Just when you thought you had seen enough footy short-wearing meat axes wailing about their genitalia … whoa, here were The Nads. Strange, but once they got over the usual bum jokes and pretence that they were musicians, The Nads took the punters into that eeriest of territories, ‘ashamed giggle-ville’.
With Suited Sam, the lead orator, expounding like a veritable TISMesque Ron Hitler Barassi the virtues of Rottnest’s tentland, the lack of Humphrey’s pants and, of course, the overwhelming ‘nad motif, there were some peculiarly witty thoughts on hand. Of course, yob points could always be scored, but there seemed to be an underlying comic timing in the ‘bottom burp’ barbs coming from Suited Sam’s mouth.
Backed by a token punk band, and celebrated as such, I barely stifled a grin with an intro like “Harbie Uber Alles” and Sam’s instant breakdance lesson. Don’t go for the music, do it for the banter.
The last time I saw Panelbeater I couldn’t walk straight the next day due to ear damage, so to hear them mixed properly has finally done them justice. And Panelbeater’s form of justice is that Conor Cairns’ bass still makes the surrounding suburbs quake and guitarist Luke Marinovich certainly does have a mean mother growl.
But their pounding, smash’n’grab hard grunge made it difficult for them to fit into their chosen scene this night, Panelbeater maybe having to consider mixing more with the metal crowd – NIL, Nebula and the like – for recognition amongst peers of their (self-stated) Melvins and Shellac style.
Their in-your-face delivery was ace, with Marinovich’s subtle guitar ‘peeps’ finally coming through in the mix and songs like Hit With The Fugly Stick restating the beauty of a short, stabbing noise blitz. Thus Panelbeater, with a serious sound engineer on board, are certainly in danger of sending a good sized crowd airbourne.
Adam Connors
