Nick Oliveri

Nick Oliveri is one of those names you can’t help but recognise. In the music world, his name is synonymous with stoner rock and hardcore antics. He’s “that bald dude with the awesome goatee,” a founding member of Kyuss, the one that Homme kicked out of Queens of the Stone Age, the metal head from Mondo Generator and the on-again off-again Rex Everything in punk rockers The Dwarves. It was The Dwarves that brought Oliveri back to Australia this time around, and after playing a show at the Corner last week, Oliveri stopped by the Northcote Social Club for an intimate, solo and acoustic show. For his birthday, no less!

Opening the stage to a filling NSC, Blackie, better known for fronting Sydney punk band the Hard-Ons, played a simple acoustic set. The set was very laid back, with Blackie chatting to the crowd like they were in his living room and asking, as the good host would, “are ya comfy?” Whilst acoustic versions of otherwise rockier songs might have been the theme for the night, Blackie’s voice was more the antithesis of Oliveri’s. Add to this the soft “la las” amongst his songs and lyrics like, “you can glue me together, then you can keep me forever” and you’d be certainly wondering how strange a choice of support he was. At only twenty-five minutes, his set was short but (very strangely) sweet.

Before I begin with Nick Oliveri’s set, let us consider a concept called Death Acoustic. It is indeed the name of Oliveri’s latest solo effort and is also exactly what you might be thinking of when you read it – a mixture of metal and acoustic. Yep, the thrashing vocals and the hardcore themes performed with nothing more than an acoustic guitar. It’s a massive oxymoron and you could call Oliveri either brave or mad for performing such music. Given the set that was to come, I’d say mad would be the operative term to use.

The room was pretty much packed by the time Oliveri hit the stage and began strumming away. The last time I’d seen him was last year fronting Mondo Generator and this time it was evident within seconds that this was a different style of show. Shirts stayed on, arms stayed down and the crowd, whilst enthusiastically loud, kept their feet on the ground with no desire for moshing. Love Has Passed Me By opened the set, setting up the familiar acoustic guitar that would continue for the next hour and a bit.

Oliveri certainly didn’t want to leave anything out and his set, despite being billed as a plug for his latest solo effort, was mostly made up from his extensive back catalogue of work. Queens of the Stone Age material was certainly a highlight for many in the room, who sang along loudly to Gonna Leave You and Just Another Love Song and erupted with screams to You Think I Aint Worth A Dollar, But I Feel Like A Millionaire and Six Shooter. Oliveri wasn’t short on screams either and let loose his mighty bawl at the end of several tracks.

For Oliveri’s oldest fans, Kyuss track Green Machine was a great addition to the set list. For fans of his work doing the Desert Sessions, he performed Jr. High Love by request, saying he only remembered the track because he’d stolen it in the first place. Mondo Generator’s version of the classic Sam Hall appeared, too. The power chords were in no short supply, but Oliveri’s dominating stage presence somehow made that okay. For Dwarves fans, a late appearance of Blag Dahlia (aka Paul Cafaro) was a highlight, as he performed a hilarious rendition of Let’s Get High and Fuck Some Sluts as well as singing a track he’d written for Oliveri’s latest record, Dairy Queen.

Of the small amount of new material on show, Scumfuc was the stand out, as Oliveri almost comically blasted his way through the screaming mess of its verses, his face looking like it might burst all its blood vessels. This happened again during a cover of the Ramones track Endless Vacation, as the bearded psycho singer almost parodied himself. Finally, everything calmed right down as Oliveri finished off the set with Auto Pilot, a song that had the crowd picking up and singing just as loudly as the man on stage – a brilliant way to finish showing off an extensive musical career.

Share this review on Facebook