The final Pat Todd & The Rankoutsiders show of their Australian tour was tonight at the Last Chance Rock ‘n Roll Bar in Melbourne. This was a really small place, but had good sound! One of the great things about seeing Pat Todd & The Rankoutsiders so many times in Australia was seeing the opening bands. All different, all great. And the Gas Babies and Plastic Section were no exception.
Plastic Section started the night off. Totally great. Full on non-stop ’50’s type of rock ‘n roll with a hard driving, hard pounding killer drum beat the whole time. They didn’t let up. Not for a second. Check out the title track from their last album for a taste of what they were like: https://plasticsection.bandcamp.com/track/ready. Was great to see Pip again (who also plays bass for Wrong Turn) and he gifted me with some wonderful Wrong Turn 7″s!
Gas Babies started out in 1984 and “were one of the first Melbourne inner-city bands to play a predominantly1960’s-influenced brand of music. The band’s set was peppered with obscure Yardbirds, MC5, and Nuggets-styled American garage-punk tunes (The Seeds, Mouse and the Traps, Count Five, 13th Floor Elevators, etc.). They were also big fans of the Flamin’ Groovies’Â –Â Ian McFarlane: The Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop.“ They were only really active for almost a year in 1984, but did a whole lot, releasing a single and being openers for several gigs for Hoodoo Gurus and the Celibate Rifles. Singer/bassist Russ eventually became a member of the legendary band Bored! from 1991 until the end. Well they’re back and have been playing shows around Melbourne lately. Tonight the Gas Babies were a gas! Full on power rock, Melbourne style and with some slide guitar. Although they only had one single released back in the day, they are planning on releasing a newly recorded album of older songs and newer songs when funds permit. I’m sure there’s a record label out there that would able to help!
And once again, Pat Todd & The Rankoutsiders completely killed it. I may be going out on a limb here, but hear me out. There comes a time in music history where certain bands are at their peak and no one can touch them live. For example from ’79 to ’82, no one could top Twisted Sister live. Their intensity, fury and will to just let it all out and ROCK was matched by no one in that time period. From 1984-1986, Metallica. 1989-1993 or so, it was the Fluid. Same applies. And now, 2024, it is Pat Todd & The Rankoutsiders. A band at their peak, which no one can touch live. Don’t get me wrong, some can come close, very close, but Pat Todd & The Rankoutsiders are at the top of their game right now. Don’t believe me? Check out them playing the Sunglasses After Dark, live from Studio 5 in Melbourne, Australia. Starts at around the 8:35 mark.
Back to the Last Chance gig. Guitarist Kevin gave me and my wife a really nice shout out during the set, and once again there were lots of girls dancing up front. And while Melbourne is full on rock every day and every night, Pat Todd & The Rankoutsiders came to show Melbourne that Los Angeles can still rock and rock hard. Again, the main part of the set was completely different than all the other nights. With such an amazing catalog of quality rock ‘n roll songs, it’s almost something they had to do. If I got my numbers right, they played at least 50 different songs this whole tour. And all were great. And all were different from one another. Judging from the size of the list of songs I saw they were picking from to make these setlists, they probably could’ve done another 20 or 30 different songs. But one song they HAD to play on this night was “November 11th”. Because it was November 11. On the way back to the car, a violent but jovial old punk rocker told my wife he liked her style.
Now I want to take some time to talk about the Rankoutsiders. The first thing Pat Todd always says when they come onstage is “We are the Rankoutsiders!” and while Pat is the main songwriter and the band is named after him, they are a full band. So here’s some info and tidbits on the other guys:
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