Rabid Hawke rip it up at Bennetts Lane

Before the music starts, little quips bounce around between the band members on the small stage at Bennetts Lane Jazz Lab. They clearly enjoy being there together, as they develop an obscure repartee not necessarily intended for us the audience. Their in-jokes are oblique, quirky and musical. This is intriguing and you find yourself trying to work them out.

And this is how Rabid Hawke play their music. The next two sets will be an interplay between Nashua Lee (guitar), Julien Wilson (sax), Marc Hannaford (piano), Sam Bates (drums), and Phil Rex (accoustic bass), standing in for Sam Anning. They will throw ideas at each other, develop themes, and build their music both throught individual virtuosity and as a group of individuals closely tuned-in to each other’s playing. As with their repartee, they are drawing the audience into their world rather than reaching out to us.

Julien Wilson

The musicians themselves are highly respected members of the Australian music community, through talent rather than self-promotion, as a google search quickly reveals. They have extensive listings, but mostly because they are frequently cited by others, rather than themselves.

Above all, their music is great to listen to, a product of their virtuosity, rather than a demonstration of technical skill for it’s own sake. Largely riff-based, a chart will begin with a really appealing harmonic, rhythmic and harmonic idea, which will then be developed as an interplay between the band, with a great range of dynamics, from soft and beautiful to a wall of sound, which really cooks. (Apologies for the use of mixed metaphors).

What really sets them apart is the broad musical palette they have to play with, including complex unusual beats and time signatures, an array of harmonies and dissonances, and brilliant use of dynamics. This allows them to surprise us throughout the performance by taking the music into unusual and beautiful directions. You start to look forward to the next change.

How do you classify them? Actually it’s best not to, as they are a unique, very original Australian sound. Within that, it’s possible to discern elements for example of John McLaughlin, through Nashua’s distorted guitar sound, 20th Century Classical from Marc Hannaford, and other elements as diverse as Ornette Coleman, and Charlie Parker. They don’t limit themselves.

All this happens fortnightly within the intimate environment of the Jazz Lab, where the band members down a beer amongst the audience between sets. The audience themselves are there because they really love the music.

Rabid Hawke are playing fortnightly at the Jazz Lab. Their next gig is on Wednesday the 9th, 8.30pm $15/$12