Bottom of the Hill celebrates Australia Day with Aussie band tributes
A pair of bands help San Francisco celebrate Australia Day Friday when the Bottom of the Hill hosts this party featuring the music of Radio Birdman, AC/DC, Olivia Newton-John and more.
The date is traditionally celebrated Down Under as the day the First Fleet arrived in Sydney in 1788. Friday's show pays tribute to some of the cornerstone artists to emerge from Australia. While the average American is likely unaware of much Aussie music beyond bigger international acts like AC/DC, Men At Work, Olivia Newton-John, Kylie Minogue and INXS, a number of influential bands helped shape the sound of popular music well before the current popularity of such bands as Tame Impala, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, the Chats and Amyl and the Sniffers.
While planned headlining San Diego group Kid Galahad and the Eternals -- who were going to play a set of songs from the first two classic Australian punk albums by the Saints -- had to cancel due to travel complications, the other two groups scheduled to play are going to soldier on with unusual SF cover project the Holiday Band closing the show.
Unlike most tribute acts who play the music from one band or genre, the Holiday Band changes its musical guise for every show, building each specific performance around a theme and performing a wide ranging repertoire of tunes. The group started in 2006, but went on an extended hiatus after members started having children, reuniting in 2012. Appearances in the past couple years have included a Halloween gig as the Cover Ghouls and party saluting the work of Jewish songwriters as Purim Some Sugar on Me.
Fronted by singers Kristian Richards and Beth McKenna (So High and the Uppers, Sh---y Sh---y Band Band), the band also features McKenna's husband, garage/surf-rock guitar workhorse Rick Kvoriak (Not Yetis, the Ogres, the Barbary Coasters), guitarist Mark Gordon (The Titan Ups, Cocker Power, Captain Fata--), keyboardist Jeff Schwartz (Sh---y Sh---y Band Band, The Handler Brothers), bassist Arron Rubin (The Bye Bye Blackbirds, The Mr. T Experience, Thunderbleed aka BlindVengence) and drummer Dave Leonard (Billy Cramer, Titan Ups). For this show saluting Australian rock and pop from the '70s and '80s as the Down Undertones, the group will welcome guest singer Lucy Finn from the Not Yetis for a spotlight on the hits of Olivia Newton-John. Opening the show will be Anglo Girls, San Francisco's tribute to Australian punk group Radio Birdman that features guitarist Erin McDermott (Tina and the Total Babes, Woman-O-War). DJ Big Nate fills out the evening with a vinyl selection Aussie classics.
Australia Day celebration with the Holiday Band and
Friday, Jan. 26, 8:30 p.m. $15
The Bottom of the Hill
