Live Review: Radio Birdman, HITS, Penny Ikinger

Former Sacred Cowboys guitarist Penny Ikinger announces she’ll be playing some new stuff tonight.

She’s an explosion of gold lame and black vinyl with a jaunty burgundy brimmed hat topping off the ensemble. Her guitarist observes, “Thanks for the polite clapping,” and all three axe wielders do a lot of tuning in between songs.

Before Ikinger’s final song, a punter yells out, “It’s not polite clapping!” And he’s not wrong. The band are visibly delighted throughout their closer, as well they should be. Red curtains are drawn.

There’s very loud sound checking “HEY!”s and dangerous riffs behind the curtains, which signal it’s time to move toward the stage once more. HITS’ bassist has an impressive Brisbane mullet, with the ‘party at the back’ section long enough to tie back.

Unhinged frontman ‘Evil Dick’ Richards circles his mic stand and directs the video operator in the pit to shoot more footage of one of the band’s female guitarists, Stacey Coleman (who looks as if, in her imagination, she resembles The Kills’ Alison Mosshart). Then Richards tells us he pissed his pants the other night after taking five pills (Modafinals, as later identified on HITS’ Facebook page, where their genre is listed as “ROCK COCKHEAD”)Modafinal.. When Richards craps on for too long in between songs, his bandmates just start playing (à la Oscars speech orchestral wind-up music) and Coleman even kicks him in the butt at one point, which shuts him up. Richards’ fly is completely undone.

HITS sound great, but there are a lot of annoying elements. If you close your eyes, it’s better and closing with a cover of Joy Division’s Shadowplay? Genius.  

Radio Birdman are one of our country’s most crucial punk acts, you read about their heyday gigs and then wish for a time machine. Three battered axes lock in from the get-go and exchanged audiences glances can only be described as meaning, ‘Fasten your seatbelts, we’re in for a wild ride’.

Frontman Rob Younger may resemble Back To The Future’s Emmett “Doc” Brown, and he sometimes dances like one of those inflatable wavy men/air dancers, but he feels every nuance in these songs and becomes a physical manifestation. Original keyboardist Pip Hoyle’s long-sleeved red shirt and piano tie ensemble is a classy touch. None of the six musicians onstage is dispensable and there really is something about a sextet that rocks. Guitarist/chief songwriter Deniz Tek adopts a wide stance and Murder City Nights absolutely devastates. There’s a sense that a lot of the punters present tonight didn’t think they’d get to experience this band live again and a mini-mosh becomes a tsunami of bodies that we need to back away from, particularly during Aloha Steve & Danno (their Hawaii Five-O homage).

The encore highlight is Hand Of Law and now there’s booze flying everywhere and even some crowd surfing. This incarnation of Radio Birdman close with their version of The 13th Floor Elevators’ You’re Gonna Miss Me and thank god tomorrow’s a public holiday since the band play for an impressive, vitriolic 90 minutes this Cup Eve. Gig experiences such as this make us proud of our musical heritage. Dear young/emerging bands: Stop being so dull!