Two outta Four Ain't Bad!

The Dawn Collective with Tobias Cummings and the Long Way Home, The Smoking Muskets and Des Miller
The Hopetoun Hotel
Friday 13th July 2007

After fleeing from Wagamamas to escape the strange person who had sat next to me and ordered Chilli Crab without any chilli I walked into a nice warm pub brimming with people rocking to the first act of the evening. Des Miller, namesake and lead singer, looked like Cat Stevens circa 1972 and even had the wool fisherman coat. The sound, however, of the five piece band was more akin to the Travelling Wilbys and Pink Floyd. With Buddy Holly on the drums (aka Chris Rudge) doing his best to add some tempo to songs that I image would be flat without him. Shortly before singing the last song of the evening, a little ditty called ‘Borderline on Fire’ they announced they would be back with an album that ‘should be out before next Autumn’.

- Is it just me of were Des and theCat separated at birth?

After a short break, two fifths of The Smoking Muskets appeared on stage. Singer Angie Who and acoustic guitarist Chad Mason had made the effort to turn up for a booking that had no doubt been made but, apparently the others couldn’t make it, even though they reside in Sydney. The two of them struggled through a seven song set that included a version of Fleetwood Macs ‘Dreams’ that would have Stevie Nicks rolling in her grave, if she was dead. And that’s all I have to say about that!

With a tune up that lasted forever, I was starting to think that was the sound of Tobias Cummings and The Long Way Home. No, it was worse. The opening song for the band from Melbourne, ‘Oh Joe!’ started with a lengthy acoustic solo followed by a wail, then the delightful lyrics ‘giving birth to a devil in a cocktail dress‘. I have to confess to thinking about leaving at this point. But the next song lifted the tone a bit, and the next again ‘Sunny Disposition’ had a sound that matched the title. ‘Folding In’ took a turn back to the Franz Kafka lyrics, but I knew I only had to persevere for about ten more minutes to get the main act of the night. It did mean of course that I also had to cope with the feedback and wahwah pedal that marked the end of their set. Ohh... ear drums I’m sorry to put you through it.

The wait was worth it though and I was glad of the prime position I had got myself because the room was filled with fans. People who had come to see the music of The Dawn Collective, not just drink and chat over the artistes. I watched as suited gents sat at the electric cello (Simeon Johnson), loosened the waistcoat and tie behind the drums (Robby Fernandez) and straightened shoulder lines under guitar straps (Greg Bell – Guitar and Andrew Bennett vocals and guitar). The odd one out was the fifties suburban housewife on bass complete with floral dress and wide headband (Stacey).

- Poetry in Motion
- Am I wrong? Please tell me if I am...

They started the ten song set with ‘All those Pigs and Enemies’ before moving one too ‘A Park Covered with Trees’ and ‘A Handful of Moments’. At which point Simeon, who had been bowing like a dervish was required to tend to his bow to remove broken fibres before continuing onto ‘Eat, Drink for Tomorrow We Die’. These had even perfected the song with false ending for two rounds of applause. Masterful. By the end of the set the room had heated up and the sweat had started to pour off multi tasking Robby with his bongo, drums and rattle, so no encore was played. It was a shame, I would have like to see more as any type of classification was escaping me. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who wanted the Hopetoun to break curfew.

- Really they were enjoying themselves!

After the concert I was walking home and saw a poster from the bLuejuice concert I went a couple of weeks ago. I stopped to point out the outrageous pink fishnet top the lead singer was wearing when the guy shutting up shop asked me if it liked them. I responded in the affirmative and was told they were crap, before the bass player revealed himself counting creditcard slips behind the counter. He recognised me as the person who had asked for the set list that night and asked my name. I gave him my real name, then he asked if I had written a review, I said yes, then he said he thought he’d seen it on a blog, but the names didn’t match. I asked was if it was a green blog, he said yes and there was Rachel mentioned.

I confessed we were one and the same person, he confessed to a vanity search on Google. He thanked me for a good review. I received my first payment for a review tonight, a bar of Toblerone.