The Beards take facial hair very seriously, with their albums, ‘Beards’ and ‘Beards, Beards, Beards’ containing songs exclusively about beards. They stopped by the ANU bar recently as a part of the 100 Beards Tour, their noble quest to convince 100 beardless people to stop shaving.
Canberra band, Super Best Friends, opened the night two-thirds bearded. Bass player, Matt Roberts, was unable to grow a beard and his lack of hair became the running joke of the set. Facial hair aside, the three-piece put on a fantastic show, as always, and finished with three new songs.
Gay Paris was up next. Frontman, WH Monks came dangerously close to losing his clothes and no one accepted his offer to partake in a rap battle. But the band delivered an energetic performance, featuring frenzied hard rock songs including, ‘My First Wife? She Was A Fox Queen’ and some very impressive beards.
By the time The Beards opened their set with ‘I’m In The Mood For Beards’, the bar had filled with the hairiest men in Canberra. Frontman, Johann Beardraven, was happy with the number of beards proudly on display and approached the barrier to stroke the chins of several members of the crowd who happily reciprocated. Understandably, the band members couldn’t keep their hands off each other’s beards either.
Highlights of the evening included ‘A Wizard Needs A Beard’, the song that outlines all the professions in which having a beard is pretty much in the job description, the merciless ‘No Beard, No Good’ and ‘If Your Dad Doesn’t Have A Beard, You’ve Got Two Mums’. New single, ‘You Should Consider Having Sex With A Bearded Man’, was as persuasive as it was 80s-influenced.
The novelty of a band that sings only about beards could potentially wear thin if the songs weren’t well constructed, the lyrics weren’t clever, or the band wasn’t engaging. Fortunately, The Beards triumphed on all accounts. The encore, a performance of the bluesy ‘My Baby Left Me For A Man Without A Beard’, complete with saxophone solo, displayed the band’s musical ability and versatility.
At the end of the evening bearded men were prouder than ever, clean-shaven men were pledging to throw out their razors and women were a little jealous.
