THRUST
The Swan Basement, Fremantle
Sunday 6th June, 2010

The cold clear Autumn night drew us out to one of the seediest bars in our fair town for a long weekend Sunday fix of SOR (A new term I have coined: Sleaze Oriented Rock n’ F’n Roll!).

We missed the APPLEBITE BEGGARS ON ACID which was a shame, if only for the maddest name this side of Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction. What WRITHE lacked in stage presence and cohesiveness they tried damn hard to make up for with sheer bravado. Their direction seems unclear at this young stage: elements of stoner desert rock, Sabbathy doom, post grungeyness and deathly fast riffing vie with each other without a distinctive style emerging the victor.

THE LATHAMS kick out the jams from the start, unleashing a couple of Radio Birdman styled openers on the slowly swelling crowd. Their set bounced around between the aforementioned Detroit garage rawk, Hoodoo Gurus edged paisley grooves and 70’s flavoured pop melodies backed by riffs dripping with the fat of the land, and the knowledge that they are tight as fuck and twice as cool. “You don’t know what it’s like to be me” ended their set in great style and reminded us a) how cool it can be to unwittingly have a completely unknown band impress us out of the blue and b) that there’s no substitute for experience – these guys are maybe double the age of the Writhe guys and their accumulated experience shows.

But it’s the THRUST lads that we’re here to see, and as they stumble up the steps to the stage sporting big hair, bandanas, the smell of Jack Daniels and gin, and a new bassist, the shambolic spirit of Guns n’ Roses is briefly alive and well.

The guys have taken some time off to rejig their lineup, and they now boast a new, heavier batch of songs, whilst still keeping their jaded hearts and worn cowboy boots firmly rooted in sleazy Sunset Strip heavy rock.

Laz destroys his drum kit throughout the gig (and literally as the final song judders to a crashing halt), pounding away like a skin n bones Animal from The Muppets while guitarist Lex is a greasy haired riffmonster in leather. New bassist Josh’s rock solid and walloping rhythms have gelled with the band instantly, but it’s frontman Ant who leads the troops into battle tonight, bouncing around and engaging the crowd like he was headlining an outdoor festival rather than a Sunday evening pub gig.

This is what I call rock n’ f’n roll, and charming and sophisticated it ain’t – not with odes to blowjobs like ‘Big Mouth’ and their endearingly disorganised run through of the setlist (Ant forgets which song was next a couple of times), but this is one part of what makes a Thrust gig such fun. Brazen, hopped up and full of attitude along with ample amounts of self deprecation and humour, Thrust celebrate big haired, sleaze-filled, gutter rock because they fucking love it themselves and aren’t afraid to say so, and the audience is invited along for the fun filled rocket ride to the hard n’ sleazy side of the streets.

Words - Shane Rockpit

Pictures - Mark & Shane Rockpit

Set list:

Spitfire
Gone Today
Born A Fighter
Big Mouth
Truth Or Dare
Runnin’ After You
16 Miles