mclusky, The Cops, Annandale Hotel, Sydney, 09/07/04

The Annandale housed an unsuspecting crowd tonight. Amongst the thick smoke in the pub, little did everyone know how much their ears would be ringing by the end of the evening. In the meantime, I was feeling rather peeved after I?d just spilt half a schooner of beer on myself. Where better to unleash some pent up anger than at a mclusky gig?

I braved the ever-increasing wet patch on my jeans to catch The Cops, who are one of those addictive, foot-tapping bands that?ll suck you in. I sometimes wonder what these bands were doing 4-5 years ago when black bowl cuts on girls weren?t cool, and nobody listened to Television and MC5 much.

The band works well together. They?ve got a crazy haired bespectacled singer, who bashes away on a drum box (very Cato Salsa Experience) and generally gets the crowd shaking their butts. I declare them warm up band of the year.

Three piece Welsh band mclusky left a mark on us last year after their successful string of shows around the country. There?s just something so wholesome in the way that vocalist Andy Falkous screams into the mic, ?My love is bigger than your love/ We take more drugs than a touring funk band!?

Mclusky?s new record, The Difference Between Me and You is That I?m Not on Fire, was produced by Steve Albini ? that dude who worked with Nirvana and the Pixies. The truth is mclusky would rock out regardless of who they worked with, which is evident by the force of their sound on stage.

"Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues" was the opener of the evening, prompting the crowd to yell out lots of rude words at the top of their lungs. ?How many boh-gans bought some ciggies from the ser-voh on the way here tonight?? Bassist Jon Chapple yells out in his thick Welsh accent. Mclusky?s on stage banter is one of the best things about seeing them live ? the crowd warmed to them immediately. And having bought some ciggies from the servo myself, I thought Chapple was some freaky mind reader. Or maybe just a funny Welsh dude.

On the new tracks "That Man Will Not Hang", "Without MSG I am Nothing" and "Kkkitchens, What Were you Thinking?", you can tell mclusky wear their Jesus and Mary Chain influences proudly.

Falkous introduces another new track "Slay!" as a ?shitty, slow song?. It actually sounds like a more menacing version of a Mogwai track; creeping up on you before launching into an all out assault on the ears. Even the intimidating riff in "You Should Be Ashamed, Seamus" has a haunting, post-rock feel.

Clearly it is the tracks off the 2002 release mclusky do dallas that are the crowd pleasers; "Alan is a Cowboy Killer" and "Collagen Rock" receive large applauses. Falkous sings disturbingly, ?Keep your killing clean my love/ just keep your killing clean!? on the track "1956 and all that", then adds ?Once a year or maybe twice your son looks like Michael Jackson!? (Yeah, I don?t get it either.) The punk infused "Rice is Nice" and "Gareth Brown Says" are belted out in the swift encore and mclusky walk off stage as quickly as they came on.

It was a gig that had potential to be like any other fast, loud show, except mclusky do it all with a satirical edge. I?m pretty sure everyone who attended can be stamped certifiably insane. Kudos to the funny Welsh band.