OH CHEF! A NIGHT WITH KIRIN J CALLINAN
Vinnies Dive Bar was notably packed out for a Sunday night in a city where its people ordinarily have better things to do like attend yacht parties and host Commonwealth Games. Tonight though, the good people of the Gold Coast (better known as the Cold Ghost) reserved their vigor for homegrown provocateur; Kirin J Callinan.
In a world that is growing increasingly one dimensional, where echo chambers further trap us into its dystopian jaws - Kirin remains a constant goad for originality and resets the way we view musicians as a whole. For he is part of a very rare, peculiar and endangered breed; SHOWMEN.
As the daughter of a musical impersonator, I've grown to be a little sycophantic for good entertainment. I long for the days reigned by stadium tours featuring pyrotechnics, back up dancers and a million dollar budget reserved purely for eyeliner and hairspray.
A time where artists battled with each other, as well as themselves, to perform more and more grandiose shows with each time they graced a stage. Mixing their love for the act with actual insanity - Think Ozzy Osbourne eating a bat,Eddie Vedder jumping off scaffolding into an adoring crowd, Tommy Lee’s roller coaster drum rig, TISM’s entire career…
The sanctity of performance - in all its raw, egocentric, glorious self.
Live shows have since morphed from artists putting their whole pussy into a performance in order to dazzle and entertain the audience; to self righteous twats who make it feel like what they are doing is purely laborious, and that the audience simply existing in front of them has created a chore that they must undertake while daydreaming about being literally anywhere else but here, in front of a paying audience full of their loyal fans.
I actually don't know if we should be so quick to blame these wet-rags. Since the death of physical song sales, touring has pretty well been a musicians only hope to make enough money to feed themselves. So now we see people who 30 years ago probably wouldn't NEED to tour, being forced to by broke bandmates and hungry management.
With all this being said; how fucking refreshing it is to see someone who actually enjoys being on a stage.
Kirin entered the stage adorned in a toque blanche, chef jacket, infamous kilt, and black cowboy boots with mismatched ‘thrills’ socks hanging out of the top … A large silver crucifix swung from his neck as he marched toward a cheering audience, slinging a guitar around his body. If the point of performers is to say ‘hey, look at me, I have something you want to see’, then this new uniform alone smacks that point hard into the faces of us all. You simply can't look away from the charade, afraid to miss a minute of the farce.
It was impossible not to notice how obedient and devoted the crowd was, especially when you take into account the amount of beers that were flung over the bar in the lead up to this moment. Kirin held the tongues of the entire room with the emotional ballad “In Absolutes”.
The only noise heard from the crowd was the swishing of clothes as they swayed along with a grin across their face ( also he had said “if you know this song then dont sing along”, and as i said, obedient fuckers)
Then, in what is perhaps one of the most unique dynamics I've ever personally witnessed between a musician and his crowd, everyone began yelping out “YES CHEF”, with no real rhyme or rhythm to their cries. They yelled it when he asked a question, they yelled it when he finished a song, but they yelled it the most when he took the hat off to proclaim that there was no tiny rat underneath it controlling his every move.
He steered the night through a mix of songs from his entire discography - which spans over 10 years. Three albums and multiple EP’s comprised of self expression, social commentary and numerous covers of past power ballads.
Genre defying in all aspects, it's hard to simply sum up a man like Kirin. Even his character skin is impossible to define. I'm not sure a definition is even something that is needed here though - since as soon as we are able to pinpoint it he will have metamorphosed into a brand new character all together anyway. There is only one word needed to classify; SHOWMAN.
A great showman. A humble showman. An enchanting and dazzling showman. During the hour or so that he graced the sticky dive bar stage, he remained nothing but present and devoted to the craft. Even after the show, when he sat on the stage and the audience lined up to meet the man behind the chef mask. Kirin J Callinan went above and beyond to make everyone in that room feel as special as he was.
To make them feel not just like a fan,
But like a friend.
Kudos, Chef.
