Sacred Cowboys
+ Belle Phoenix Band with Jeffery Wegener
+ Pete Ross and The Sapphire
Marrickville Bowling Club, Sydney
Saturday 18 April, 2026
WORDS: Ed Garland
IMAGES: The Barman
Tonight was one of the strongest bills for some time at the Marrickville Bowlo with the common thread that all three bands are on the legendary record label Beast Records.
Beast is an ultra-cool French imprint that has always gone for the musical underbelly, putting out soulful stuff with swagger and a sense of the street. And more importantly bands with great songs – acts like HITS, Kim Salmon, Six Foot Hick, Spencer P Jones and numerous others, The label is also part of the iconic Binic Festival where tonight's headliners Sacred Cowboys are playing later this year.
It’s been 20 months since I saw tonight’s opening act, Pete Ross and The Sapphire, when they supported Charlie Owen at the Camelot Lounge in Sydney. What I took away from that night was that they were a class band of great players, with incredible songs and Pete Ross’s soulful voice.
More than a year-and-a-half on, they could still be the most underrated act on the Sydney circuit, but they remain unpretentious and humble. Tonight, they were playing as a three piece and you might say it was “The Sapphire going Nirvana”. They were certainly more direct and more rocking.
“Pleased to Meet You” opens the set and it’s clear the band has moved away from Americana and the late ‘60s sounds of The Byrds and the Burrito Brothers. Pete and Suzy Sapphire are in fine vocal form. Suzy’s bass playing is nicely locked in with newish drummer Marc Watson, who is more heavy-hitting and powerful than his predecessor.
Songs like “Mockingbird”, “Soul of Son” and “Devil Inside” sound sublime. We are also served a fab version of “These Boots Are Made for Walking” that’s terrific, and it takes this Nancy Sinatra cover to really get the crowd moving.
It should always be about the song and this is where Pete Ross and The Sapphire excel. They remind is that a great song can be played on a beat-up acoustic guitar or by a reggae band or orchestra and still stand up. Tonight’s treatment is by a tight three-piece and this is the solid foundation of this band.
I caught Belle Phoenix and Jeffery Wegener, with Ken Gormley (The Cruel Sea) sitting, on bass, in a tiny bar in Sydney’s Inner-West on a Thursday night six months ago. It was chaotic, expressive and one of the purest rock ‘n’ roll gigs I’d seen in years. With a cigarette dangling from her mouth, Belle wanted to summon chaos and walk a tightrope while channelling the vibe of Andy Warhol’s Factory in 1966.
Wegener’s supreme jazz discipline enabled him to hold it all together. Gormly came in without a rehearsal and improvised, playing off the back beat. It was wild.
Tonight, Belle Phoenix was again completely on her own planet, floating around the universe while embracing her love of extentialism, Simone de Beauvoir and the Beat writers. It’s a set that also paid simultaneous homage to The Stooges, Lydia Lunch and pre-war European German cabaret.
It opens with “All By Myself”; the sound is brilliant and Belle is in fine voice. The song works with repetition and layers. Visually, we have another variation of Belle Phoenix, with her hair dyed jet back and wearing a dress that’s a mix of Vampira and Amy Winehouse.
Jeffery Wegener is again stunning with his tom tom work summoning a tribal vibe as he locks in with bassist Kev McMahon.
“Blossom of Love” has some fine reverb-tinged, layered guitar from Osker Brickford. He lets the song breathe and holds it back, imparting a sense of drama. Sadly, he labours under the curse of having to use a borrowed guitar and an unfamiliar back-line.
“Andromeda” is sparkling and alive as Belle’s vocals soars. The violin from Bronwyn Henderson is stunning and adds even more drama. She also understands how to ensure a song breathes. Her counter melodies and dark interplay with Bickford are a stand-out.
Belle asks the audience: “Do you want fire?” and “Fire” is the song that finishes the set. It lifts things to another level of primal energy and intensity, with McMahon and Wegener locking in with swagger and swing. Belle jumps off the stage and confronts the audience to end on a chaotic high note.
Tonight, Belle Phoenix and her collection of legendary musicians delivered a shortish set of only about 35 minutes, but they captured a dark intensity that leaves a deep impression. As Simone de Beauvoir wrote (and it could have been about Belle): “You’re condemned to be free. No God, no nature telling what to do Every choice defines you and it has own consequences”.
Unlike the supports, I hadn’t sighted Sacred Cowboys recently. The last time had to at the Sydney Trade Union Club in the 1980s, when I was living in a rundown shared household in Surry Hills. It has been a very long time between drinks. A lifetime. I have all the albums and the output of various line-ups has been consistently brilliant for more than four decades Tonight is the launch of “In The Manifesto”, inarguably one of their finest.
After changeover, the five band members stand on stage. They’re dressed in black, with the lights dimmed, as the sound of the swamp takes over. Layers of reverb-tinged guitar build as the rhythm section gets into the groove. Snaking through the mix like a monster is that distinctive Spaghetti Western lead guitar line of “Nothing Grows in Texas”, courtesy of band co-founder Mark Ferrie.
Garry Gray takes a darker vocal approach than on the 1982 single and this version is a nod to the Deep South, taken to a deeper and darker level.
The Ferrie- Gray composition, “Kool Aid On The Rocks”, follows. The band lays down a solid groove under some insightful lyrical observations, and the guitars are stunning. We then begin what becomes a deep dive into the album that Sacred Cowboys are here to launch.
“Said The Spirt’, the album opener, is next, with its jagged guitar riff ridden by Garry’s spray of lyrics. It features awesome guitar interplay between Ferrie and Tim Deane, recalling both Tom Verlaine and James Williamson.
The set softens and partly retreats from the darkness with “Pieces of Eight”, with its counter-melodies and more introspective approach. “Cosmic Circus Escapees” follows and explodes; executing a dramatic change in pace. It’s blistering, delivering a punch in the face with an attack that’s as vicious as anything from the Birthday Party.
The guitars of “The Psychedelic Shooter” aptly recall the early Cowboys sound and is something of a return to their roots. It’s a reminder that this band can swing from a Rolling Stones swagger a la “Exile on Main Street” to primal utterances and then to hard-edged post punk.
Garry Gray is on fire, invoking the ghost of a Southern evangelical preacher crossed with a ‘68 Comeback Special Elvis. He croons and hollers, orchestrating proceedings and then hopping down off the stage to commune with the audience.
Ferrie and Timothy Dean deliver on guitars and are inventive, while the solid bass playing of Anthony Paine is locked in with drummer Damien FitzGerald and the pair provide so much light and shade.
We are given an intense version of “Nailed To The Cross” powered by a blistering guitar attack. “Cold Harvest”, the title track from the criminally ignored album, is just as strong. By the time trademark single “Hell Sucks” is wheeled out, the crowd is convinced.
The Bowlo rocked this Saturday, with all three bands sublime. All are the real deal and that’s why all have releases on a label from Europe where they have cult followings. This year is a third of the way through and this is already one of the best Sydney gigs of 2026.
