enmore

Truth be told, Lucinda Williams’ last tour of Australia in support of the "Little Honey" album was a little disappointing.  And by a little you can read a lot.  I had pretty much said I would never attend one of her concerts again.  Ever.  All right.  It was more severe than that.  Blood was spilled and oaths were sworn.  A goat may have been sacrificed. 

So what was wrong with that show?  Vague and disorientated, Ms Williams stumbled around the stage in a manner suggesting someone had slipped her a Rohypnol and it may well have been her.  She kept telling us how great it was to be playing in a rock and roll club.  The “rock and roll club” in question was the all-seated Enmore Theatre. 

The seats were so tightly jammed against each other that you couldn't clap for fear of putting someone's eye out.  The band laid down a brutal four-on-the-floor boogie.  She indulged in strange off beat dance steps, shifting weight from foot to foot and clapping hands above head.  These activities seemed to bear no resemblance to the placement of snare and bass drum.

Some of Melbourne’s keenest worshippers of guitar pioneer Link Wray will share their adulation of the man with Sydney on Saturday, October 19 with a special gig at Enmore’s Hideaway Bar.

All-girl combo The Wraylettes (Melbourne) will be joined by sleazy ’60s psychedelia advocates Cheetah Beat, surf reverb fanatics Los Tremoleros (Melbourne) and Sydney’s own The Missing Link with DJ support from King O.P.P.

The Wraylettes are something of a supergroup, comprising lead guitarist Yolanda DeRose (DollSquad, Mass Cult and The Beat Taboo), drummer Susan Shaw (The Exotics, Girl Monstar, The Wet Ones and Andre Williams), bassist Nikki Scarlett (Asylum, Dusty Springclean & The Pops. The Jasmine Mahon Trio) and guitarist Sammy-Lou (The Shimmys The Vibrajets.)

Cheetah Beat are no slouches too with membership drawn from The Crusaders and The Booby Traps while The Missing Link were Link Wray’s Sydney pick-up band for his one and only Australian tour in the ‘90s. Leader Bones and Co play out rarely these days.

The Link Wray Tribute became a thing on the Melbourne live music calendar a couple of years ago. Hideaway Bar is at 156 Enmore Road - a short stroll form the Enmore Theatre. Admission is just $10.

And so the return, and rise, of the Sunnyboys continues. If you said they could top this one, you’d need to back it up.

They billed themselves as Kids in Dust when they stepped back onto a stage for the first time in 21 years at the Dig It Up festival in Sydney on April 24, 2012. The nom de plume was supposedly to avoid performance anxiety or to ramp down expectations, maybe both. It didn’t matter; any tentativeness was swamped by a roomful of love.

Nor were there any misgivings in evidence at the same packed venue, the Enmore Theatre, last Saturday night. Just an irresistible king-tide of energy and good spirit.

Photos by Emmy Etie

Enmore Theatre - March 29, 2014

Richard Burgman was adamant when he bounced up to the microphone before a note was played and declared that the Sydney show would be the Sunnyboys' last. Who could blame him if he meant their final gig ever rather than the end of the tour. Informed sources say it's not the case and that the Sunnyboys will live on.