Head Like A Hole
29th April 2017
Ding Dong Lounge, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Sarah Kidd. Photography by Matt Henry Mendonca.
The boys are back and are heading to a town near you – and it all begins this Thursday May 4th in the city of Tauranga. But tonight is the warm-up, the first full run through of their album 13 in front of a live audience, who are absolutely chomping at the bit to see Head Like A Hole perform the tracks that they grew up listening to.
Taking the stage at Auckland’s Ding Dong Lounge, Head Like A Hole are primed and ready to go. Booga Beazley is looking leaner and definitely meaner, Nigel Regan is his usual looming self and together with Simon Nicholls on bass, Andrew Ashton on guitar and Michael Browne on drums you just know that tonight is going to make your ears bleed. Starting from humble beginnings back in 1990 in Wellington, HLAH released their debut ‘Shitnoise’ on cassette only, the original copies of which are now harder to find than hen’s teeth. But it was ’13’ released in 1992 after the band signed to Wildside Records that secured their place in New Zealand history.
Raucous performances including playing naked and/or covered in mud, dodgy stories, interesting stage props and on stage antics have all been the name of the game for these lads. Fast forward to 2017 and as HLAH start off with album opener ‘Hole’ it immediately hits you just how good they are sounding. Sure a couple of the original faces have since moved on to different places but this is quintessentially HLAH through and through. The band are roaring through the 13 album, each track eliciting different memories for the people attending, and for those too young to remember the days when the album first came out this is a live experience to top all others.
“How we sounding? Alright? Any requests?” Beazley asks the audience; “Make it louder!” somebody shouts back. “Actually I was thinking of turning the PA off and just doing it like we do in rehearsals, with just the singing and shit” Beazley cheekily answers back, that wry smile of his letting you know that he is in fine form. Going into ‘Fish Across Face’ and it’s like everyone shifts up another gear; this is it, this is the song that any Head Like A Hole fan worth their weight knows, loves and celebrates hearing live. And there are certainly a few members of the audience tonight who are doing just that; moshing away like there is no tomorrow. Regan’s fingers are fair flying, his legs astride he stares down the audience. He is looking rather dapper tonight with his waistcoat and jeans a far cry from the old days of pure nakedness.
“I’m going to tell you a little story about this next song” Beazley grins as he leans out over the edge of the stage on his microphone stand – “It happened when I was 16 and best friends with this guy [points at Regan] and stayed at his house one night” “We still are!” Regan quickly points out to Beazley referencing the previous best friends comment; Beazley pauses looking at Regan “yeah, but some days…” that cheeky grin again lighting up his face. He then goes on to give us a detailed story about two best friends, a lot of beer and the resulting faecal matter that was stuck to his ass “like a brick”. Ah the good ole days. ‘Narcotics, Noise and Nakedness’ is the perfect title for not only the song but the life history of Head Like A Hole; the song having lost none of its ferocity despite being 25 years old this year.
During ‘Ritual Groove Meister’ a audience member gets up close to the stage; seeing an opportunity, Regan reaches down and grabs the fan by the shoulder and turns him so that he is facing the audience. He then places one of those long lanky legs over the guy’s shoulder. Reading the situation perfectly, said fan braces himself as Regan (while still playing) pushes himself off the stage and onto the guy’s shoulders – playing at full speed while being taken for a round circuit trip of the bar.
Finishing on the aptly named ‘12’ the twelfth and last track on the album and the boys take a second to gauge the audience reaction, the roaring of voices and huge smiles planted on everyone’s faces telling them all they need to know. “How was that?” Beazley asks everyone “Good? Still HLAH?” An audience member screams out “Fuck yes!” which basically summed it all up in two short words. “Well we are going to play some classics now” Beazley tells us and with that we are taken through a blistering set of well-known HLAH songs including ‘Cornbag’, ‘Wet Rubber’, ‘Glory Glory’ and ‘Hootenanny’. But it’s the final song of the night, their cover of the timeless Springsteen track ‘I’m On Fire’ that really blows everyone away. Beazley hitting the high notes and singing each and every word with meaning – proving that they aren’t just a one trick pony.
Do yourself a favour – catch the boys at one of their 12 shows around the country this coming May because frankly they have never sounded better.
Were you lucky enough to be there at the Ding Dong Lounge for this awesome kiwi rock showcase? Or have you seen Head Like A Hole live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Setlist:
- Hole
- Life’s A Joke
- Nevermind Today
- Afro Surprise
- Wrapped To Death
- Fish Across Face
- Fat Little Man
- Penut
- Big Mouth
- Narcotics, Noise and Nakedness
- Ritual Groove Meister
- 12
- Cornbag
- 1 Pound, 2 Pound
- Comfortably Shagged
- Wet Rubber
- Trouble Again
- Head Of Ignorance
- Glory Glory
- Hootenanny
- I’m On Fire [Bruce Springsteen – cover]
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