Six Ft Hick

The Tote has been celebrating 30 years as music venue throughout the month of November and December with killer line ups nearly every night of the week. Saturday night was the return of Six Ft Hick who have destroyed the Tote on many occasions before. Warming up the night was Link Meanie’s new band Sun God Replica, as opposed to Links other band the Meanies, Sun God Replica pays homage to power rock bands of the 70’s, where is the Meanies are all about hard and fast punk sounds.

They smashed through their set with cuts from their latest vinyl offering 'Primitive Clockwork', songs like 'Vivisection' could have been outtakes from a Hawkwind album it has that huge space rock prog sound to it. Where songs like 'The Last in Line' are had more of punky New York feel to it. Even though the crowd was minimal they seemed to appreciate it all.

Gentle Ben and his Sensitive Side is Ben Corbett's side project to Six Ft Hick. Six Ft Hick are all about malice and violence where as Gentle Ben is about seduction and charisma. Ben commands attention, once he has you in his sights that serial killer glare does not let go. Watching Gentle Ben before Six Ft Hick is like watching a werewolf transform before your eyes, Ben growls and barks and storms about the small stage he is liked a caged animal that has been poked for years. Gentle Ben’s songs have more of a poppy edge to them with a tinge of Mariachi to them, that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Calexico album.

As the set progresses you can feel the hairs on the back of your neck start to rise. And the tensions builds to the point of explosion, Ben gets to the boiling point but reigns it in just at the last moment, he is saving is explosive energy for Six Ft Hick.

Six Ft Hick hit the stage with menace and total sense of unpredictability you really don’t know what the hell is going to happen, you don’t know whether to run for cover or stand up the front and get aurally assaulted. The twin vocals of Ben and Geoff Corbett add that extra sense psychotic energy to the set, they bounce off each other and manage to keep in synch despite the manic behaviour going on stage. When Ben is pacing up and down the stage he has that look in his eyes that he will take no prisoners and if you get in his way he won’t hesitate in fucking you up and not blinking an eye while he is doing it.

Songs like 'Ashtray' explode and destroy the audience and leave nothing in its wake. And when 'Flight of the Shitbird' bludgeons you like blundstone boot to the skull. Halfway through the set Geoff fly’s head first into the crowd while Ben prowls and storms around like a rapid dog. This energy is relentless though out and you have to wonder how they can keep it up, but until the very end it nothing short of a visceral performance. Everything in their show is planned and nothing is held back.

If you manage to survive til the end, feel your self lucky, that you get to live to see another performance. Six Ft Hicks show is a perfect example of the kind psycho energy you could only experience at the Tote, because there is no distinction between performer and audience. You can get so close to the band that every punch and kick the band throws at you is felt in your head and in your heart.

The longevity of the Tote was summed up perfectly by Dan Sultan at the Slam Rally a couple years ago when the council tried to close the Tote down, he said ‘They can take away our church, but they can’t take away our religion, truer words haven’t been said about why the Tote is so important to the Melbourne music scene.

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