Punters sat close to the bar in Brisbane’s Woolly Mammoth (30 November).
Summer returned to Brisbane in the form of a heatwave, and the crowd guzzled cold drinks and fanned themselves with coasters. While lips were around glasses, eyes and ears were directed at the stage taking in the bands launching the fantastic new compilation from Stanley Records, ‘Take Me To Town’, celebrating what The Heartache State frontman Nick Barker called “another pew in the broad church of alt. country”.
Sydney band Dave Favours And The Roadside Ashes (Dave also runs Stanley Records) had no problem with the audience being lined-up at the bar during their first song. “I love a crowd that drinks because you sound like double the size,” laughed the frontman.
The crowd laughed with Dave’s lyrics, like his honky-tonk tribute to former 'Play School' host Justine Clark, which included the lyric: 'Justine, won’t you come out to play?'
Melbourne via Adelaide singer Hana Brenecki usually performs as half of the duo Hana & Jessie-Lee, but for her debut Brisbane performance she went solo. As Hana picked a jaunty melody on her guitar and tapped her cowboy boots, a couple waltzed by the sound desk; the woman’s black dress fanned out when twirled by her dance partner.
Towards the end of her set, Hana was joined by fellow singer-songwriter Kate Alexander, whose deep, husky voice beautifully complemented Hana’s soaring highs.
Melbourne musician Nick Barker has mastered many genres, from punk rock to power pop. With The Heartache State, Nick and his bandmates proved adept at twanging country rock. The group ease into their set with Nick strumming and drawling solo.
Drummer Venom adds some cymbal splashes, twirling his sticks with anticipation. By the next song, the entire band is rocking hard; Venom struck his kit hard, making his bass drum shift forward with each hit and eventually breaking a drumstick that he then tossed into the crowd.
Click here for photos from the Melbourne Take Me To Town launch.
Nick isn’t the only songwriter in the group; guitarist Justin Garner wrote the swaggering rocker ‘Minimum Wage’, which Nick compliments as sounding “like a Pat Benatar song”. With his bass hung low, Michael Hubbard spread his feet wide apart and shook his hips to the song’s groove and an audience member tapped his empty glass in time with Venom’s beat.
Brisbane band Halfway was down a member, but the seven present filled the stage for their last show of 2018. They squeezed past each other to take their places, knocking over a drum microphone in the process.
Once in position, the crowd was washed in the sounds of pedal steel, keys, and three jangling guitars, combining to form a hazy atmosphere.
The band pushed the alt. country sound to new places with songs like ‘Two And A Half Percent Of A Dream’, where dusty guitars swirled over Elwin Hawtin’s motorik beat. The dreamy sound overwhelmed the mix, muffling John Busby’s voice.
Other songs from their latest album ‘Rainlover’ overcame sound problems, like the shimmering ‘Swinburne Ashes’, with John’s voice rising over the roaring ambience of his bandmates.
Every one of Halfway’s songs sounded gorgeous, but it was the sweet riff from Noel Fitzpatrick’s pedal steel that excited the audience, signalling fan favourite ‘Dropout’. Feeling refreshed from the drinks consumed, the crowd moved closer to the stage to drink-in singer Chris Dale’s melody, their thirst quenched.
