REVIEW: LA MANCHA NEGRA @ CLUB 77
La Mancha Negra Will Cut Your Balls Off And Feed Them To You In A Casserole
Club 77, 06/08/2010
The music of La Mancha Negra walks a fine line between dead sexy and very threatening. Whether you’re murdering someone or seducing them, theirs is the kind of stuff you want to have playing in the background. They put on a decent live show too, and last night’s performance at Club 77 was a stunner. The venue was decked out in candy skulls and various other mexigoth paraphernalia, face painting was on offer – I unfortunately had to decline due to an infection in my nose ring (gross, I know) – and the crowd were the kind of crowd you want to have at a show like this. Friendly, considerate, upbeat, enjoying the music. Drunk, but not that drunk.
And the band? The band was brilliant. Belting out their unique brand of bluesy rockabilly punk, Simon Trick and co. held the audience tightly in thrall and didn’t let go until their noisy demonstration was brought to its conclusion. They powered faultlessly through favourites like ‘Dig All Night’, ‘Death Roll’ and ‘Diamond Swamp Romp’, terrifying and turning on the crowd before lead singer Akira endearingly called out to his “lovely wife” to please get him another drink.
One thing I always appreciate about La Mancha Negra’s live performances is that they manage to sound more or less the same as they do in recordings, except louder. A lot of people point to this like it’s something negative, that it shows a lack of imagination or musicianship, but I think it’s what makes their shows so accessible and enjoyable. And, as evidenced by last night’s punters, extremely danceable.
The only negative point about the show I can really think of is that LMN were quite static on stage, not really moving around very much. But having said that, the Club 77 stage ain’t that big and what they lacked in physical movement they made up for in dynamism. Their next show will be at the Oxford Arts Factory’s third birthday on August 20, so be sure to head over and check them out.
Ali Woods
FASHION BIBLE ‘VOGUE’ COMES TO SURRY HILLS
The world is revolving around Sydney right now, if you didn’t know, then you must be living under a rock. Fashion Bible to all who believe, VOGUE has come out strong with its September Issue (The January for fashion publications worldwide). The cover features the beautiful Australian super model Catherine McNeil flanked by Sydney rocker Akira from Sydney band LA MANCHA NEGRA, both hanging out waitin for the rest of the gang to join them for milkshakes ala 50′s stylee.
The fashion story inside also features a few more rockers ie; the handsome Liam from the now daparted THE SCARE, he has a new band MYTH & TROPICS. Apparently one guy is from a famous Rockabilly band in Newcastle (will get info) and the other guy is the son of Angus Young from AC DC.
Anyway if you know your Surry Hills street wall paper then you’ll be happy to see that the infamous rooftop of the Hibernian House is featured heavily in the shoot. Some of Sydney’s most iconic artists and random’s have lived here over the years including Ben Frost, Bridge Stehli (we’re featuring her right now), Love Ariel, Oliver Heath, Stupid Krap, World End Studios, Anthony Lister, Beastman, Kill Pixie and more…
The story was styled by Australia’s no.1 stylist / Vogue fashion director, Naomi Smith (has kids to one of the FAIT ACCOMPLI‘s). And to cap it all off, the whole she bang was photographed by the talented Max Doyle (yes front man for SONGS).
It’s nice to see a little bit of Sydney being put in a time capsule in the pages of one of the more important fashion magazines of our time. Choosing Surry Hills over more famous locations such as Paris or New York is a sign that maybe Sydney is coming of age and what we’re doing here is worth showing to the world. More Ben Frost / Beastman and less Banksy imposters on the walls please.
Check out the behind the scenes video of the shoot here
Link to the actual story c/o FASHION GONE ROGUE here
*We were joking about the Angus Young’s son bit.
VOGUE September Issue out today.
