Beautiful Girls: Hot as s#@! venue: Central Coast Leagues, Gosford-Australia date: 2005-03-27 This show was witnessed and enjoyed in great company on 9th Jan 2005. You know, one thing that an Aussie can really miss when living in Sweden is the ability to go from an extremely warm, sunny beach day to a gig with a band that writes plush seminal bluesy pop, rock songs in reference to the great vibe these kind of days create, after a day like so, your able to head home to a mates beach front apartment to kill the rest of the night/early morning with whatever tickles your fancy. So basically that’s how we spent the night. Let’s face it, I’m in Sweden now, its my choice to live the chillier life and it isn’t all that bad in the summer time here, we just need a whole more of it. I’m sure I can get a few “hell yeah!’s” on that one?... There is a whole range of bands that have been snapped up by the masses and thrown into the limelight of the independent music world in Australia, even creating enough buzz to get the sneaky major labels in on the action aswell. I don’t really know the best way to describe the blissful acoustic sounds that seem to keep coming from artists around the world other than you need to do some catching up if you don’t own any of their records yet. With the likes of the John Butler Trio, Jack Johnson, The Waifs, Xavier Rudd, Donavon Frankenreiter, Beau Young, Mason Jennings and this awesome outfit compiled of three Sydney mates Clay MacDonald (Bass, Vox) Mitchell Connelly (Drums) and Mat Mchugh (Vox, Guitar) under the name of The Beautiful Girls you’ve got more than enough ammunition to drift off on some heartfelt and thoughtful poetic journeys complimentary of these seriously talented musicians. It must be about 5 years since I’ve been to a gig on the Central Coast. This is a very surf orientated coastal community for those of you that are unaware situated pretty much in between Newcastle and Sydnwy (where I was lucky enough to grow up). During those five years I’ve been to shows everywhere but home: Sydney, London, Reading and other European Festivals and shows all over Sweden. It was really nice to get amongst where it all started for me. The venue was the Central Coast Leagues Club also known as the “Leaguesy” to the locals and TBG had a near to full house to bust out to thanks to some badass radio airplay and festival appearances. Friend of the band (and brother to Dj Dexter former Avalanches member) Dj Kuya warmed up the audience with his mixing and mashing, dropping in classic rock, pop, funk tunes alongside some tasty hip hop slices. Before we knew it, it was showtime. The crowd seemed so psyched for this performance, one of the hottest bands on the Aussie independent circuit were about to hit the stage. The vibe was hot as it gets and the grooves were flowing from back to front on a Saturday night. The set began as Clay and Mitch started a jam with Kuya bringing the sound to a booming bass and drums rhythm section as Matt joined them minutes after and Kuya took a back seat position stage left. It was straight into it for the lads, with an abundance of support from the enthusiastic singing fans, there were smiles all round and people bumpin’ and grindin’ only for the love of it. Mid way through the set Clay went on to tell some bad joke and explain there first appearence as TBG on the Central Coast, and that was playing a wedding party some years back. How the tide has changed. Among the surf-toned rock/reggae tunes that TBG played included the also crowd faves “Music”, “Blackbird” and “Summertime”, they all go down too well, leaving everyone thirsty for more. But thhe night wasnt over yet. With the three man band moving through the numbers they get help from a Brazilian mate (Phillipe?) on the harmonica & melodica giving the set a whole new life and extra dimension to the guitar, bass and drums combo. Once again, Dj Kuya was also back up on stage cuttin’ and slicin’ up the action giving a helping hand. The evening was wrapped up after a few thoughtful words from Matt on the distressing situation that was the Asian Tsunami disaster. The band held the crowd well all evening, the awkward moments aswell as the brilliant. It was a successful conquering of the Central Coast one could say. It’s easy to see how these guys could keep gigging, surfing and sleeping (or drinking) their way around the country, Australia is built for a band like this. It just remains a mystery whether they can break the barriers and reach a new audience abroad as they have so much to offer the beautiful girls and boys awaiting them. /Kaine