After winning the WAMI for favourite newcomer and having
huge advances in popularity in Western Australia, the boys from Perth flexed
their blues muscles at the Excelsior hotel in Sydney. But are they ready for
the Eastern seaboard yet? Dave Roberts investigates.

I’ve been quite lucky recently in being able to see a
lot of good local bands play at various venues around Sydney. From Melt bar in
Kings Cross, to the Fitzroy Hotel in Windsor, gigs and artists big and small
have seemingly been making their way out of the woodwork to entertain the
locals and the dedicated fans from around the city. But there is something that
I have to get off my chest.

None of them have been GREAT.

As I have previously mentioned in another review, most of
the bands doing the rounds these days are cover bands, or bands that sound
exactly like Cold Chisel did twenty-odd years ago. Even the more underground
acts seem to take too much influence from their metal-flooded stereo, sounding
like another version of Metallica (usually with a better drummer) or like one
of the many metal-core bands doing the rounds at the moment. Thankfully, there is a breath of freshish
air headed our way from across the other side of the
country, in the form of the blues-rock four piece The Joe Kings
,
and they hit the excelsior hotel in all their might, in support of their latest
single "Fool for Love"
and carried with
them some local acts to warm up the crowd.

The first support act, the Ming Kings,
to be honest should have just named themselves
experienced because they were, even if not intentionally, a direct rip-off of
Jimi Hendrix and his crew. The music was… alright, but I refer to my above
statement – try something new guys. Looking like you’re high in front of people
when playing a guitar solo, and speaking the lyrics with a Dylan-esque tone has
been done. To death
. Someone to produce their tones wouldn’t kill
them either, and I found myself having to put some earplugs in to cut out a lot
of the ear-piercing notes.

The next act Le Venge
stole
the show. Perhaps it was the well rehearsed set list, including the new unheard
songs, maybe it was the level of gear that said they mean business, or even the
extremely attractive lead singer (all male eyes were on her when she dropped
the guitar I guarantee you) – maybe a combination of all of the above but they
stole the show. They even dressed up for the occasion (Halloween) as Alex
DeLarge (A Clockwork Orange). They had a style that was familiar but unique at
the same time – something to look out for in years to come. Even the next support act, Monkey Boy,
was good. The two piece rock outfit (just drums and
guitar/vocals) hit the stage hard, fast and left us all in a daze of confusion,
tone and lyrical madness.

But what the whole night was about, was to grace the stage up
next – sadly to a less-than-capacity room. The band came on, started and
managed to pull people from outside the room into the gig room to watch. That’s
a task that would even have Led Zeppelin blushing. Between the kick-ass solos,
the tales of travel from Perth and the gentle, fun and somewhat emotional
lyrics – this band has something that the afore mentioned Sydney scene
(generally speaking) does not – style.

The Joe Kings had their own brand of blues-rock that seemed
to stem from listening to nothing past the nineteen-sixties, and a bunch of
nineties pop. Even the mix was nicer, allowing me to take out my earplugs for
the set. The band seemed to be all over it, with movements, stage presence, audience
interaction and great personalities on and off the stage.

But I still have to come back to the second band of the
night. The mix between female vocals (and lets face it, sexuality) along with
driven rock, musicality, and male backing vocals seems to be the way to go, in
an age of auto-tune and RnB. It’s great to see some bands breaking from the
status quo in Sydney, and finding their own roots and sounds for a change.

Overall, The Joe Kings played an epic set and show, but were
upstaged by their support act. Kind of a sad turn of events really considering
they drove all the way from Perth.

Maybe we just aren’t ready for that yet… but maybe our kids
are gunna love it.