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Current Reviews: The Lime Spiders - Gaelic Theatre, 3 November 2007 Back in the band's heyday, the Lime Spiders were famously dubbed by Rolling Stone Magazine as "The Sex Pistols on acid". Tonight it would have been the Dolly Rocker Movement, with their twin tambourines and woozy Farsifa freak-outs, that would be most likely to supply it to them. Supports for the night, The Devil Rock Four will never, ever be accused of false advertising. This Melbourne quartet are a bad-ass follicle-flinging, splayed-leg, forked-fingered menace. They live in a world of big hair, tight jeans and loose women, baby! They even threw in a cover of Radio Birdman's 'Murder City Nights' featuring a couple of intemperate audience members on backing vocals. The Lime Spiders began with singer Mick Blood pointing out they were here to launch what is their first release for 17 years and uttering a brazen welcoming of "If you don't enjoy this there's something f*cking wrong with you!". The Lime Spider's revered initial incarnation included three consecutive Australian number one indie singles in the mid-'80s and trail-blazing worldwide success. It is one thing to have such an imposing legacy, it is another to play after such a gap without tainting it. But it was soon clear as the band launched into their no fuss, minimal fanfare, scathing rock they were doing no such thing as they picked apart their imposing back catalogue. It was quite something to actually witness the songs to rise up from between the grooves and lurch largely and loudly into life. I'm quite sure Mick Blood didn't take on his moniker due to a fondness for haemoglobin, more likely the state of his throat from the grating, gravely force his voice extracts from it. And after a manic bludgeoning set overseeing the Spiders come alive in the Gaelic cave, he was even want to utter "I don't mean to sound arrogant, but we're back". Andy Ryan 6 Nov 2007 LIME SPIDERS - Live at the Esplanade (Figtree) 8/10 The garage rock revival seems to have fizzled out, but Sydney's Lime Spiders have been keeping the flame alive since the early '80s and aren't about to let it go out now. While younger bands have sparked and faded, this live document from 1998 has been smouldering away on a shelf somewhere, released in preparation for an upcoming national tour. The Live Spiders set St Kilda ablaze with acid-damaged garage punk, Mick Blood's whiskey-and-razorblades voice sounding as rough as Lemmy at times, while still managing some pretty harmonies on these knuckle-dragging, '60s punk gems. Ged Corben and Dave Sparks' trashy guitars are mixed upfront with Blood's vocals, and you couldn't ask for a clearer representation of tunes that could've bubbled up out of a tar pit. Classics like 'Slave Girl' and 'Weirdo Libido' are here, along with a handful of smokin' covers and two previously unreleased songs, 'Dead Boys' and 'Society of Soul' (Strom). SEMINAL AUSTRALIAN rock outfit the Lime Spiders cut their teeth in the halcyon days of the 80s Sydney scene, drinking many of their early riders after having supported the likes of Hoodoo Gurus, The Sunnyboys and The Scientists. Over time they became almost as big as those bands themselves, riding the wave that was the Aussie underground rock scene and releasing a string of excellent singles and a debut album (1987’s The Cave Comes Alive!) which went to the top of the US College charts and saw them tour extensively around the States and Canada. Yet they found this momentum hard to maintain, and after a couple more albums the band pulled up stumps in 1990. There have been a couple of reunions since that time, one of which was captured on their powerful new live album Live At The Esplanade, a release which has prompted another batch of touring for this important and influential band. “I’m really happy with the new record,” founding member and vocalist Mick Blood enthuses. “It was recorded at a show in 1997, and it was both a great performance on the night, and really well-recorded. “As far as I’m concerned - and I think the others would agree - it sounds much better than our other studio stuff. It’s finally captured the power of the band once and for all. “I think we’ve always been more of a live band - I think a lot of rock’n’roll bands have that problem when they go into the studio, trying to capture the power and intensity of their live performance. That’s why it’s good to put out a definitive live album, we probably should have done it ages ago.” It’s difficult to believe that it’s been over 20 years since Lime Spiders set the scene alight with their ferocious ‘Slave Girl’ single. “The bizarre thing that I realised the other day is that this is only the third time that we’ve done a proper national tour,” Blood continues. “We did a lot of separate east-coast runs going south or north from Sydney, but not as a coordinated tour. So this is actually only our third national tour and they’ve been ten years apart - the first one was in 1987, the second one was in 1998 and this is our third one. So every ten years we do a national tour.” They certainly aren’t the only band of their ilk and vintage who are still (or once again) treading the boards. “It’s almost like Sydney circa ’85 at the moment, it’s weird,” Blood laughs. “The Stems have just put out a new album and they’re touring, and Birdman are back on the scene again. And The Scientists are back, and The Hitmen are re-releasing their catalogue and doing a big tour soon. It’s weird. We’re all back out there again. “It was an amazing time, in Sydney in particular. Sydney was where it was at in the 80s - there was obviously some great stuff that came out of the other cities, but there was just an explosion of stuff that came out of Sydney. It was great to be part of that as one of the most prominent bands of that wave - it was a great scene to be associated with.” Lime Spiders play Miami Tavern, Gold Coast on Friday Nov 9 and Step Inn on Saturday Nov 10. Live At The Esplanade out through Figtree/Inertia. STEVE BELL THE LIME SPIDERS – Live at the Esplanade (Fig Tree Records) The Lime Spiders are back in true 80s post-punk psychedelic style Emerging from a forest of check flannel and Ugg boots, Sydney’s western suburbs produced the Lime Spiders who rose up to make a real impact on the independent charts in Australia and the US in 1981. Now after 17 years the group have released a live recording along with two new singles – Society Of Soul and The Dead Boys. Fuelled by the brutal rhythm section of Richard Lawson (drums) and Tony ‘Chief’ Bambach (bass), and slabs of gut-wrenching guitar courtesy of Gerard Corben – Mick Blood found a platform from which to unnerve with his grimy vocals. The sound has subtle reminders of the Sex Pistols or even the more recent Rancid, and has been described by some as the Sex Pistols on acid. Although at times repetitious and largely a tribute album, the Spiders are a tight unit and know how to rock live. JONATHON HOWARD |
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