Hunchbacks
Vulg-R
Killer Klowns
@ The Green Square Hotel, Sydney
Saturday, July 8, 2000

The night was supposed to be a launch for the Hunchbacks new CD, but in typical Australian fashion no copies were available due to a misunderstanding between the band and the record manufacturer - when the band delivered the master they thought they had a clear agreement as to when the finished product would be available, while the manufacturer apparently thought that if they lay doggo until it was too late for the band to take its business elsewhere, they could gouge an extra $500 out of the lads to do it as a "rush" job.

From my point of view, there's a certain irony here. When they launched their last CD "Can't Help Feeling", I only knew them from their contribution to the "Storming The Citadel" tribute to Citadel Records (a commendable cover of the Bamboos' "Virginia") and at that launch I was underwhelmed by their performance, so I wasn't moved to fork out for a whole record. Six months later the Barman assured me that I had made a major tactical error and provided a tape to prove his point.

He was right - "Can't Help Feeling" was one of the best records released that year, but turned out to be a difficult bugger to get hold of! Fortunately I was finally able to get one mailorder through Phantom (if you ever run into Hunchbacks' front man Carl Ekman and want some illuminating conversation, buy him a beer and ask him about his dealings with Phantom... but I digress). Anyway, the point to all this is that I was pre-sold on the new CD and really looking forward to wrapping my ears around it, but such was not to be, at least not for a while.

In the meantime, we had to be content with live renditions of some of the new songs plus the title track of their rare as rockinghorse shit "Play To Lose" EP (when Carl has finished telling you about Phantom, get him to share with you a few of his thoughts on the non-release and sad demise of this record) together with a couple of well chosen covers.

For those not familiar with their sound, it's founded in a no nonsense 60s garage/punk style, only smoother and without any fuzzy organ, which predates the Aus/Detroit style favoured by most Aussie bands. On record, the Hunchbacks do this very well.

During the show, Carl made a frank admission that the one drawback with headlining was that it gave them so much more time to drink before getting up on stage. However, apart from a few loose moments, the band rocked convincingly and since most of the audience was also pretty well lubricated there were no complaints.

Judging by what they played, the new record is going to live up to the standard they've set with their previous records.

Supports were the Killer Klowns, playing probably the most impressive set I've heard from them since their sudden conversion from a five piece to a three piece, and Vulg-R who played an eclectic mix of funky rockin' jazzy blues.

The new Hunchbacks CD should be available sometime next week and if it doesn't manifest itself in a shop near you, it will certainly be available via Headmiles Records (www.headmiles.com.au). In the meantime, copies of the previous "Can't Help Feeling" are available from that site, as is the Killer Klowns' "All Mine" EP, together with an impressive selection of other criminally neglected Aus rock.

- John McPharlin