Live Review: Fat Rabbit, Tully On Tully, Brett Hunt

On a night where the crowd were there for the drinks and the bands seemed to play between DJ sets, it was a nice surprise to catch some of the best musicians Australia has to offer. Fat Rabbit have a roving feast of a line-up and on this particular night included drumming virtuoso Calvin Welch joining dab hands Michael Wheatley, half of The Widowbirds, and ringmaster extraordinaire Serg Coniglione. Their deep funk jams hit the hip, making the front row grind and groove and the barflies take a break from talking shit. Some lighthearted heckling demanded more funk, so they dug out Ike and Tina's Baby Get It On to close things out. Big Legged Woman, I And You and Going Down were all deep fried, but there was a feeling of wanting left by both the lack of an encore and the softly vacant space where horns should have been.
Melburnites Tully On Tully are a band on the rise, with the indie pop sound that echoes contemporaries Big Scary and Deep Sea Arcade. Although still hit and miss, as far as song strength, the Jewel-esque vocal stylings of Natalie Foster pull them through. Naked and Stay were obvious standouts. Their first ever live cover of Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Maps gave a glimpse into the full potential we're yet to see from the band.
Brett Hunt is a blues singer-songwriter and dab hand with a harmonica who hails from the south coast of NSW. That's what his Wiki page would say if he had one. In real life he's so much more than that. With a sparkle in his jibes and a brevity in his lyrics, he's the sort of man that makes you want to chat, to dig a little more and to listen to him spin a yarn – schooled in Johnson, voice like Cocker and all over an Aussie bloke.