Music fans all let us rejoice for Wally, Kris and Tim Basic have headed back to The Basics with their Leftover Ingredients Tour.
Joining them on the road are Louis Spoils, the project of talented musician and songwriter Jake Rush, and indie-folk outfit Hoy.
Spoils outright admits he is terrified of playing in front of an audience come to see the main event.
Whilst battling nerves, he nonetheless shows why he was hand-picked to support the trio as he delivers a short set of songs with clear smooth vocals and equally cool guitar-playing. Starting with opener “The Fixx” from his self-titled EP, he went from strength to strength endearing himself to the Sunday evening crowd.
Hoy is a happy, positive band. There is no other way around it, you feel good just by listening to them.
The six-piece (who borrowed Basic’s Tim Heath on guitar for the night) mix old with new, combine poetry with pop, create envious harmonies and delivered stand out performances with originals “Brigitte Bardot” and “Moat In Space” and Triffids cover “Raining Pleasure”. There is even a viola amongst their myriad of instruments lending an almost ethereal touch to their sound.
The Corner Hotel’s iconic band room is now at full capacity. It is the third sold out show of the Melbourne leg of the tour.
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The Basics have been on hiatus for the past three years, each member going off on individual pursuits: Drummer, Wally De Backer, to focus on his project Gotye; bassist, Kris Schroeder, to work for the Red Cross in Kenya; and guitarist Tim Heath to work on the film The Rise And Rise Of Richard Latté.
Anticipation amongst the crowd is understandably high: the lads are back on home turf.
The curtains are drawn and on stage stand three men looking sharp in their dress pants, crisp white shirts and black ties. They are a little older, a little wiser, are still quick-witted in their banter and each still has that irrepressible smile when they are on stage together.
First off the rank is “Hey There!” with Schroeder on lead vocals. It’s surprisingly upbeat and poppy for a song about a guy who is afraid some other guy is trying to steal his girl away from him. But hey, they make it work and the audience is already in dance mode.
Hot on its trail is De Backer’s vocals on “Just Hold On” with that special brand of Basics harmonising from Heath and Schroeder thrown into the mix.
Next up is “My Baby”, complete with a spot of doo-wop backup vocals , a birthday request via twitter from fan Karina Childs, to which Schroeder is happy to point out they do in fact check their Twitter account.
One thing must be noted here: The Basics are renowned as much for their on stage presence, as well as, actually playing music.
Hence, it is no surprise when a discussion about song requests starts between the band and audience. In the near quiet of the room, one punter starts to sing the lyrics to “My Baby” to which Schroeder replies, “Really? We literally just did that. But hey, we’ll do it again.” And so the opening bars of the song start all over again…
The Basics are like an equilateral triangle: each member equally holds his own in the super talented trio, and they all come together to play tight high energy old-school rock ‘n’ roll and pop music.
De Backer is insane behind drums, working up a sweat bashing away at his kit during the edgier numbers such as “Money (Gimme Gimme)” and “Rattle My Chain”, miraculously not breaking his sticks into smithereens.
Heath held the room captivated as he sang country-esque “Hey Rain”, the silence and respect from the crowd completely tangible.
And Schroeder’s emotive voice shone through with more sombre affairs “All or Nothing” and “What Do You See In Me?”
The band possess a charming appeal that allow them to indulge in their love of 60s music, a la the Beatles circa Love Me Do, without appearing in the least bit cheesy.
In fact, they do this particular style so well it is like they have reinvented it in their own mould for the modern age as is the case with songs “Hey C’mon!” and “She’s Gonna B Late”.
Nearing the end of the night, punters were treated to a six song encore that included covers of Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love”, Spencer Davis Group’s “Gimme Some Lovin’” and AC/DC’s “Jail Break” , the show coming to a fitting close with Basic’s very danceable retro-style “Call It Rhythm and Blues”.
The Basics humbly thanked everyone for making the effort to come down on a school night and finally left the stage smiling amid whistles, applause and yells of appreciation from the audience.
By the looks on the faces of the masses, anyone who was a part of that audience would not have regretted the late night as they trudged into work the following morning. Nor would they regret the inevitable catchy songs milling round inside their heads during the coming days.
The Basics Setlist
Hey There!
Just Hold On
My Baby
Hey C’mon!
So Hard For You
Hey Rain
To Think Of You
The Lucky Country
She’s Gonna B Late
Money (Gimme Gimme)
All Day and All of the Night
Roundabout
Shakedown On 9th Street (Ryan Adam’s cover)
What Do You See In Me?
Encore
All or Nothing
Rattle My Chain
Sunshine of Your Love (Cream cover)
Gimme Some Lovin’ (Spencer Davis Group cover)
Jail Break (AC/DC cover)
Call It Rhythm and Blues
