Live Review: Jack Rabbit Slim's Opening: Hideous Sun Demons, Hamjam

At a time when the opportunity for live gigs is increasingly shrinking, the announcement of a new venue, started by local creative minds Pilerats, has caused some genuine excitement in Perth’s music industry. Taking its name from the Tarantino classic Pulp Fiction, there’s more than one nod to the film adorning walls both outside and inside the venue.

Jack Rabbit Slim’s boasts four bars over two levels, including the smaller 'shake and fries' bar just inside the entrance, where punters can sit in the '50s-style diner and wash down fries with drink choices ranging from non-alcoholic ‘virgin’ shakes to fully alcoholic bad boys. All shakes are of the bovine variety but word is no-cow shakes are on the to-do list.

Chasing something more in keeping with Friday night drinks, it’s time to venture through a pair of white fridge doors and into the main room. Long bars sit opposite and adjacent to the stage, both serving standard alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. There’s certainly a pretty strong hipster element going on here with Emu Export long-necks spotted being drunk out of brown paper bags.

Pinball machines and old-school Daytona USA racing games are also on offer in one of the many corners of the venue, as well as a fenced-in area above the bar, accessible via some stairs outside the main room.

HamJam, comprising guitarist, keyboard player and drum machine, hit the stage and kicked off what could only be described as a pretty loose set of their unique brand of alt-rock. Starting out with a couple of original songs, they then slipped in an unlikely cover of Chris Isaac’s Wicked Game. While they had the attention of the 400+ punters in attendance, HamJam completely changed tack by announcing that everyone liked rap and inviting two friends on stage to round out the set with a garage jam of rapping. HamJam do things their own way and it’ll be interesting to see what they might do with some more original material.

My vantage point from the “VIP” room upstairs was a great spot to take in all that is Hideous Sun Demon. The punk four-piece ripped into their set with a barrage of sound and energy and it wasn’t long before the front of the stage filled with punters taking in the band’s incredibly tight, fast and frenzied ‘we don’t give a fuck’ set. The four Perthites valiantly overcame a few feedback issues in the mix and the puzzling loss of bass for a few seconds and barely missed a beat as they ploughed on. Hideous Sun Demon have energy, chops and attitude in spades and I can see a bright (pogo, stagediving, moshing) future ahead.

Jack Rabbit Slim’s name might be an homage to a film but the venue plays like a wonderfully dark, subterranean warren and if opening night was a glimpse of what’s to come, its live future is assured. Down the rabbit hole indeed.