The Great Britain Hotel is a murky old pub with traditional bar, stinking old pool table and walls adorned with indiscriminate crap. Those same walls are reverberating with the sound of Hong Kong Mississippi (who I discovered in April) – that distinctive ramshackle drumbeat with the spiky trebly tone of the guitar up front.

As we enter the small band room I catch a glimpse of that old coffee table guitar – I love it! Tonight the room is absolutely full and the crowd is extremely interactive with the band – seems like word has spread of how eccentrically brilliant HKM are.

As with the last time I saw them, they deliver from start to finish with their unusual brand of psycho-billy swamp rock. They play songs like Suicide Train, Ditch Dog and Cowboy (Gonna Eat You Up). The southern drawl of Sasha, the singer is once again impressive and their rickety sound astonishes most of those in the room.

Hong Kong Mississippi have one hell of a sound and I’ll be bugging them to get any sort of recordings I can (a vinyl would be nice!), they’re a band with a raw energy like Eddie Cochran in Rock N’ Roll Kids and a weird vibe like the Cramps in their final song (what looks like on the setlist as haahooheehahahaeehehe or something just as brilliant).

They finish up and we wait around, I’m slaughtered at a game of pool in between bands – I can sink the balls OK but my short game is horrendous, anything resembling a sport to me I can’t do.

After a bit more waiting and scoping out the sheer genius of the Great Britain Hotel, Los Hories take to the stage and blow me the fuck away. Last time I saw Hong Kong Mississippi the headliners Wrong Turn weren’t quite the best band of the night, I’d put that down to HKM being so good but tonight both bands are equally as excellent.

Los Hories open up with something that sounds a bit like I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend and if you know me at all, anything resembling The Ramones is cool with me – greatest band ever. The other thing I dig is the fact it sounds a bit like Daniel Johnston singing vocals.

LH consists of three members and make one hell of a racket, the vocalist/guitarist who looks a bit like a young Billy Corgan, the drummer with what looks like a Pettibon t-shirt and the beautiful young bass player who, if you’ve followed my writings here at all, you know I have a massive fetish for chicks with guitars – my other half still hasn’t taken up the bass though I’m sad to report.

They have one hell of a sound that’s a bit like a mix between The Hives with Frank Black on vocals or ’68 Comeback or The Oblivians or any band from In The Red Records with strong grunge vocal leanings. They’ve got a classic pop thing going on but with a bit more sex than The Ronettes or The Shangri-La’s ever displayed – don’t get me wrong though Ronnie Spector was hot but she didn’t play guitar and pull of kick-ass poses whilst making people’s ears bleed.

“…the guys have one loud goddamn sound going on with constant thumping heartbeat drums and deeeeeeep but tuneful bass in the bottom of it all.”

The guitar has a great angular tone which reminds me of Nicholas Arson and together the guys have one loud goddamn sound going on with constant thumping heartbeat drums and deeeeeeep but tuneful bass in the bottom of it all.

Their a tight a well honed band with great backing vocals, melodies and pop sensibilities (that’s if pop had ADD), they finish up the night with an awesome ballad and I rush to the singer to buy a CD and find out where I can see them next – tomorrow? Alright!

© Danny Crombie

Photos – Hong Kong Mississippi

Los Hories

Melbourne is one helluva place; it’s massive but everywhere’s closed on Good Friday, what’s that all about!? Roll on Saturday and we find ourselves at the Great Britain hotel through recommendation to go see Hong Kong Mississippi’s first show.

First of all, I’m diggin’ the name – any band named after a Bo Diddley song is a band I like, you can already tell what they’re gonna sound like!

We arrive in the hotel. It’s a cavernous old pub with various little rooms all intertwined, it takes a minute to suss out where the music’s happening but after spotting a guitar neck round a corner it becomes apparent. That guitar belongs to the singer of Hong Kong Mississippi, who looks a bit like a manic Jerry Lee Lewis holding what looks like one of Ted Crocker’s finest guitars – it’s essentially a dinner table with pickups – oh yes!

They start up with one crazy motherfucker of a song called Pork Chops, Smoky Bacon, Barbeque Ribs which is sung with a great big southern growl and played with a ramshackle rhythm reminiscent of The 5,6,7,8’s or The Oblivians.

“The song they play is called Suicide Train and the diddley bow sounds absolutely brilliant, what a thing! More people need to use ‘em but use ‘em right.”

A few songs later of much and such the same they bring out the Diddley Bow. – don’t confuse that for Bo Diddley. If you know who Seasick Steve is then you’ll know that a diddley bow is essentially a plank of wood with a bit of metal nailed to it and a piezo transducer (or guitar pickup) attached. I made one myself and they sound like the real deal, even if you’re not. of course. I suppose these days if ya know who

The song they play with it is called Suicide Train and the diddley bow sounds absolutely brilliant, what a thing! More people need to use ‘em but use ‘em right – these guys know what the deal is! A few more songs go on such as “Rock n’ Roll Kids”, “Jack the Ripper” and they end with what I’m gonna call the ‘Manic Screaming Song’.

Hong Kong Mississippi is a band with a beat, a rhythm and one helluva howl on top, I hope to see them again and collect everything they record, they’re a band for weird blues wankers like myself to obsess and get all hard over – oh yes.

Next up, after much waiting and waiting and waiting is Wrong Turn, a two-piece whose drummer looks a bit like Mark Dolan mixed with Pat from the Black Keys and the singer looks a bit like Howard Stern.

I get the kinda notion they look to sound like The Mojomatics, a most excellent Italian garage band who (I believe) formed from the ashes of L’Amico di Martucci who were one truly great hardcore band who perfectly described themselves as “Chuck Berry okayed at 78rpm”.

Wrong Turn have all the equipment that you would dream of, the proper cases for the pieces and the original amps that have been lovingly looked after and are most certainly at least 50 years old. This looks like a good start and they certainly seem to have their shit together.

Sadly to say I’m a bit disappointed with them. They’re both very talented guys but their first song sounds like The Rolling Stones covering Bonie Maronie, the second like The Rolling Stones covering Bo Diddley, and the third like The Rolling stones ripping off Chuck Berry. The audience don’t seem too interested in them either for the whole part, there’s faint applause and faint interest. At one point it gets to be a bit much and we decide to give up and scam a ride home on the tram.

I’m not sure if it’s an off night for them or I’m so blown away by Hong Kong Mississippi to not even understand the point of Wrong Turn. They werecertainly the tighter and better band of the evening but are just not as good.

© Danny Crombie

Wrong Turn – www.myspace.com/wrongturnrockandroll