Review: Steve Gibson at Clancy’s Fish Pub Fremantle

Steve Gibson at Clancy’s Fish Pub Fremantle
w/ The Little Lord Street Band, The Adjustment
Saturday, August 5, 2023

It was a gathering for the ages at Clancy’s last weekend, when Steve Gibson – or ‘Gibbo’ as he is widely and affectionately known – launched his long-awaited solo EP, Don’t Take Me Down.

It was important that the line-up for this evening would befit the occasion and so it was that proceedings were opened by the Little Lord Street Band, in the duo form of Natasha Shanks and James Rogers. We’ve not seen them on stages so much in recent times, but for good reason, as the couple became proud new parents in the last year. Any time Tash and Jimmy take the stage together their good humour and demeanour is testament to clearly being the love of each other’s life, and this renders their already excellent alt-folk-country songs even deeper in both texture and feeling. They enjoyed their moments back onstage too – “It’s filling our cup,” Tash noted, as glasses were raised all ‘round the room.

The Adjustment soon took to the stage, this time in trio form. The ‘Wayward Johnson &…’ portion of the band’s name has gone, well, wayward, but Phil Barry still holds forth on vocals/acoustic guitar/banjo, on this occasion supported by the stripped back line-up of Grant Ferstat on lead guitar/backing vocals and Jon Pratt on mandolin/backing vocals, AKA ‘The Minor Adjustment’.  All are quality veterans of the Perth scene – and fans of Gibbo, it must be added – and imbue Barry’s excellent songwriting with all the right hues.

Fans of Gram Parsons and Wilco should be on notice if not already aware, and hopefully we’ll see a follow up release to 2020’s The Triphammer’s Crash EP before too long. Ending with an excellent rendition of The Replacements’ Can’t Hardly Wait, there was a wry sense of humour throughout the set, tempered by a reverence for the context of the gathering itself.

Steve Gibson was bowled over by the size of the crowd and the reception he was getting at this launch. “Everybody’s come out tonight,” he said as he took the stage. “It’s amazing. My friends have come up from Denmark and Albany. My ex-wife’s here. I still love her.”

With time spent in bands such as The Raindogs, Kill Devil Hills, The Wasted Sons and more, Gibson has been at the forefront of the Perth music scene, without having actually put himself at the front. Tonight this was going to change. The EP was a labour of love over a period of four years, recorded by Andy Hill at Jeff’s Music Production House in a time period that saw Gibson battle and beat cancer. Many of the songs on the EP refer to this battle and the emotion inside them was revealed in his vocal performance.

The band assembled for this performance was like a local version of Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue., featuring Greg Hitchcock and Nic Johnson on guitars, Jason Snook on mandolin, Angus Diggs on drums, Merle Fyshwick on bass Phoebe Corke on violin and Dave Lawrence on keyboards. They simply have to gather again.

If Gibson lived these songs – he has and is – then the band truly inhabited them on this evening. From the gently lilting opener, Mermaids and the mariachi feel of Borderline to the more ragged likes of Gabriel (originally by The Gin Club) and Sucker For A Girl (featuring lovely guitarmonies from Hitchcock and Johnson).  Corke’s violin was spirited throughout, soaring when called for and caressing the melody intuitively as required. The band were in service to the songs and the respect they all hold for the man in the middle of it all.

Songs such as Getting Old and Pipes & Wires paint a picture of struggle, and Gibson’s voice rose to the occasion with all the pain and passion he could muster. The hard road has not wearied him too much, however – “Life really is beautiful,” he said at one point, before singing Live On Levon, a tribute to a musical hero. “Sometimes we just forget.”

The Gibson-penned Kill Devil Hills’ classic Drinkin’ Too Much (#3 on RTRFM’s All-time West Australian Song Poll) was an obvious crowd-pleaser and appropriately (or not!) earnt Gibson a beer from an audience member. Rattlesnakes has gained deserved airplay this week and was followed by the country positivity of Coming Up For Air.

A rev-up of Nick Lowe’s (What So Funny ’Bout) Peace Love And Understanding ended things on a sentimental yet upbeat note, on an evening that was testament to a great West Australian musician. Even in Freo, sometimes you don’t need a bumper sticker to tell you that Magic Happens.

BOB GORDON