Live Review: The Love Junkies

Palpable anticipation was in the air at the announcement of the "first time ever" acoustic-styled set by The Love Junkies, forgoing their bangin' rock riffs and grunge-guitar fury, in the laidback café and diner setting of Fremantle's X-Wray.

The stripped-back sound of just a Gibson with pick-up allowed the vocals of Mitch McDonald to be intuitive with every finger-picking lick of his guitar as he crooned. With some Jeff Buckley-inspired vocal lilts, McDonald's voice became the instrument as his didge-like lung capacity enabled a vintage, bluesy Mississippi River flow to his gentle lyricism. It took a while for the sizeable crowd to slow their chat down, not used to having to listen closely to the Junkies, but once the kitchen staff found out how to turn the lights down and the full three-piece band settled in, attention was drawn away from the coffee and onto the WAM-awarded Best Rock Act talent slumming it lo-fi like lounge-room lizards. 

The waltzing twang of Dirty Lover, aided by the steel brush drum work of Lewis Walsh, extended the flow nicely and eventually ended lazily, like a good lovemaking session should. A DIY plastic bottle rice shaker took the next track Storm Troopers back to basics as bassist Robbie Rumble joined McDonald on harmonies, the absence of a rock riff sounding almost too sweet here to suit the song's intention. In The Belly Of My Beast had McDonald sounding surprisingly sultry, with a Spanish flurry of his guitar work, a slow tease of a song that wanted to explode but held back. The gig was shaping up to be a unique showcase of the Junkies' yin over their vociferous yang. 

Changing tack, Swallow Your Sorrows was up next and had that White Stripes feel to it, packing a punch that made you want to stomp the floor (but having to hold back on account of the trolls who gate-crashed the gig to monitor the venue's adherence to WA's uptight liquor licensing laws). Sensing the mood, some much-needed banter accompanied a song from the Junkies' forthcoming new album, McDonald explaining it's about "thinking you are too shit to be liked" and then having to "swallow your words" — ha. Well-known Junkie tunes Gloria To My Dysphoria and Oxymoron also received a good going over, but a special moment was had with Maybelene, its story of frustrated desire achieving gravitas as the tempo downsized to an achingly slow hip grind.