RAGDOLL @ THE ROCKET ROOM, PERTH WA
BABYJANE & WEST OF OCTOBER @ THE CHARLES, PERTH WA
22 January 2011

We were debating about staying in on this warm and temperate summer evening, but thankfully we motivated our lazy arses into gear, donned some rock clobber and pointed ourselves in the direction of The Rocket Room – destination number ONE on our bar and band hop for the night.

Ragdoll have been working hard building a buzz amongst local rockers, and a big portion of the scene were in attendance to see what the boys could do tonight.

Proceeedings started slowly with the band looking a little unsure of themselves during the first couple of songs, though things certainly sounded pretty good – Ragdoll’s melodic soft rock is rawer live than on their debut CD (Launch date still to be advised), but the beefing up of the riffs results in no loss of the finesse of these finely crafted and eminently singable tunes.

And then the most amazing thing happened - about four songs in, the energy of the entire room lifted, and instantly the band might as well have been playing an 80,000 seat arena, such was the vigour and power of their performance! It was a wonderful thing to watch – and to feel – as they ran through the rest of the set, climaxing with the foot stomping, head banging ‘Foot to the floor’.

The general vibe amongst the other musos present was positive – that the band’s musicianship and energy was faultless. Sure their style is very late eighties and a little reminiscent of some other bands (Van Halen, Toto, Journey, to name a few memories triggered) but by god, they do what they do so very well, and we’ll be back for more!

Next up, well primed, lubricated, and ready for more of the good stuff, we pointed the rock mobile in the direction of The Charles Hotel to catch the end of West Of October’s last ever gig, and the mighty Babyjane.

Corey Hodgett celebrated his fortieth birthday with West Of October’s gig, and gave his all as the band tore through a selection of hard rocking covers, before getting Jayson Thew up for original tune – and best in show – ‘American Nightmare’.

Next up were Babyjane, and despite the guys feeling afterwards that the sound wasn’t up to scratch, for those of us rocking front of stage it all sounded enormous.

The boys launched into ‘Give It All Up’, ‘Quicksand’, ‘Can You Keep A Secret?’ and exciting newie ‘Make It Sick’ – reportedly about a story involving Stephen Adler of GnR and 6 strippers!

Babyjane have the style, the sound, the attitude and most of all – the songs – to go all the way, and we can’t wait to hear more of their new material.

Before this long and exciting night was over though, we had one more treat. Corey joined Babyjane as a horde of others jumped onstage for a wild finale of arguably THE best party song ever – KISS’s ‘Rock n Roll All Night’. What a great night!

Shane Pinnegar