Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Venue: Orto bar / Ljubljana / Slovenia
Concert date: January 30, 2009
Attendance: 100
Ticket price: €8.00
January’s run of shows at Orto wrapped up in a seriously entertaining way. The bill had hard rockers Shutdown from the Primorska region and glam merchants Hotty MkkNotty, who, despite the cover charge for the upstairs room, pulled in an enviable crowd of longhairs hungry for some archaic sounds. That the night would be something special visually too was already clear from the young opening band, which ran through a few classics from the days when most of its members weren’t even born yet, and warmed things up nicely for the stars of the evening. Hotty MkNotty, who hit the stage a little before eleven, stood out above all for their loud getups, which even Poison wouldn’t have been ashamed of in their heyday. The classic iconography, which has mostly been a punching bag in music circles for the past twenty-five years, got turned into a clever parody by the guys, complete with wigs and syrupy English banter, and they put together one hell of a fun show that way. They backed it up with evergreen hits by Bon Jovi, Firehouse and Kenny Loggins, and we also got a few original songs in the same vein. During one of them, titled Notty Skoolgirl, they managed to lure two female fans onto the stage, who put on a little performance to the great delight (especially of the male half) of the crowd, and delivered the high point of this merry evening.
The sound, unfortunately, was a bit on the weak side. TJ Tuff, the guitarist with the stage name, was barely audible during his solos, and he could have used a volume or delay pedal to cut through the rest of the band when it counted, in moments that are crucial in this kind of music. His Korean-made version of a sunburst Tiger, built to the specs of the great George Lynch, came across as extremely shy at the decisive moments, but with the backing of a Marshall half stack he made up for it nicely on rhythm. Prerecorded keyboards were also coming out of the speakers straight from the mixing desk, and, probably because there wasn’t enough of them in the monitors, they left the band thoroughly confused a few times. But the crew, led by frontman Texas Cherrie Biggunz and drummer Lexxy Longlegz, who treated us to a short solo, sorted out the problems and, with comic one-liners and acting bits, had the crowd under their thumb without any trouble. The guys saw the party through to the end with confidence and a fair bit of routine, throwing their fans the kind of bash we don’t get on local stages every day.
The gig might also be worth mentioning for another reason. It proves that, despite some claims to the contrary, eighties culture hasn’t quite died out yet and is still around in one form or another among music lovers, even those too young to have lived it firsthand. What’s more, the playful Hotty MkNotty could be seen as just the tip of the iceberg, with a whole bunch of interesting, quality Slovenian bands lurking underneath, who are trying, in more serious ways too, to keep the tradition of the recent past alive and build on its mighty legacy. And that’s definitely a good sign for the future.
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photo Gallery
