Tex Perkins & The Dark Horses

I haven’t written about music for a while, in fact I’ve neglected to mention the last few Basement in store performances, which were as usual excellent and starred Nick Charles on one instance and Tracy McNeil on the other.

Today however was a special occasion where acclaimed Australian rocker, Tex Perkins with his band The Dark Horses were showcasing songs from their latest self-titled CD at a lunchtime in-store at Basement Discs. It was well attended – quite a crowd was there to hear a fabulous half hour or so of music. I was not sure what to expect, having never really followed Tex Perkins’ musical career, which has included fronting iconic bands The Cruel Sea and The Beasts of Bourbon.

I was pleasantly surprised. The music was warm and soulful and full of rock n roll goodness. Tex has a great rock voice, somewhat ragged and gravelly but powerful, and the Dark Horses provided solid backing in the guitar and percussion, not to mention keyboard departments. Somehow all six of them managed to squeeze on to the tiny Basement stage.

It was worth braving the chancy Melbourne weather to attend.

But wait, there’s more…

Whilst I was waiting for the tram home outside the GPO, I was fortunate enough to hear a very talented young singer, performing close by. Named David Shaw, he must have been all of 15 years old, but he could sing like an angel.


He had one of those beautiful, powerful emotive voices – it reminded me of Patty Griffin –and used it to great effect. I was enormously impressed. Remember the name David Shaw, I’m sure he’ll be a star one day.