Last night at the Prince Bandroom in St Kilda, the Age EG Music Awards were held to honour the 30 year veterans of Australian goodtimes and rock and roll The Hoodoo Gurus with their induction into the EG Hall of Fame.
A stellar cast of some of Australia finest musicians helped celebrate the event with their own unique and awesome versions of Hoodoo Gurus songs. Hosted by the one and only John Von Goes resplendent in a dusty rose coloured suit, the evening commenced with a very tidy set by those four sisters and queens of noise, Stonefield. For such young musicians they play with a maturity well beyond their years and how they all became so musically adept considering neither of their parents play a note is mind boggling.
Next up was Ron Peno ( Died Pretty) with the fabulous EG All-Stars backing band featuring Dan Luscombe (the Drones), Pete Luscombe ( Rock Quiz) Ash Naylor (Even) and Bill McDonald ( bass player to the stars). These guys were unstoppable all night long as the “ house band “ for all guests performing prior to headliners the Gurus. They in themselves built the entire show on an unbudgeable rock of rock.
Unfortunately Ron Peno played his couple of songs while I was out the back discussing some important “ Replacements” (legendary white trash rockers from Minnesota) information, which I’ll keep to myself until I announce it as a news item….I caught the tail end of Peno’s performance and you can take the man out of Died Pretty but you can’t take the Died Pretty out of the man. It was great to see him.
Ash Naylor then took to the stage as both special guest and All-Stars band member with an as per usual honey drippingly delicious couple of songs “ Last of The Long Hairs” and Brad Shepard’s hit with the Gurus “You Open My Eyes” Listening to Ash Naylor is like immersing yourself in a cloud at sunset. Golden.
Breus (pronounced Bruce) was announced by Jon Von Goes repeatedly …..it felt like a Springsteen concert. What a bold, unique and magnificent performance. The world seemed to stand still for the eight or so minutes she captivated the audience with a perfect performance of “ Streamers” from her debut EP and even more thrilling, an amazing version of the Hoodoo Gurus “Zanzibar”.
What awards night focusing on the Hoodoo Gurus would be complete without one of Australia’s greatest musical treasures? Enter Kim Salmon, banjo in tow to unleash “ She “ from the Mars Needs Guitars album. Why is Kim Salmon so criminally under rated? Why? Why? Why? He should be a national icon and proved it with the tune “Cheap ‘n’ Nasty” by the “ The Cheap Nasties” with lyrics written by Dave Faulkner whilst he had a momentary stint in the line up. No one can release full throttle passion and power like Kim Salmon on a good night, evidenced by John Von Goes remark at the end of Kim Salmons set “ Pity the poor f**ker that has to follow that..”
The “poor f**ker happened to Chris Cheney of the Living End, who was not in fact "a poor f**ker". Cheney stomped through The Living End’s Heatwave and then exploded forth a blistering rendition of “ Death Ship “ from the Stoneage Romeos album. Nice one. In other news Jon Von Goes announced that Chris Cheney would be leaving Melbourne for L.A. Sad but true.
Now we come to the moment everyone had been waiting for. The Hoodoo Gurus took to the stage as fans responded with a religious like fervour as they applauded the rock and roll legends.
Plenty of crowd sing alongs, plenty of the magic of Dave Faulkners’ song writing exporting the crowd back to a time a place when they first heard particular songs.
After playing Kinky album track “Castles in the Air” Faulkner asked the question to much wahooing and whistling “ How many of you own a Hoodoo Gurus record?”
Does it matter Dave? The Hoodoo Gurus are part of the Australian consciousness, whether you are a "comic book store guy style Gurus-ophile" or a regular listener of music I don’t know many people that can’t sing at least 4 or 5 Gurus choruses….
Aaah aah aah Aaah aah aah I want you back. Aaah aah aah Aaah aah aah I want you back. I want you. She says she says…. That was my pick of the set last night. I’ve been singing “ I Want You Back “ all day long. That’s the power of the Hoodoo Gurus and that’s why they are the legends they are. Congratulations to the 2011 EG Hall of Fame Inductees. We love you Gurus.
