Live Review: HITS, Bitter Sweet Kicks, Mick Medew & The Rumours, Gravel Samwidge, Scremain' Stevie, Dead Wolves, The Dirty F-Holes

It's a night of pinballing between The Underdog's two band rooms as local reprobates HITS unleash an unrelenting barrage of primal rock'n'roll to celebrate the launch of their epic sophomore effort Hikikomori. First up in the old pokies room are local fire and brimstone five-piece The Dirty F-Holes, who come across like the bastard offspring of The Johnnys and Supersuckers. They churn through a slew of great tracks which touch on cowpunk, dirty blues and massive barroom boogie, possessing the grimy charisma to pull it all off authentically.

There's no contrivance at the inside stage either as rising Brisbane four-piece Dead Wolves unleash a massive, primal racket on the unsuspecting punters before them, at one point a snippet of The Beatles' A Hard Day's Night legible amidst the maelstrom. They're a malleable proposition, slipping from hard rock to post-rock into relative doom soundscapes with consummate ease. Towards the end of the set frontman Bones clambers high on the cases behind the stage and starts whipping his bandmates with the slack from his mic lead – awesome – and at the end of the set he slams that same mic into his head with such ferocity and repetition that there's soon blood flying everywhere. Rock'n'roll!

Next up garage legend Screamin' Stevie holds court from his familiar position behind the organ centre-stage – clad in a wonderful yellow cape with sunnies perched on his head – and pounds through a stream of songs from his various bands from the last couple of decades, songs like She Just Likes To Dance and Don't Love You No More sounding like pop radio hits from a distant dimension. The female vocalist on his left provides the perfect counterpoint, as Stevie and his band deliver a great set of soul-tinged rock'n'roll.
Back inside, veterans Gravel Samwidge offer up a wonderfully messy noise barrage, their sound seeming to be simultaneously loose and dense (in the best possible way). Local gunslinger Matt Kennedy plays his guitar over in the shadows outside the makeshift stage barrier formed by the foldback speakers, but his lack of proximity doesn't hold back the tsunami of sludge one iota.
Next up rock icon Mick Medew and his current band The Rumours run through a raucous set of classics covering the whole gamut of his decorated career. A ripping cover of The Only Ones' evergreen Another Girl, Another Planet (which Medew long ago made his own) sets the bar high early, before they smash a version of High Time (by Mick's legendary alma mater The Screaming Tribesmen) and HITS frontman Evil Dick joins them for a ripsnorting rendition of the Tribesmen's Igloo. Another Tribesmen classic Ice follows soon after, and then they absolutely hammer The Flamin' Groovies' Shake Some Action – all in all a completely cracking set.
The lone interstate act on tonight's powerhouse bill – Melbourne swamp rockers Bitter Sweet Kicks – continue the night's motif of booze-fuelled, sweat-laden performances as they launch their own new album, the brand-spankin' Eat Your Young. Their bastardised blues at times sounds like it could come from nowhere else but the southern capital, but they give it a distinctive, twisted spin which has heads banging and feet moving fast. A couple of songs remind of Scandinavian rockers Gluecifer – which can only be a good thing – and their set descends into gloriously shambolic chaos with members climbing on pool tables and smiling punters fleeing everywhere.

Finally it's time for the unveiling of HITS' incendiary second record Hikikomori, and right from the outset the five-piece fail to even slightly disappoint. A dapper, suit-clad Evil Dick has his sunnies firmly on – perhaps so we can't see the state of his pupils – but he's on fire, his debonair look quickly giving way to debauchery as he flies his middle finger with venom during their opening gambit of old faithful Fuck The Needy. The sound is pristine and they bring the rock with utter abandon as they continue with Bullet Train and standalone single Pills, every member pulling their weight as the band pounds forward with uncanny momentum.  As a raucous Bitter And Twisted gives way to a delightfully messy Disappointed, it's clear that not only are the new album's tracks killing it in the live realm, but that this band can alter moods at will. The rhythm section of Gregor Mulvey (drums) and Andy Buchanan (bass) holds the whole thing down while the twin guitar attack of Tamara Bell and Stacey Coleman are unrelenting with their avalanche of killer riffs (plus of course the sugar they bring to proceedings with their faultless backing vocals). By the time they've powered through G-Banger, Jesus F Christ, Touch Of The Shorts and the catchy-as-fuck Loose Cannons things are getting messy, cigarettes being smoked with abandon and stage divers flailing everywhere. Their version of Joy Division's Shadowplay from the new album somehow sounds even better live, and they finish a belter of a set with old fave Peter And Paul and their ever-incredible cover of The Laughing Dogs' I Need A Million, and that's it – there will be no encore, HITS deciding to honour the old adage 'leave 'em wanting more'. A brilliant night of diverse rock'n'roll brought to a climax with one of the best 'real' rock bands that Brisbane has ever produced. Dirty is the new black.