The Arseless Chaps is the new collaboration between TISM frontman Damian Cowell and comedy icon Tony Martin. They made their Melbourne stage debut at Howler in Brunswick on Sunday night (13 April) to an intimate crowd of superfans who were there for the absurdly entertaining experience of biting satirical lyrics set to “electrobanger” music.
Entering the stage clad in all white get-ups, Cowell introduced them as the “world’s oldest” hip hop act. Cowell’s high energy, bouncing around the stage, was subdued ever-so-slightly by Martin’s comic presence of standing looking sullen and/or confused (occasionally breaking into awkward dancing during the show).
Cowell and Martin have a bro-mance that goes back 26 years, as Cowell explained, meeting when they both worked in the same building at Melbourne radio stations Triple M and Fox FM. Cowell was an advertising copywriter by day and a balaclava wearing secret member of TISM by night, while Martin was one half of the biggest drive program on Australian radio at the time, Martin/Molloy (where, if you ask me, and nobody did, he was the brains of the entire show while Mick Molloy rode his coat-tails.) They’ve collaborated on lots of things over the years. Most recently Martin appeared on some tracks and live performances for Damian Cowell’s Disco Machine, while Cowell has provided the theme tune for Martin’s must-listen podcast Sizzletown.
At Howler, the duo played some new irreverent tunes with sharp lyrics like “Barbed Wire Canoe”, “My Mate Nosferatu”, “Full Of Shit And Getting Away With It” and “I’m Bum Dialling The World” featuring their unique takes on pop culture, politics and the absurdities and outrages of everyday life, which sent the crowd wild. Their dynamic was a carefully balanced interplay between Cowell’s musical prowess and Martin’s storytelling to create something fresh.
Other highlights were their performances of the Damian Cowell’s Disco Machine classics “Where the Fuck’s the Vengabus?”and “Get Yer Dag On” and their take on S Club 7’s 1990s (s)hit “S Club Party” (ain’t no party like an S Club party…) as well as a mash-up of Kylie Minogue and TISM songs that Disco Machine fans would be familiar with.
Fans left the venue buzzing, eagerly anticipating what the Arseless Chaps will do next (hoping there will be an album).
