Campus Band Competition WA final
Globe Entertainment Complex, 1999 September 17
Henry F Skerritt with the Holy Sea, Bordello, Full Scale Deflection, Jed Whitey, the Droogs, gyroscope.
The Kiss My WAMI CD was playing before nine, but thereafter no more local music was issued from the DJ desk. Instead we got two hours of music from six bands lined up in one of the major bands competitions in this country. Nobody made it to this final from Curtin Uni, so their students could just come along and barrack for whoever they liked.
gyroscope. drew the short straw and went on first, facing a slightly smaller crowd than the others. They began with a relatively quiet song, then lit the fuse for their nineties punk pop, with a bit of rap and ska chucked in for good measure. They had a bunch of fans up front going around in circles; must be the gyroscope dance.

And now for something completely different, as Monty Python used to say: the Droogs, who took their name from A Clockwork Orange. They sound like they have been listening their parent's record collections, stuff like Jimi Hendrix, Soft Machine and King Crimson. They are more towards the jazz funk side of progressive rock, rather than the classical music inspired branch. Instrumentals made up most of the set, and they should keep it that way, as the singer wasn't up to the virtuoso skills they showed in other departments.

I wouldn't call Jed Whitey a desert rock band, because that label has two meanings (it used to refer to bands like Ilkari Maru from the red centre). They had a heavy sound that seemed to bounce between Luke and Louis. It was loud - I am sure the bouncers out on Murray street could hear it. Both sang with American accents and gave the four fingers of rock salute. Afterwards Mark Genge commented that the large mirror ball was swaying to their music, and he worried it might have fallen down.

I had not heard or seen Full Scale Deflection before, and wondered if the propaganda about them were true. I got my answer. Rarely has a band made such an impact the first time I have seen them. Three blokes in bloody surgeon's attire carried a bag on stage and plonk it down. A face painted white pops out, then rest of the singer, wearing only a jockstrap. He began with the song ''I am not your playtoy, I am not your little boy''. His voice goes from meek mincing (like Frank Spencer in Some Mother Do Have 'Em) to intense screaming. It was electrifying. Zeke Ox climbed on top of the speaker stack, which is about four metres above the dance floor at the Globe and dived into the crowd. I was unable to look away in case I missed something like that again. The mirror ball did come down, actually the whole lighting rig descended. Presumably somebody hit the wrong switch, but I was half expecting Zeke to jump out and grab onto it. With all that tension, something snapped: a string on the bass guitar. Not a common event, but you can't afford things like that to happen in a competition final. They finished with 200 years, then Zeke was carried off by Jimmy and the Freys, his face quivering. Chants arose FSD! FSD! FSD!

Bordello are buffoons. That is the first time you see them. After you have heard the songs a few times, their comedy is no longer funny. So you are left with the music, and that's nothing special. They came on in the colours of the Wiggles for Wake up Jeff. First gag was the singer taking off his long-sleeve top to reveal a T-shirt of the same colour. The highlight of their set was their vicious version of Non, je ne regrette rien, where they had their fan club wave sparklers. In terms of crowd response, Bordello and the previous band got the most, it was hard to pick which was stronger.

There was some delay in the setting up of the last act, which had twice as many members as some of the earlier bands. You could tell from the looks of dismay on the faces of the sound engineer and some of the band that something wasn't connecting. Did they have a soundcheck before opening? Eventually Henry F Skerritt with the Holy Sea were cleared for take-off. Henry climbed onto the speakers like Zeke, but didn't jump off. Instead he continued to the upper floor. Later he jumped from the stage and went through the crowd and onto the bar. It seemed like he was trying too hard.

After a wait longer than the twenty minutes that was suggested earlier, Genge came back with Stu Badhair to announce the results: Jed Whitey 3, Full Scale Deflection 2, and Bordello 1.

review by Michael