Never turn your back on the audience. It’s an old showbiz maxim that Gaslight Radio have been happily flouting for years. Tonight at The Tote was no exception. For the duration of their 40-minute set, bassist Mike Regan and guitarist Martin Cooke played backs to the crowd in open defiance of theatrical convention. It’s not that they have disdain for their fanbase (tonight, a reasonably-sized gathering of die-hards and work colleagues) it’s just their shtick – and they’re shticking to it.

But maxims are maxims for a reason, and on this occasion that reason is Martin Cooke’s plumber’s crack. With his back to the crowd, Cooke frequently bathed us in his moonlight, and when he bent over to do ungodly things to his guitar at the end of ‘Tina From Robina’, it evoked Sydney dance duo Canyons (but only by name). His brother Rory – a frontman in the literal sense of the word – seemed oblivious, content perhaps to let his sibling make an arse of himself. He toyed with a sampler and cracked in-jokes with the in-crowd: there was one about swine flu in nearby Clifton Hill and a gag directed at fill-in keyboardist Matt Davis (Gersey, Bombazine Black), the band’s “43rd member in three years” (a lie, they’ve been going for more than 10).

Wardrobe malfunctions notwithstanding, the brothers Cooke were in fine form tonight: Martin, dueling in off-kilter, Pavement-esque fashion with third guitarist Alex Jarvis, while Rory showed off his considerable vocal swagger. His voice – raspy, ethereal and heavily treated on record – is full-bodied and robust live. At times his delivery was so impassioned, he looked like he was going to burst a blood vessel in his head.

Gaslight Radio reportedly showcased tracks from a forthcoming new LP, but they were swallowed up in their beautifully shambolic wall o’ sound: all down-stroked guitars, cymbal washes, the odd drum sample and some festive percussion. It made for a cracker of a gig.

by Darren Levin