Live Review: Hunx & His Punx

After descending the steep heights of Sugar Mountain, Hunx & His Punx arrive on stage to play to a super-packed Tote bandroom. The band are decked out in a glorious array of trashy glam-punk garments and play throughout the night against a badly drawn homemade backdrop. Many of the eager punters have done their best to match the tone of the evening as they are forced to get closely acquainted with each other due to the popularity of San Francisco's premier bubblegum-punk band.

Seth Bogart, in his Hunx persona, is in fine form tonight – directly conversing with the audience and making a string of dirty observations, all the while getting increasingly naked. He begins the night in a leather jumpsuit decorated with punk band badges but spends much of the set in ornamental underwear and an open leather jacket. He and his guitarist thankfully remember their sunglasses to keep the stage lights out of their eyes.

The band race through a messy, fast-paced set, punctuated by Bogart's song explanations and life lessons. He gets the crowd involved early, asking for a beer after finishing Bad Skin. Though he manages to consume some of the jug in orthodox fashion, much of it goes down his pants and into the crowd. He announces the next song as a hit and one of his favourites, though Everyone's A Pussy only lasts for 30 seconds. After introducing the band, they launch into early single Gimme Gimme Back Your Love before playing Private Room, a cut from the Hunx's solo album from last year. With all the theatrics the musicianship has taken a back seat, the songs sounding even sloppier than on record. But this really doesn't matter at all as Hunx declares, “I would seriously fuck myself right now,” after sniffing his armpits. During Too Young To Be In Love the crowd thins out slightly as a few fans hit the stage to slow dance and Bad Boy sees much of the crowd covered in Melbourne Bitter. We are then treated to another 30-second wonder in Don't Call Me Fabulous (“Just because we are gay and fat doesn't mean we are fabulous”).

It isn't long before Bogart announces the final song for the night, responding to the crowd's audible disappointment by explaining that's it hard to be in a band that only writes hit songs. Lover's Lane allows bass player Shannon Shaw to show off her excellent backing vocals before the band retreat to side of the stage for the requisite break before the encore. Bogart quickly re-enters the fray, cajoling his Punx back to play Keep Away From Johnny and a reprise of Don't Call Me Fabulous. The night ends with a stage dive from the guitarist and Bogart exclaiming, “We'll sign autographs or dicks or whatever.”