Live review: Izzy Stradlin and the Juju Hounds at Newcastle Palais, Wednesday, October 21 1992
By STEVE MASCORD
LAST Wednesday night, Izzy Stradlin was 160 km from Sydney and a million miles from care, ie: Guns N’ Roses.
Last year’s farcical Rock In Rio Festival, where his Guns N’ Roses cohorts showed advanced signs of megastar paranoia for the first time, and its 150,000 crowds must have seemed like some long-departed personal incarnation as Stradlin and his thinly-veiled Rolling Stones tribute band cruised through their set before 500 people on a cold, wet Newcastle night.
Hired equipment, modest lights, a slightly disappointing – if vocal – crowd; it was hardly Paradise City but you got the impression Keef Richards II wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. Stradlin will never be flamboyant or effusive but for the first time I can remember I actually saw him smile.
Make no mistake about the Ju Ju Hounds – they are no more than a garage band of Stones and southern rock afficionados who, through the good fortune that one of their members is a rock God, played some of their first gigs before 2000 a night in Japan instead of at the Rose and Thistle on the corner of Main and Calder in Boise, Idaho.
With a hodgepodge of low slung and unconfronting Stonesy coolness, they aren’t even as accessible as guitarist Rick Richards former outfit, the Georgia Satellites, were two years ago. And they (the Satellites) broke up coz no-one gave a shit.
The key to the Ju Ju Hounds is the fact that covers in their set, the Stones’ “Crackin’ Up”, Ronnie Wood’s “Take A Look at The Guy” and even reggae number “Pressure Drop”, sound like originals. Izzy plays for himself and doesn’t give a shit if you think it’s derivative. He’s already a millionaire.
And how would the shyest member of the world’s most ostentatious band handle fronting his own outfit? Well … shyly. The Indiana native never seems to look a man in the face and spends breaks meekly staring up or down, saying only gems like “this one’s called ‘Cutting The Rug’”.
But, like I said, he smiles.
With Richards handling lead breaks, former Broken Homes bassman Jimmy Ashurst just kinda prowling and drummer Charlie Quintana always looking for that real big bang, the Hounds are best taken with a few beers and maybe a funny cigarette or two.
“Somebody Knockin”, “Shuffle It All”, “Cuttin’ The Rug” – stage front or elbow on the bar, you’re still gonna enjoy ’em without needing to glue your eyes to the stage for fear of missing something.
And just as GN’R Lies turned some fresh faces onto the likes of Aerosmith and Rose Tattoo, Izzy Stradlin and the Ju Ju Hounds visibly stunned the palates of 500 Novocastrians on Wednesday. They liked it, chanting their approval and refraining from making Gunners requests, proving wrong what pseuds no doubt say to each other about them.
Izzy’s gonna do himself a lot of good with this project, no matter how long it lasts, but he’s going to broaden the musical education of thousands.
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