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LYNCH MOB

w/ Faster Pussycat, and The Dead things

The Hi-Fi Bar – Melbourne, 10th December, 2008.

***View more photos by clicking here***

Finding myself about to review a concert with bands I knew nothing about, I did what any good reviewer has to do – I went on youtube. The first thing that came to my head after about the third video in a row of 80’s Glam rock was “who the hell is going to go to this gig?” As far as I knew, this sort of music died with the birth of grunge. And being someone born in the centre of this seizmic shift, I thought everyone who listened to this sort of music must have died with it. Which left me contemplating two possibilities: the gig would either be completely empty or there must be a new generation of kids who enjoy the feel of denim on skin. How wrong I was…

Outside the gig on that occasional meeting place of metal known as Swanston st, our eyes were greeted with a mass of thirty and forty somethings in their eighties finest, which was quite impressive as some physical changes seem to have occurred over the past 20 years. Women in tight leather, police hats and breasts pushed up past their shoulders were accompanied by men sporting mullets, denim jackets and missing teeth. On the way to the stage, the victim of a tragic combine harvester accident could have counted the number of people under thirty on his remaining fingers. But what the crowd lacked in lost years of fashion sense they made up with numbers. Melbourne band The Dead Things were on stage, and despite being the first warm up band were already surrounded by a near capacity crowd. I only caught the end of their set, but from what I saw they are a band who are good at what their genre is renowned for: glamour, stage presence and fun, simple music. After a short break which gave the crew just enough time to put together a makeshift curtain, the lights went down.

Faster Pussycat really deserve their own review. From start to finish they basically wrote the review for me. The intro music set the tone for the night: 2Pac’s California Love. I kid you not. This seemed to strike a chord with the audience though, and as the band began, the curtain fell to reveal quite a sight. There were knee-high socks, novelty leather hat and miniskirt, and that’s just the singer . The traditional head ware of army hat and bandanna also made an appearance, which gave these LA rockers that uniformed appeal.

Appearances aside, Faster Pussycat gave the crowd a real show, playing fun, sex fueled music with titles such as ‘Sex, Drugs & Rock-n-Roll’, ‘Don’t Change That Song’, ‘House of Pain’, ‘Shut Up, and Fuck’ and my personal favourite ‘(Got Your Number) On the Bathroom Wall’. Sex is clearly an important social issue for this band. Our finger deprived friend wouldn’t have been able to count the number of times singer Taime Downe grabbed his crutch whilst singing about what he wanted to do with it, where he wanted to stick it, or how he wasn’t happy with it’s size and wanted an enlargement(it was hard to hear the lyrics some times).

There was a surprisingly good level of knowledge from the crowd, as many in the audience sang along with the entire set between applying extra hair spray. Towards the end of the set, Downe took a moment for a public information announcement as he declared that “it’s all about the pussy Australiaaaaaaa”.

The band seems to have gotten a lot darker compared to its original recordings which was a pleasant surprise to this reviewer at least. The sound levels were impeccable too, allowing the crowd to dance and sing along in freedom, without having to distinguish what was actually being played. Like all good things though, the bands time did come to an end, and with it my supply of writing material. For more of the same, check out their new record “The Power and the Gloryhole”. Everyone in the audience, including myself, appeared very pleased with how the night was progressing, leaving only the question: could Lynch Mob top them?

For the uninitiated, Lynch Mob is the brainchild of former Dokken guitarist George Lynch. They came to prominence in the ’90s with their style of Traditional Metal in contrast to the Hair and Glam metal popular at the time.

It was clear from the outset that these guys were less glitz and more substance than the Pussies. With the lights still on, the music was cut, the band walked out on stage and cracked straight into the opener “She’s So Evil”. The only thing that could be described as a prop in their show was Lynch’s guitar (see pics, it’s worth it), and their stage presence more than made up for it. Lead singer Oni Logan had the crowd in the palm of his hand, strutting around the stage and drawing in the entire crowd to him. He clearly enjoys his time on stage. On more than one occasion he got audience members to sing into the mic, and to the relief of myself, he managed to find people who actually knew all the words. The entire band was similarly on song. Lynch is mostly in his own world left of stage, until he’s required to make his way to the centre to shred up a solo with the lot. Bassist Marco Mendoza is the epitome of cool, not needing any costume, or in fact to move around at all, as he stands behind his mic, thrusting his pelvis, chewing gum and exchanging steely looks with the crowd.

The guys played a selection of classic Lynch Mob material, including the highlights “Street Fighting Man”, “River of Love”, and “No Bed of Roses”, as well the the duet with crowd members for “All I Want”, and even the Dokken tracks “Mr Scary” and “Into the Fire” for good measure. To show they’ve still got it, the guys ended the set with a jam session of solo’s and psychedelia, before an encore of “wicked Sensation” to close out the night.

For someone who’s never understood what Hollywood has to do with metal, Lynch Mob’s more traditional style of metal made for a far more enjoyable set. Lynch’s guitar work, along with Logan’s classic power metal singing is something to behold. By the end of the set, the crowd seemed entirely satisfied with their night away from the kids. And for the other Gen Xers in the crowd, it was a highly enjoyable look back in time.

7.5/10

Review by Mathew Boelsen