Supersuckers – Whammy Bar February 8, 2019

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American garage-rockers The Supersuckers wielded the evil powers of rock and roll at Auckland’s Whammy Bar last night.

For over 30 years Eddie Spaghetti has been keeping the flame alive by fronting The Supersuckers, his self-proclaimed “Greatest Rock & Roll Band In The World”.

And on this hot summer night in Auckland, who would dare argue with him?

These days the band is a trim trio, consisting of Eddie on bass and vocals, guitarist “Metal” Marty Chandler and Chris “Chango” von Streicher on drums.

The evening began with the debut performance of The Avondale Spiders, a hard-rockin’ outfit comprised of former members of The Dirty Sweets. They sounded suitably gritty and the fact that they blew up an amp during their first gig only elevates their rock & roll cred.

The remainder of the evening’s bill featured The Supersuckers and Sticky Filth. And it was the Supersuckers who took the stage first, to the strains of Van Halen’s Eruption.

The trio got down to business immediately, slamming out four tunes from their latest album Suck It.

It’s a record Eddie is obviously proud of. “It’s that good , we can open the show with it”, he boasted.

Certainly none of the hard core fans bouncing around the front of the stage had any complaints after hearing soon-to-be classics such as The History Of Rock & Roll and Breaking My Balls.

And Metal Marty wasn’t bashful about mixing it up with the crowd, leaning way into the audience during every solo.

After the opening four new numbers, Eddie announced that they would now be performing their 1999 album, The Evil Powers Of Rock & Roll in its entirety.

Another good move as the dozen tunes from the band’s fifth album whipped by in less than an hour, with Gone Gamblin’ and Merle Haggard’s I Can’t Hold Myself In Line sounding particularly sweet.

The final half hour or so was left up to the fans.

“What do you guys want to hear?” asked Eddie.

Amid the shout outs for fan faves were Retarded Bill, Kill Count and Pretty Fucked Up.

The set concluded with a rousing performance of ZZ Top’s Beer Drinkers And Hell Raisers…a tune that seemed written for just this occasion.

Near the end of the song, some knucklehead in the front decided it would be cool to take Eddie’s mic (stand and all) and hold it out over the crowd. Eddie was not impressed and castigated the moron after the song.

The band ended with a might Born With A Tail, featuring one last blistering solo from Marty and a wave of raised middle fingers when Eddie got to the verse that begins, “Its time to fly the finger”.

With Van Halen’s Runnin’ With The Devil playing over the PA, the band took their leave after thanking the crowd and giving proof to their audacious claim of “greatest rock & Roll band in the world”.

Apologies to Sticky Filth, but 90 minutes of Supersuckers was plenty of rock and roll for me, especially with midnight chiming and work looming the following day. Thanks to photographer Ivan Karczewski who returns to The 13th Floor with pix of all three bands under the usual challenging lighting conditions of the Whammy Bar.

Marty Duda

Click on an image to view Ivan Karczewski’s photo gallery:

The Supersuckers set list:

  1. All Of The Time
  2. The History Of Rock & Roll
  3. Dead Inside
  4. Breaking My Balls
  5. The Evil Powers Of Rock & Roll
  6. Cool Manchu
  7. I Want The Drugs
  8. Santa Rita High
  9. Dead Meat
  10. Stuff ‘n Nonsense
  11. Fisticuffs
  12. Gone Gamblin’
  13. My Kickass Life
  14. Goin’ Back To Tucson
  15. I Can’t Hold Myself In Line
  16. Hot Like The Sun
  17. Retarded Bill
  18. Sleepy Vampire
  19. How To Maximize Your Kill Count
  20. Let’s Bounce
  21. Pretty Fucked Up
  22. Beer Drinkers And Hell Raisers
  23. Born With A Tail

Click here to watch The 13th Floor interview with Eddie and Chris of Supersuckers.  

Marty Duda
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