Reviews
Stomach Burns Up
Carlin Gerbich, Evening Standard, 28 Jan 1998.
One sniff of The Stomach's interior told a story of the heat in the Manawatu as
three city bands turned out to support Palmerston North musician Steve Mitchell
(Sud) on the release of his first full-length album last Friday night.
Armpits turned to sweat pits in the oven-like interior as the solar powered midsummer
Stomach heating kicked into full swing.
Sud had transformed the main studio room into a balloon-filled haven for Palmerston
North music junkies, and he'd scattered chairs around for gig-goers to melt into.
The gig started late - as they so often do on such a busy night - when the Bing
Turkby Ensemble swung into action.
With a home resurrected guitar, Bing rumbled through a guitar, saxophone and trombone
oriented set of home grown music.
Originally a cheap Gibson semi-acoustic copy, Bing got the guitar from a friend
who had stored it with the strings wound too tightly. The tension had bent the neck
joint, rendering the guitar useless.
"I was just going to use the pickups but I couldn't be bothered working out the
electronics, so I found a piece of wood from the shed and bolted it on. It works
quite well," he said.
"I usually take two guitars to a gig, just in case, but I've never had to use the
other one...yet," he said.
Bing records backing tracks on a four-track mixer at home, minus the guitar and
vocals. He then plays along to the backing tape to produce his live show - his own
brand of karaoke.
The performance was peppered with humour - even in the face of catastrophe. Bing
dropped his drummer, a beat machine which he clips on to his guitar strap. It shattered,
but survived the night.
"There aren't too many drummers who'll carry on after you drop them and split their
heads open," he said.
A brief appearance by Stu Foise helped the show flow, but Bing didn't really need
help. He seemed quite capable of holding the show together without too much outside
help.
His brief but entertaining show closed too soon, with his current Radio Massey hit
Crumbly - a fictitious tale about two cakes.