Sex on Toast at The Empress Hotel, Melbourne – Gig review and show photos

The Gig: Sex On Toast and Mamushka
Where: The Empress Hotel, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
When: 25 August 2010
In One Word: Sensational

First question:  How many fucking bands is Melbourne’s Angus Leslie in?  Second question:  How the fuck does he always manage to get so many bloody people out to said bands’ shows on weekdays?  I recently compared this sonavabitch to Frank Zappa, but let’s be fair:  He actually has more vocal range than Zappa, ie. is arguably a better singer, but he’s not quite as sensational a guitarist.  But damn close.

Mamushka play first…a band I have never before had the pleasure of, but “pleasure” is the key word here.  All manner of “world”-y music and jazz, by way of a touch of metal and other less Conservatorium Of Music-friendly genres:  The sound of gypsies having accidentally wandered into Texas Chainsaw Massacre territory, in other words…always a good thing in my book.  So yeah, granted, they’re very Estradasphere an’ all, and no great shakes visually – sheer bloody-minded musicianship reigning supreme here – but fuck it, they’re pretty darned awesome.  And a quick Myspace hit tells me they even have members of the Doch Gypsy Orchestra and Bedroom Philosopher in their midst, along with that seemingly ubiquitous Angus fella, so their cup clearly runneth over with talent.

So who’s up next?  Oh fuck me, it’s Sex On Toast…

I’ve written about these guys before, so what more can I possibly say?  You like entertainment?  Well, you may well be in luck!  But what’s that…you don’t much care for Zappa/Patton/Zorn-esque perversions of the jazz and rock genres?  Well, my friend, you may well be shit outta luck.  Unless of course you like fairly faithful (if male-fronted) covers of Rihanna songs?  And snippets of George Michael songs chucked willy-nilly amongst all manner of other pop detritus?  Well, maybe you’ll enjoy this after all.  Sex On Toast quite genuinely fit the bill of “something for everyone” entertainment…seriously, if you don’t get at least one or two smiles out of their unashamedly smug antics, check yer pulse, ’cause you may already be among the living dead.  In this post-post(-post?)-modern age we unfortunately live in, this really is as good as it gets.  Good old-fashioned showmanship, motherfuckers…word.  If you live anywhere near Melbourne and have the chance to check ‘em out, do me a favour (and yourself, while you’re at it) and check ‘em out…and if you STILL don’t like ‘em, then I’ll personally kick you in the nuts, no extra charge.

© Michael Bowser, Music Vice

Pictures of Sex On Toast at The Empress Hotel:

Related internet links:
Sex On Toast interview
Sex On Toast Myspace

Tags: Mamushka, Sex On Toast

This entry was posted on August 29, 2010 at 2:44 pm and is filed under Gig Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.