Well i never saw The Ears back when they were one of Melbourne’s shambolic fun-times charismatic underground driving forces..

i did see Sam Sejavka on countdown once when Beargarden caught Molly’s attention, and of course we all went to see Dags in Space over and over again. So for people who witnessed the world of music through the mainstream filter of countdown, when Dogs in Space hit the cinemas we had graduated from suburban living rooms to the wild world of big white volkswagens.

i remember driving around in the back of Meredith’s VW, pretending we were in the movie. Pretending we had some connection with the musical underground, but always knowing that Hutchence wasn’t the real Sejavka.. that this was a mid-eighties commercialised and dressed-up version of the real thing. That we were playing at being in a fictional reality.

So yes i knew the hutchence/ lowenstein versions of the songs..

(For those who don’t know or haven’t worked it out by now, the band of the movie Dogs in Space is loosely based on this Melbourne group from the late 70′s, early 80′s).

Lovely to get to this reunion gig of The Ears and experience a bunch of people re-living the wild exuberance of the original times.

Recognising folk from the “Living on Dog Food” movie.. so i give Sam a big smile as i walk by.. can’t help acknowledging the star of the show, and he asks if i’m Steve. That was funny. No i’m michael… but you look familiar too.

Great show. He’s a fully energetic performer with that lush flamboyance that i adore..

i knew i’d love The Ears’ version of The Ears.

Sean kelly came on and played with them. That was cool. Some of the support acts were fun too – David Bridie has a lyrical voice – and Steve Kilbey was amazing of course.. but i really had to listen to St Kilda get done by Essendon on the radio outside didn’t i. Ouch.. should have stayed in the gig!

Stop press:
huge thanks to Brendan of Brilliant Films for the live footage he’s posted on youtubie. Here is the one and only Dogs in Space by The Ears Live:

Plus: Sagging Insects Live:

..and an original video from way back when: Leap for Lunch:

Loads of links related:

• Lots of photos from the gig by a proper photographer over at flickr, but for some reason they won’t let me embed the slideshow here (copyright protection i guess).
• ooh look more photos, by rockpool73 at flickr.
• Sam’s been writing plenty about the set over on Sails of Oblivion.
• Plus he’s interviewed on mess + noise. The comments make good reading too, after the gig.
• Here’s the gig on Last.fm (including links to the support bands).
• (Here’s the movie version of Golf Course. i can finally say, “Not a patch on the real thing”.)
• But wait there’s more: who remembers Sam’s other band: Beargarden live on Countdown in the full throes of the new wave.
• Another original video on youtube: Triple Treat.

That photo above comes from the flickr set by amd300466. Completely copyright and i really shouldn’t have put it here. Thanks anyway. i’ll see if any of the photos on my phone match up.

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