Pix by Sarah Gilpin
Words by Jimmy Glinster
Winger, the band on the fat kids shirt on Beavis and Butthead. What was his name? I don’t know, and it’s not really important because all I remember is that they used to take the piss out of him for wearing it. It was like they were making them out to be the Nickelback of hard rock back in the day, or something like that. And that’s literally all I know about them, fuck all.
That’s about to change though as I rock in for soundcheck early afternoon at the Princess Theatre. This place is nice, as are the guitar tones coming from the stage. As they check all three guitars one by one, I’m impressed by the quality of tones and the skills of each individual player. These guys can play. Oh, and they can also sing – all four of them across the front of the stage, that is. The drummer keeps quiet up the back, as he and every drummer should. No, you can’t have a microphone, don’t ask! Also, that soundcheck drum solo was completely uncalled for, yet totally brilliant!
After fucking off for some Korean Fried Chicken, we head into the venue just before doors. As the early crowd rolls in, Melbourne’s Shotgun Mistress hit the stage with a massive drum fill followed by a super high-pitched scream that breaks the silence. What follows is a rocking good time of tight riffs, thumping drums and some very flavoursome vocal efforts complete with gang vocals. The vocalist has a Scott Weiland-esque Velvet Revolver-era stage persona but with a little more hair metal to his voice. Maybe it’s just the policeman’s hat or whatever that is, though.
The guitar riffs are rocking, and the bass just drives them home. If I was to compare their sound to a well-known band, I’d probably have to mention Velvet Revolver again because that’s kinda where it sits. It’s just hard rocking hard rock. And yes, it also has a tonne of rocking guitar solos. There aren’t too many bands rocking this style anymore, but these guys are flying the flag high and rocking it hard.
Winger enter the stage in the darkness, and a massive cheer erupts in the crowd. A big Tom hit snaps, and the band wastes no time in rocking the fuck out. Now, I have to apologise in advance because I’m not going to know the name of any of these songs, and I definitely don’t know the name of this one. Hopefully, my photographer Sarah saves the day shortly and shoots me through a set list. Until then though … oh wait, I just got one from my good mate Darren Somerville. That one was called Stick The Knife In And Twist, and this one’s called Seventeen.
I actually know this song, it’s rocking riffs, big choruses and ripping guitar solos. Maybe I’m a closet Winger fan, and maybe I was that fat kid from Beavis and Butthead. I’ll let you decide which one of those is true, maybe both. The crowd erupts with another massive applause … for the song, not me. Well, maybe me …
Next up is Can’t Get Enuff and I reckon I may have heard this one too. Maybe it’s just that the lyrics are easy to sing along to and instantly memorable. The four layers of vocal harmonies really push through to form a massive aural assault. As a bonus, the shredding guitar solos keep coming thick and fast from both sides of the stage.
Down Incognito also blesses us as harmonica solos keep coming, followed by another guitar solo. Holy shit, these dudes can play, and Johnny Roth at left of stage takes a few minutes to rip into a guitar solo of his very own while the band backs him with some solid riffs and thumping rhythms. He then backs it up with a southern banjo-style solo and something they call the Kangaroo Blues.
Frontman Kip Winger takes a minute to apologise for his slightly croaky voice due to having to back up 2 nights in a row amongst a series of flights. If you don’t know, the band’s Sydney show was cancelled due to a fire emergency after Shotgun Mistresses’ opening set. As a show of respect to their Aussie fans, Winger decided to fly back from Adelaide – on their day off – and play a makeup show last night. What absolute champions!
Next up is a rock ballad called Miles Away, which wasn’t written by the band, but I didn’t quite catch who wrote it. I do believe this may have been one of their more popular songs though because it’s got that radio hit feel to it. Big song, and the next one Rainbow has a very similar vibe but does build up to a heavier ending with screaming guitar solos and heavy riffs.
Now it’s time for Reb Beach to take on a guitar solo. If you don’t already know, Reb also plays for Whitesnake. If you know who Whitesnake are, they are that band that plays that Here I Go Again on My Own song from Old School when Frank The Tank is revving up his smokey Firebird in his driveway. Well, that’s how I know them anyway, but they are also a very well-known Hard Rock band from the ’80s, much like Winger.
The band minus Kip then re-enters the stage for what I think is an instrumental called Black Magic. Yep, it is, and it’s followed by one called Pull Me Under, which apparently drummer Rod Morgenstein wrote the main riff for when he was 16 years old. I may have fucked that up, though, because he is the drummer and not the guitarist. I’m gonna run with it, though, just like the band does as they rock it out straight into another song called Time to Surrender. They’ve done that a few times where the song change is so quick you don’t even get a chance to take a breath or get a beer. An epic drum solo might be a good chance to get that beer, though.
Whoop whoop, yeah yeah or something like that leads us into Midnight Driver … of a love machine. What a line. Whoop whoop, yeah yeah, woo oo, oo oo, woo oo, woo oo, oo, oo oo. Not that one, the love machine one. That one was just the sing-along bit.
I should probably mention the keyboardist Paul Taylor, who also jumps out on guitar every once in a while, and he does so for Headed after the band smashes out Proud Desperado.
Kip takes a moment to shout out the sound, lighting and road crew and lets everyone know that these shows wouldn’t happen without them and the crowd give’s ‘em all a cheer. He then also gives a personal shout-out to HEAVY main man Krispy, who blushes like an embarrassed child.
The last two songs of the set are maybe called Easy Come Easy Go and Madalaine, but I’m not sure because the choruses don’t really match up. Maybe they changed up the set, or maybe they joined a couple of songs together, and I blinked and missed it again. Maybe I just fucked up, I’ll let you decide.
Ok, so I fucked up because they are only kicking into Easy Come Easy Go now, and this seems to be a crowd favourite. * Editors note: Someone from the crowd yelled out for a song that the band decided to play, which messed up the running order. Don’t ask me the name of the song either, but it was awesome! * I just realised that Kip is now using a Britney. That’s one of those little headset microphones, in case you were wondering. I guess he’s done that so he can move around stage for the end of the set, which he definitely does.
The actual last song Madalaine was an absolute fucking banger and all of the guitarists joined at front of stage for another solo-off. Like I said earlier, these dudes have got skills!
I had no idea what I was walking into tonight, and I definitely had no expectations based on my serious lack of knowledge thanks to Beavis and Butthead. Fuck those guys though, cause these guys rock hard, and I’d proudly be the fat kid wearing the Winger shirt. In fact, I might already be … just don’t ask me what the encore was!
