Review: Mixtape Australia at The Pleasure Garden
Mixtape Australia at The Hat Trick at The Pleasure Garden
Wednesday, February 14, 2024
There’s nothing quite like hearing the rock anthems that have peppered your life played with grunt by a great band. South Australian Michelle Pearson, AKA the Singing Chef, and her six-piece rock ensemble are delivering this in spades with their Fringe World show Mixtape Australia in The Pleasure Garden every night this week.
Pearson is a musical cabaret artist who has been touring the world for the last seven years with her Comfort Food Cabaret. That show sounds like a real hoot. Performed in restaurants and private homes as well as festivals, Pearson cooks as she sings, feeding her audience’s stomachs as well as their ears. Mixtape Australia is her follow-on production, which premiered in 2023.
The concept for this show is simple and effective: classic Australian rock and pop from the 1960s on, with an emphasis on our international, danceable hits, and especially songs that have a broader social relevance. More mainstream than left-field, these are the songs that every Australian knows and loves, whether they are devoted fans of the bands or not. You could not help but know and love them; they have been the soundtrack of Australian life over the past sixty years.
Most of the big-name artists are present: The Easybeats, Midnight Oil, Cold Chisel, Goanna, Little River Band, Daddy Cool, The Angels, Johnny Farnham, The Divinyls, The Whitlams, Men at Work, ACDC and Tina Arena. You can probably guess the songs, but to list them would pre-empt the rush of recognition and excitement you feel upon hearing each one’s opening bars. That is one of the show’s great delights, and it would be a pity to undermine it.
Pearson’s band does not have a name as such; rather, the show is presented by her production company, We Rally Creative. The players, though, are all seasoned rockers: Pearson (lead vox), Aaron Nash (musical director and keys), Jessica Bigg (backing vox, lead once), Michael Ciaramella (bass), Tom McGrath (lead guitar), Sam Millar (drums), and Brendan Williams (harmonica, backing vox, acoustic and electric guitar).
The band was lucky to have Williams join them. A postman in his day job, for a while it looked as though Australia Post were not going to release him from his rounds. It was only last week that his participation was confirmed. Good on you, Aussie Post—his contribution was crucial, as was the gloss on the sound: the second electric guitar for the real rockers, the odd harmonica for those sensitive moments, and the third deeper voice in the three-part harmony. But the whole band was really tight, all of them masters of their instruments in a diversity of styles.
Pearson has a big voice, and she fairly belts it out. With this band behind her, she really takes off. She has carefully scripted the show so that most songs are fully explained in the introduction and their social significance is highlighted. Whether that be the neo-protest rock of Midnight Oil and Goanna, the feminine poignancy and power of Chrissie Amphlett, the social commentary of The Whitlams and Cold Chisel, or the irreverence of The Angels. But the key ingredient is that the songs are all quintessentially Australian. This show is ultimately a celebration of our nation’s great music, the way it defines our culture, has driven our way of life, and brings us all together through shared experience.
There is one really clever medley in the middle that combines some five classic numbers, bringing in all those extra tunes you would love to hear in abbreviated form.
On Wednesday night, the house was not full, but they were certainly enthusiastic. Some were up dancing from the get-go, while for the finale, everyone took to their feet to sway and dance and get completely into it. It was invigorating.
Mixtape Australia runs until Sunday. The venue, The Hat Trick, has great air conditioning, so you don’t need to worry about the heat wave. As that great icon of Australian popular music used to say, ‘do yourself a favour’.
IAN LILBURNE