ne sais quoi
from the guys? I can’t see myself seeing Teddy
Sexuals a third time, unless
they were in a surprise support spot. ««¼