With GT's new track "Here Comes Another One" all over the radio and his Roadkill album out in the next month, I decided to get along early for a live preview of the new album. What a disappointment it was to sit through an uninspired and seemingly never-ending DJ set which gave new meaning to the word dull. Sure, he played all the right tunes (with Lenny Kravitz's "American Woman" and Meat Beat Manifesto's "Mars Needs Women" being particular standouts), but do we really need to hear 3 Fatboy Slim tunes (not to mention the odd remix) in the space of a 90 minute set? Do we really need to hear someone spinning "Hey Boy Hey Girl" after seeing the Chemicals in the flesh two weeks ago? Do we really want to hear piss-poor scratching when we can go to Ric's every Friday night and watch Katch and Dave unleash turntable trickery which would have GT cowering in the corner? Why anyone who is just about to release an album would choose not to play any of their own recognised tunes is a mystery, and although by the end of his set the floor was packed, I suspect that had more to do with the fact that midnight was fast approaching and the punters were getting anxious for Apollo Four Forty rather than any great appreciation for the mediocrity we had just witnessed.
	Just when you thought it was safe to return to the dancefloor, Apollo Four Forty's resident DJ Harry K took to the decks and spun some nice dub and jungle flavours, but by this stage the crowd's patience was wearing thin and they were keen for the main event. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the 8-piece musical assault that is Apollo Four Forty took to the stage, let fly with their riff-laden drum n' bass take on the Lost In Space theme, and had the crowd eating out of their hands from the outset. It was clear from the beginning that this wasn't going to be your standard knob-twiddling, fist-pumping, stern-faced electronic act - more like the breakbeat techno equivalent of seeing Kiss in the halcyon days of the 70s.
MC Mary Mary bounded out of the shadows after the opening track and spent most of the gig jumping around on stage like a man posessed, occasionally engaging the crowd in the old "PARTY!" call and response game. With Harry K stepping out from behind the decks to join him for "Altamont Super Highway Revisited" and the heavy riffs still cranking, you could have been forgiven for thinkiong you'd just walked into a Beastie Boys gig circa 1986! I was half expecting them to scream "Brisbane, are you ready to rock!", but alas, it wasn't to be.
	Still the riffs kept on flowing out of founding member Noko's collection of metal guitars, and "Cold Rock The Mic" got the crowd bouncing, dancing, and moshing all at once. Latest single "Heart Goes Boom" was a singalong delight, and when the lilting reggae feel of the verses gave away to some serious jungle beats, the dancefloor erupted. Next came "The Machine In The Ghost", an instrumental hip hop groove reminiscent of Pink Floyd - complete with lightshow and the obligatory Moog solo (mmmm, you've gotta love a Moog in action!)
But it was the two human beat machines either side of stage which elevated Apollo Four Forty into the realms of brilliance. With Cliff Hewitt on the Clavia ddrums and supercool Kodish (you could tell he was cool because he wore his sunnies for the whole set) on an acoustic kit pumping out some kick-arse drum n' bass rhythms without once going out of sync or missing a beat, the punters just couldn't stop cutting loose on the dancefloor - well, at least this punter couldn't. The drummers took centre stage mid-set for an almighty duel, and sure enough, the next track was their ode to the legenadary jazz drummer "Krupa", with it's signature rolling snare line and sample of "Gene Krupa syncopated style!" Tonight, rhythm was truly king!
	The four-on-the-floor power of "Krupa" was always going to be hard to top, but somehow the lads managed to keep up the momentum for the remainder of the set. "Stop The Rock" predictably got the biggest cheer of the night, with Mary Mary donning a headset ala Madonna for his vocoder treated vocal line. For a song which is essentially a collection of some of rock's worst cliches (the chugging blues guitar riff, the cheesy organ solo), this tune seemed to encapsulate what Apollo Four Forty were all about - fun. Not grand artistic statements, not fan worship, just good old-fashioned big dumb music that puts a smile on your face and gets your butt shaking.
"Stadium Parking Lot" (a title which can't help but conjure images of guzzling beer in the back of a ute) rounded off the main set in fine fashion, and after some roars from the crowd, the lads returned to the stage with the sweeping classical motifs of "Four Forty Days", which proved that there was some musical dexterity hidden beneath the crunching riffs and breakbeats after all. "Aint Talking Bout Dub", with Noko playing that infamously sampled Van Halen guitar riff LIVE and also slipping in a bit of Led Zep's "Heartbreaker" for good measure, proved to be as much a show stopper as "Krupa" had earlier, and Mary Mary's vocal line said it all really - "Rocker to rocker, raver to raver, turn up the bass, why don't you do us all a favour!" Fuck Yeah! Each member of the band was introduced to rapturous applause (with a special cheer for the afore-mentioned duelling drummers), they returned for a second encore of "Black Beat", and then it was all over. Despite entering the gig with no expectations and having my enthusiasm dampened considerably by Groove Terminator (about whom a mate of mine was heard to mutter "I never want to see that guy again!"), I walked out with a smile from ear to ear and a high benchmark for the rest of 2000. Click Here For The Setlist ~Kris Swales~