Inside The Final Of ABC's Exhumed Band Comp

It was a Thursday night at the Rooty Hill RSL and the fancy blue LED Exhumed sign proudly overlooked a stage set up to replicate thousands of live music stages all around the country, hosting bands both good and bad every night of the week.

ABC's Exhumed band competition wasn't for the young starlets looking for a chart-topping pop career. Exhumed was all about bands who have been playing for years in between jobs as alfalfa packers, school teachers or dairy farmers.

Coming from as far afield as Kalgoorlie, Launceston and a tiny little town deep into country Victoria Exhumed's six final bands all walked into the Rooty Hill RSL band room ready for their big moment looking slightly terrified, but eager to play to the biggest audience of their career.

The Music, travelling on the bus with the ABC contingent and grateful for the bag of jelly snakes that made an appearance five minutes after leaving the city, probably looked just as terrified setting foot into the suburban Wonderland that is the Rooty Hill RSL.

Because this was being filmed for TV, it wasn't as simple as switching on the amps and just playing, there were the requisite waiting around for all the technical elements to come together, there was the warm-up man, in this case Subby Valentine poking gentle fun at the older ages of some of the crowd, and of course, the occasional, “sorry folks, but can we just do that intro again. Sound issues.”

Glitter Gang

But after a quick chat to the industry judges Clare Bowditch, Tim Rogers, and Julia Zemiro by charismatic host James Valentine, it was Geelong's Glitter Gang in the unenviable position of taking to the stage first to try and impress the Rooty Hill crowd.

Glammed up in their '70s polyester flares and make-up the band took a while to kick into Yesterday's Hero's toe-tapping chorus. Though they seemed to lose momentum on the verses, they deserved bonus points for being first on-stage and the performance was a rousing way to kick off the show.

Dressed in her cowboy boots, Bec Beard and her Big River Trio sounded like they'd been playing their rockabilly brand of country for years. Bass player Dan Rondeau was swinging off his shiny, blue upright bass and guitarist Phil Jones was spot-on the money with his subtle guitar runs. Beard's voice was the icing on the cake for this four-piece. Probably the most naturally gifted of all the frontmen and women on this stage, Beard sounded like she'd just stepped out of a Nashville recording studio.

Bec & The Big River Trio

Halfway through the line-up, hearing just a single song from every band, it seemed John Johnson & The Johnsons had their noses in front on the leaderboard. There was a heft to their original hard rock track We Just Came Here To Rock that gave them an edge over the early competitors. Richard Hawley wove intricate guitar lines around Sam Groom and Ben Buxton's rhythm section. The vocals didn't always hit the mark but this band's flaws were certainly more than made up for by the power of the music they were building up.

Perhaps, the least musically adept, Didley Squat were two couples from Brisbane who took up music later in life and have, since entering Exhumed, found themselves busking in a Brisbane mall, recording songs in a professional studio and now playing to several hundred people.

With the entire room holding their collective breath wanting these ladies to do well, Didley Squat brought a tear to the eye of many in the room when Kath Ridgway, Chris Hall, and Ann Leung's voices began the harmonies at the start of the Cold Chisel cover When The War Is Over. It was a slow, soulful performance of an Australian classic with only a few musical mis-steps. Hall's voice was rich with experience and emotion and really delivered the full impact of the song.

A hat rack of feather boas appeared onstage to welcome Aunty Hu Hu & The Big Lazy and their unique, late-night cabaret-esque No More Wine. Aunty Hu Hu's sultry opening blossomed out into a wonderfully dynamic gypsy-rock song, infused with a lot of funk. Based in Bellingen, Aunty Hu Hu have developed a unique and intriguing sound.

Last up, Jahsifik covered No Wickedness by New Zealand crew Foundation. From Ngaire Taniora's opening guitar solo, this performance was festival ready and fantastic. Vocalists Dave Pau, Rongo Keene, and Megan Kareko built an exultant vibe in the room. It was hard to believe Kareko in particular has had little real band experience. And with each band memeber's talents contributing to this dance-friendly reggae whole, most of the room was on their feet grooving along to these smooth rhythms. Even the band had some collective dance moves. Put this band on a bigger stage and they would've looked just at home.

Though everyone else in the room was glad they weren't being asked to pick the winner, the judges saw something in the overall package presented by Kalgoorlie's Jahsifik who were crowned inaugural winners of ABC's Exhumed.

The Grand Final jam

But winning wasn't really the point. Instead it was the moments like the show's closer when all the musicians from all the bands got up onstage and performed the AC/DC classic Long Way To The Top where mistakes were made but the smiles were huge. It was moments like Tim Rogers giving Taniora's mum, who was shown in a previous episode buying her daughter a guitar, a huge hug after the event. And it was moments like walking into the green room after the show and seeing all of the band members and their families chatting to each other sharing stories of playing music for years just because they love it and love the people they play with.