About the gig:

Cause for celebration? A new album by Bernie Hayes, Oh yes!. The albumis ‘Homebody’.Critically lauded and appreciated by a devoted following around the country, Hayes’ albums are a rare treat, contributions to the discourse which is the true Australian cultural landscape and not the shallow veneer of the over-hyped music scene. His muse is not actuated by the ephemeral seasons of the pop music cycle, or the economic imperatives of record companies, but rather by the currents and weather of his own nature and life. A man who needs to play to an audience, Bernie Hayes has never stopped performing. He is a singer and guitarist who seems organically joined to his instrument, a performer capable of rhythmic and melodic self-accompaniment at a level of accomplishment that only a very few of the best folk and blues musicians ever achieve. Team that with a voice that lies somewhere between Van Morrison and Freddy Mercury and you have some idea what this man can do. Philip Moriarty (who wishes it pointed out that he has also recently released his own album, the excellent “L’eprit de l’escalier”) teams up with Hayes a treat. Moriarty is a multi-instrumentalist, who can finesse an arrangement with a tasty horn line from his clarinet or rip out a howling solo on blues harp. From his first foray as a punk clarinettist in Canberra band The Slammers, through a twenty year career co-fronting the Gadflys, to current incarnation as ‘The Great Muldavio’ in Kabaret Noir outfit, Mikelangelo And The Black Sea Gentlemen, Moriarty’s songwriting has progressed in startling ways, both in terms of observational clarity and breadth of ambition, delivering satisfyingly on the promise of the Gadflys’ rootsy ecclecticism. Together Bernie and Phil take things to another level. A lifelong appreciation for harmony and vocal arrangement sends the sweet and sour colourings of Hayes’ soaring delivery and Moriarty’s gruff bark into some kind of archetypal, retro-pop nirvana. A place where Phil Spectre might be happy. This is an act worth seeing. Update: 21/05/07 (Laurei)