FEATURE: Jack The Stripper – Favourite Gigs

Killyourstereo.com presents Swags for the Homeless this Sunday at Collingwood’s Bendigo Hotel.

To coincide, we feature headliners – Jack The Stripper.

Vocalist Luke Frizon reflects on significant and memorable gigs that have impacted him as a musician and equally as a fan.

Favourite gig you've attended?

Pig Destroyer, Pig Destroyer and Pig Destroyer. They did three shows in Melbourne in 2008, and every single performance killed it. They blew their amps at Hi-Fi Bar from sheer noise, JR (vocalist and best metal lyricist of all time) threw half the crowd into the CD racks at Missing Link, then they tore the Arthouse to shreds in a packed house. It was amazing to experience and makes me nostalgic as hell for the time when Missing Link were still hosting live bands. I caught Insect Warfare there back in 2007, and they’d have all kinds of local acts at the time- Cut Sick, Die Pigeon Die, Hospital The Musical… We played there once after we released Black Annis. Julian was playing bass at the time and did the heftiest guitar swing in his life just as I was doing a front flip off an amp stack. Bam! My head was split open by a Fender Jazz Bass headstock and I sprayed blood all over the classic hits section. My apologies to Bruce Springsteen for ruining his CDs. On that note, more record stores should do in-store appearances for bands. Especially if you stock Bruce Springsteen. Give me a call.

Favourite gig you've played with Jack the Stripper?

I’ve got some fond memories from all our shows. The one we played at Reverence to launch Raw Nerve was electric and a fantastic line-up. Palm were amazing and sit in my top 10 for live bands from that show alone. However, as far as crazy gigs go, I’m going to have to go with HeavyHeavyLowLow and Totally Unicorn. It was in this art space in Brunswick. The room was the size of a phone booth, the walls made of rammed earth with dinner trays nailed to them and the only lighting was provided by some swiftly smashed desk lamps. That was truly a unique experience, playing in an oversized oven packed full of sweaty crust punks punching on in the dark. It must have been fifty degrees in there. Not only that, but the roof had this girder that I was swinging off into the crowd and the equipment… I think I crushed our sound guy with the PA when it collapsed too. Sorry Russ! The funniest part is that officially that tour never happened. Border Patrol picked up Rob (HHLL singer) and told him he wasn’t allowed to do the tour because he had the wrong visa and no money. Then they featured him on that shitty TV show of theirs to shock and outrage our suburban upper-middle-class citizens with a tale of illegal heavy metal satanic immigrants coming to take our jobs and whatnot. How droll.

Gig that made you want to join a band?

I am very fortunate in that I've been immersed in recorded and live music since I was an infant. My old man was the sound and lighting guy for bikie bands like The Giants and Texas Touch, so before I could even walk I was at their shows every other week. In grade 4 I found a Metallica album in our CD collection and decided I was destined to become master of the riff. I started a band with my best mate and we stole our logo from the school basketball team. We ruled. Unfortunately life got in the way. I lost all my picks inside my acoustic guitar, my bandmate moved interstate and we never finished a song. Probably just as well because I suck at guitar anyway. It wasn't even a show that got me started back on the path, it was watching Pantera's vulgar videos for the first time around 2002. From that point on I was making terrible bass riffs and annoying the shit out of my neighbours learning how to sing Fucking Hostile at top volume over and over. So it wasn't one gig, it was dozens of deafening bikie pub shows plus the promise of violence towards one's surroundings while playing power groove riffs. Although I have since retired from trying to play bass, I'd like to thank the members of Pantera for smashing all that stuff on camera. You have inspired me to smash all the other remaining stuff.

As far as life changing vocal performances goes, however, I'm going to make special mention of Scott Kelly from Neurosis. He and John Baizley performed together with just a couple of steel string guitars a couple of years ago at the Corner Hotel and it was simply mind blowing. The timbre of his voice had the entire room awestruck. It reverberated through every cell of my being and still brings up goosebumps thinking about it. I recommend anyone to check out his solo album as soon as you get the chance.

Jack The Stripper play Swags for the Homeless this Sunday. Details here.

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