Detroit Cobras + The Booby Traps + Up Jumped the Devil
Spectrum, Sydney
Sunday June 26, 2005

By RICHARD SHARMAN

I arrived at Spectrum to be greeted by a wall of sound blasting down the stairs; this was Up Jumped the Devil, a young Sydney band who were dishing out some mighty fine rock.

UJTD are a four piece, featuring drums, bass and two guitars with one of the guitarists assuming lead vocal duties. Fairly hard rocking with a dash of blues influence and closing with a rocking cover of Dylan’s "From a Buick 6". These guys are definitely worth checking out again.

Next up were the Booby Traps, delivering their trademark girl powered garage rock. I have made mention on these pages before about how each time I see the Booby Traps they keep getting better, and tonight was no exception. The recent time spent in the studio is working for them with a few new songs added to their setlist. Brett, their lead guitarist (and birthday boy) was on fire – he was dealing out fuzzed up fireball solos all night.

By the end of their set quite a few of the Spectrum audience were lapping it up.

I had heard many good reports about the Detroit Cobras, but wasn’t familiar with their music, descriptions such as “the most original cover band in the world”, “the greatest party band in the world” and "garage-soul" have been bandied about and I was keen to witness them for myself. Obviously, quite a few others were too as Spectrum was filled close to capacity by the time the Cobras took to the stage.

Fronted by former Geelong girl Rachel Nagy, this five-piece launched into their hard-hitting set, which contains elements of Motown and '60s garage rock. I wasn’t familiar with their songs but the band attacked the songs with great enthusiasm.

Rachel Nagy can sing and the band are tough as nails, with the Steve Nawara providing blasts of fuzz lead guitar and drummer Kenny Tudrick nailing down a strong backbeat. This was good fun rock and roll, however for all their enthusiasm they didn’t quite deliver to expectations.

It was a good fun night nonetheless, with plenty of smiles from those in attendance.

 

 

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