LIVE: NEPTUNE POWER FEDERATION, Melbourne – 19 April, 2024

LIVE: NEPTUNE POWER FEDERATION, Melbourne – 19 April, 2024
With SICK FIZZ, LUNATIC & BLACK ACES – The Tote, Collingwood
By Shane Pinnegar

I jumped on the Neptune Power Federation train early – not long after their first album, probably after seeing The Art Of Fox’s dementedly classic animated video clip for Boil The Oil, wherein the likes of Lemmy, Wendy O Williams, Udo Dirkschneider, Rob Halford and others defend their heavy metal castle by pouring boiling oil onto invaders from the ramparts.

I thought: This is completely my jam, baby.

They don’t play anything from that first album any more, because they brought a new lead singer in from second album onwards – Screaming Loz Sutch, also known quite rightly as The Imperial Priestess.

If anything, they became even more my jam, baby, as voices like Sutch’s are as rare as hen’s teeth and twice as special, especially when singing gonzo, OTT anthems of the occult and wizards and metal mayhem and warped psych rock love songs with the most delicious and demented twists.

The point in telling you all of this is to explain that NPF are funny. They take the cliches of heavy metal – and specifically of the more esoteric, occult side of heavy metal – and they turn them up to eleven with their tongues firmly in their cheeks.

BUT – and here is my real point – they like a joke, but they’re no joke. They can play – they can shred, in fact. Live they are exactly like on record, except a lot louder and twice as awesome.

First, though, we have three openers to enjoy… the aforementioned Art Of Fox is the fine art and video production arm of Mike Foxall’s entertainment mini-empire. He used to be in punk band Nancy Vandal (as Fox Trotsky), appears in NPF as Inverted Crucifox, and Sick Fizz is his newest band, sporting shiny new(ish) moniker Foxy Von Fizz. You may see a pattern forming.

They play a unique brand of hyperfuzzy power trio bubblegum stomp with a strong nod to 70’s glam and they’re a lot of fun – and with the greatest respect, their tongue is buried a bit deeper in cheek and they joke around more than NPF.

They can still play, though, amidst the gags there are serious riffs (borrowed or otherwise) and scorching solos making sparks fly, powerhouse drumming (Dave Javu, the only drummer so awesome he has his OWN backpatch on his denim jacket) and dynamic poptastic bass (Faff La Fizz) as the band goes all the way at 100kph in a sixty zone.

With two albums under their belt, they rip through favourites Sick Fizz, Clusterfuck, Hanging Defence, Party Guy, Up In My Grill, Ready To Go, Lose The Wig (guest Jason Fizz steps in on bass, allowing Faff La Fizz to honk saxily and sing), Come On Come On, Suss Motherfucker, Participatin’ With Satan, We Fucked This City On Rock & Roll and best of all, the irrepressible Pills, Pills, Pills.

Next up is Lunatic, who are completely new to me. I’m struck by the guy centre stage, who’s as tall as a pine tree and twice as serious, slinging his bass so low it’s almost dragging on the ground. To his left is the singer/guitarist, who’s not as tall but big as well, in a bare-knuckle fighter kinda way. Their music is similar to their appearance: aggressive, serious, loud, effortlessly intimidating pub rock. It’s good. On Pine Tree’s other side is a bloke named Dick on guitar, and it’s his second gig with them. “We love Dick” says the handlebar moustachioed drummer. We do too, Dick’s good.

The songs I pick up include Goin’ To The Beach, Away From Here, She Can Take It, a newie called Maybe Some Other Time Man, No Secrets, Running On Time and finishing with Yeah Nah. I’ll be checking out more of their stuff – ‘cos it’s good.

Black Aces are next, who I’m slightly more familiar with, and they have more in common with AC/DC than the rest of the lineup – or perhaps Airbourne would be closer to the mark. Their energetic, hair shaking, rifftastic, crowd-pleasing and entertaining set is 100 proof rock n’ roll, and frontman Tyler Kinder knows how to work his crowd.

The opener sounds like Apple Pie but probably isn’t, there’s some rocking with Tuck Me In, Too Young, Comin’ Down, an epic Soulstealer and a pedal to the metal Nutbush City Limits to round out a relentlessly engaging set.

It’s a completely different game when the headliners ascend the stage. As the music hits like a barrage the Imperial Priestess makes her way through the crowd underneath a headdress of white saplings and a halo illuminated with fairy lights, her white dress almost wedding-like. As she approaches the stage she lays hands on her disciples, further exaggerating the cultish theatre and turning the gig into an event.

The band is… MORE. The Imperial Priestess’s vocals are… MORE. It’s rock n’ roll, but it’s more like a communion and fans are in raptures. This is my first time seeing the band I’ve followed for more than a decade (living on the West Coast sucks for rock n’ roll a lot of the time), but many here know what to expect and are completely invested in the very essence of it. If rock n’ roll could be a religion, this is where to come to worship.

Sutch’s vocals soar and swoop, assaulting the ears mellifluously like a flock of occult birds – and if that analogy doesn’t make sense, then you weren’t there to experience the greater-than-the-sum-of-their-parts display. Rectify that immediately and perhaps you, too, will drink the Kool-Aid and join the cult.

Highlights in a powerful and packed set include Let Us Begin, Way Of The Wizard, Bound For Hell, Betrothed To The Serpent, I’ll Make A Man Out Of You, Neath A Shin E Sun, We’re Gonna Die, and a riotous Rat Queen before they finish – appropriately and triumphantly in a room with a Screaming Jay Hawkins tour poster from who knows when on the wall – with a grinding version of I Put A Spell On You. The Imperial Priestess – spent after a powerhouse performance – makes her way slowly through the crowd and again lays hands on her flock, telling them individually that she loves them. Having been blessed personally, your humble reviewer felt privileged indeed, such is the investment inspired in the Priestess and the Federation.

I know Neptune Power Federation are just a band – and one which started almost as a parody of occult metal bands. But they really do have something going on here, in a not entirely dissimilar way to mega-selling, arena-packing Ghost. It’s no wonder they are fast expanding the cult of NPF in Europe, with successive tours seeing them play bigger venues even than at home. If we’re not careful we may lose them.

All hail the Imperial Priestess.

Setlist:

Mind Voyager
Let Us Begin
Way of the Wizard
Edmunde
Thirst for Blood
Bound for Hell
Betrothed To The Serpent
Baby You’re Mine
I’ll Make A Man Out Of You
Lock & Key
Neath A Shin Ei Sun
We’re Gonna Die
My Precious One
Rat Queen
I Put a Spell on You

 

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