– Steve Hughes –

The metal messiah returns to Australia

Steve Hughes was once a big name in Sydney’s ever growing metal scene throughout in late 80’s. His most predominate work Slaughter Lord, was the launching pad to his career and eventually saw him playing with many well known Sydney bands, such as Nazxul and Mortal Sin. After feeding his appetite for heavy metal music throughout the late 80’s and early 90’s, Steve Hughes would then take an opportunity to try his hand at stand-up comedy.

After first entering the scene with many gigs to be had at Sydney’s Comedy Store, Steve quickly developed a sharp sense of humour which grew a profound fan base and eventually saw him become apart of MTV’s Australian hosting community – all thanks to his vast knowledge of heavy metal music and quick wit.

After firmly establishing himself in Australia with MTV, Steve would then expand his comedic genius to the UK in 2002 and further expanded his audiences by playing many successful stand-up shows, which eventually saw him a part of the illustrious Edinburgh comedy festival. To this day, Steve Hughes is noted as one of the many great political satirists and social commentators in the scene, even with his cult like status.

Many have dubbed him the new Bill Hicks or George Carlin, yet he is universally Australian, in a non bogan way. Think of him as Dave Hughes, but with a brain, logic and a non conformity to football.

I had the pleasure of seeing Steve Hughes at his current run of stand up shows for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival at Trades Hall.

As I entered the venue I was a little taken back at the amount of non metalheads attending. I was expecting a sea of metal t-shirts and long hair, but to my amazement many who attended seemed a little out of place.

Regardless, it was great to see a mixture of both young and old in the crowd. Having known of Steve Hughes’ humor and political satire already through various views of his Youtube clips, I knew that the audience would be in for a treat. I think many who were attending were expecting an angry middle-aged man expressing his discontent towards heavy metal music in the 21st century.

What we got was over an hour and a half of pure and uncut hilarity which pointed out the many flaws in modern society and ever growing thought of a fascist global take over which would inevitably see the departure of all our personal freedoms and ideals erased for a controlled police state. This was raw comedy at its finest and seems to consistently hit all the right notes, much like a great heavy metal classic. Like heavy metal music itself which is open to interpretation, Steve Hughes’ comedic onslaught is much the same.

Built upon social commentary and political satire, Steve Hughes tells it how it is…and for some, tells it how we wish it could be.

In the tradition of other great comics in his league, Steve Hughes expresses his disbelief and amazement on how a civilization and society can turn itself upside down due to social, political and religious dominance which has been drilled into our minds for hundreds of years and has caused a major effect on us all, both spiritually and mentally. Some of Steve’s humour could be somewhat derived from renowned British political activist David Icke, in which he believes many royal bloodlines still rule the world with an iron fist.

It’s not all doom and gloom though, he does fondly express ideals of spiritually using logic which he deems are necessary for the human race to survive, furthermore he expresses his disbelief towards extreme right-wing political groups, health and safety, welfare, drugs and alcohol, and of course atheists.

Many may see Steve Hughes as a left wing nut job or conspiracy theorist, but he is essentially saying what we really want to say,  yet many are scared due to social backlash.

It’s great to finally see a comedian come out of Australia who doesn’t come up with the same generic jokes or talks about the lighter side of football. Steve has perfected his comedic routine and delivers it with such precision and finesse. You will be awe inspired to say the least.

The term heavy metal comedy is probably the most profound term to describe Steve Hughes’ hard hitting social commentary. A must see for people with open minds and a soft spot for political satire.

Make sure to check out Steve Hughes’ remaining shows in Melbourne and Sydney.

Melbourne
Wednesday April 14th – Trades Hall: Cnr Lygon & Victoria Sts, Carlton 9:45pm
Thursday April 15th – Trades Hall: Cnr Lygon & Victoria Sts, Carlton 9:45pm
Friday April 16th – Trades Hall: Cnr Lygon & Victoria Sts, Carlton 9:45pm
Saturday April 17th – Trades Hall: Cnr Lygon & Victoria Sts, Carlton 9:45pm
Sunday April 18th – Trades Hall: Cnr Lygon & Victoria Sts, Carlton 8:45pm

Sydney
Tuesday April 20th – Enmore Theatre, Cracker Night Sydney Comedy Festival Opening Night 8:00pm
Wednesday April 21st – Metro Theatre 625 George St 9:15pm
Thursday April 22nd – Metro Theatre 625 George St 9:15pm
Friday April 23rd – Metro Theatre 625 George St 9:15pm
Saturday April 24th – Metro Theatre 625 George St 9:15pm
Sunday April 25th – Metro Theatre 625 George St 8:15pm

For more information, go to: www.stevehughes.net.au