- Sydney based acid funk jazz combo National Pornographic have been creating a stir in the Sydney live music scene for the past 18 months. Since their beginnings in 2002 playing gigs at the Annandale Hotel, Bondi Hotel and Peppermint Lounge in Potts Point, they've moved onto playing gigs in Byron, going up the coast to Queensland and down to Victoria while covering the NSW live scene pretty much in its entirety. Fresh from supporting the Fun Loving Criminals the week before (16th of April) at Coogee Bay Live (formerly known as Selinas) the boys have returned The Annandale to headline their DVD/CD launch.
The boys were supported by the likes of Taffetta Punk, an all girl 3 piece band and Waiting For Guiness who are labelled as a GypsyPunkJazz outfit. Unfortunately I missed out on Taffetta Punk but I caught Waiting For Guiness who play a combination of ska and jazz. WFG's music was adequate for the beer swilling atmohpere of the Annandale and they were able to pull a crowd who got down on the floor jumping up and down to their bouncy rhythms.
During the quick interval between Waiting For Guiness and National Pornographic (while NP were setting up) saw them drop the projection screen to feature some of the highlights on their DVD/CD which itself contained five music tracks (three of which were done live). The DVD showed footage of NP's tour around the country taking in scenes from their road trip to Byron, gigs in Melbourne, footage of the boys practicing and of course footage of the boys mucking about in hotel rooms, on the tour bus and on stage.
It's been a while since I last saw the boys play at the Peppermint Lounge and due to the laidback atmosphere of the venue, they've had to keep their typically eccentric onstage antics to a subdued minimum.
Being a dedicated live music venue The Annandale Hotel is perfect for the boys to go about their stage jumping, headbanging, middle finger raising and instrument swapping. It's quite funny to see the two Matt's (one is a mohawked lead singer on guitar and the other's a bald headed freak on bass) play each other's instruments while the other person was still wearing it. John incorporates latin rhythms on percussion namely bongos, congos, djembe while jumping around like a hooligan on stage. He even pulls out a didjeridoo for one of their songs. Scratch DJ Dave combines turntable antics with sampling while Nick holds down the beat for everyone on drums playing a mixture of hip hop and funk beats with rock sensibilities.
The night finished off with DJ Dave Win taking control of the decks to do his club set mixing up funky breaks and funky house with tunes from the likes of the Plump DJ's, Krafty Kuts, Meat Katie, Dimitri from Paris and Basement Jaxx all making the cut with Dave showing off his club skills and scratch antics. It was an enjoyable night for lovers of alternative music, skaters, punkers, pilled up clubbers and jazz cats.