Hank and Lily provided a weirdly hilarious show, May 4 at the Slice — the first of three weekend shows.
They premiered their new techno/ disco CD, which meant a couple of things.
They sounded like the ’80s synth pop bastard child of Men Without Hats, Nick Cave and the Bloodhound Gang with a science fiction twist.
Cecil the Weasel, playing guitar, was dressed as a stormtrooper. Tinsel dangled from the ceiling. Tiny Death Stars adorned every table.
Lily Fawn, dressed as Princess Lily, her trademark antlers poking up through her brunette wig done up in Princess Leia’s buns, was able to step up from behind the drums and take centre stage as lead vocalist.
In fact there weren’t any drums or any other instruments at all on stage other than Cecil the Weasel’s guitar.
The rest of the rhythm, beats and keyboard sounds were prerecorded. So the trio got to perform and dance.
An unusual surprise was Hank, dressed as Hans Solo, wasn’t wearing his metal mask, goggles and hat for most of the show, so we actually got to see his face. He had his goggles on for some of the show, but took them off to put on a cardboard robot head instead, as the new CD “Crank City ” is about a rebellion in a robot run post apocalyptic society.
Their new music was pure, techno/ pop/ disco except their lyrics , which were completely science fiction and were perfectly themed for the Star Wars theme of the night. So there were plenty of storm troopers , Sith Lords , Hans Solos, Princess Leias and plenty of other characters in the audience.
Chewbacca ended up winning the costume contest taking place in between opening sets from The Ketamines and Stars from Streetlights, before the main event.
There were a couple of upbeat, catchy highlights from Hank and Lily’s set, which brought a couple members of the crowd up on stage to participate.
Jen Bailey, dressed as a lady cop, sang a few bars with the band through Hank and Lily’s megaphone during “Lady Cop” and another guy, dressed in a David Hasselhoff mask and Baywatch shorts joined them on stage to dance to their David Hasselhoff song.
They wound down their first show by having the crowd tear apart a Darth Vader head, releasing cardboard shot glasses which they could trade in for actual shots.
Hank and Lily bright their rock face to the Slice for Cinco De Mayo, May 5. With Lily singing behind a massive drum kit which dwarved her, Hank was dressed as a Mexican wrestler and Cecil the Weasel played bass, dressed like a Mexican bandito.
It was a full on Mexican night, with many people wearing sombreros and white zombie style make-up.
There was even a piñata, which got smashed mid-way through their show releasing a variety of candy.
They played numerous upbeat originals, threw in a few Nirvana covers including “Rape Me.”
Then ended their set by amplifying two Mexican songs, but were called back for an encore by the screaming crowd, and showed off their dark and twisted sense of humour as Hank and Cecil switched instru
ments.
Lily observed, “Cecil’s saying thank God they finally gave me the guitar,” as they launched into a graphic song about sleeping with old people.
And perhaps as a nod to the previous night’s Star Wars extravaganza, other than the stormtrooper helmet sitting forgotten on the side of the stage, they called it a night with a dog in space themed number inspired by the 1950's Russian space program.
While I missed Eamon McGrath’s opening set, I caught some of Redrum Triumph.
Steve Foord and Kelsey Jesperson wore ghoulish white makeup on their faces and played their usual strong set of original folk, powered by violin, mandolin and guitar.
