On Saturday the 15th of November 2008, the Charles Hotel once again rocked to the sounds of the Guitar Gods Behaving Badly. GGBBII reunited Graham Greene and Gerard Maunick, with Gerry Quigley and The Shinkickers rounding out the trio for a gig that featured Roots and Soul, Celtic Blues and Melodic Rock in a guitar-soaked setting.

The Gerard Maunick Band is the perfect opener, with the smooth and funky sounds of Gerard’s cooler-than-cool three piece washing the room in a mix of Reggae-tinged Blues and his own mesmerising brand of “Soul Kreol”. Gerard, John Trotter (drums) and George Stout (bass) played tracks from Gerard’s past albums and some new songs from the upcoming CD release from WA’s own King of Creole Soul guitar.

Gerry Quigley and The Shinkickers hit the stage and immediately transported the crowd to the other side of the planet with a set of lively Celtic Folk and rocking Blues. The diminutive Irish Master led the band through a set that ranged from breakneck blues to the hauntingly bittersweet “Weeping Willow”, an instrumental ballad invoking Lynott and Moore at their lyrical best.

A special guest for the door prize giveaway was WA’s Queen of the internet airwaves, Global Thunda Network’s Nana Mex, who drew the main door prize [courtesy Music Park] and revved up the crowd with some inspiring words on the quality of Australian Independent Music.

Graham Greene’s Resonance Project opened their set with an explosion of guitars as they cranked into Graham’s Star Music Award winning track, “Impressive Hair”, immediately drawing the guitar faithful to the front of the stage. Donna G. then joined the boys for a hard rocking set that included the epic “Walk On Water”, featuring virtuosic performances from singer and guitarists alike. The crowd were left yelling for more, and they got more – in the shape of an impromptu jam on the classic blues standard “Rock Me Baby” featuring Graham and Gerry living up to the “Guitar Gods Behaving Badly” tag. As well as impressing the audience with extended trade-off solos, the pair got up to some visual antics that left those watching in stitches of laughter. One of the highlights of an eventful evening, parts of the jam were filmed, and appear on the West Coast Music Shack YouTube page, along with other footage from the show.

Included on the night was a stunning display of guitars from Perth’s own Ormsby Guitars (Handcrafted Electric Guitars for the Individual Guitarist)  and Ellis Acoustic Guitars as a taste of things to come at the 2008 Custom Guitar Show (a first for Perth). 

:: Images in the Gallery.   Videos on the Multimedia page