Under The Table Tennis

A few years ago, I was at the Laneway Festival in Sydney and a friend demanded that we go to one of the stages and catch a guy named Tim Fite. Before I try to describe the show, check out his most well-known song "Big Mistake", the film clip for which he illustrated himself:



But I hadn't seen this or anything else before I walked into the packed room to see him play. What resulted was one of the most bizarre yet perfect shows I have ever seen (which still stands now). During the first song, his off-sider "Sexy Leroy" walked around the whole crowd with a rope and pulling it tighter and tighter so that everyone was squashed to the front of the stage. It definitely beat the age-old and awkward cliche of the frontman saying "There's lots of room down here in the front to dance. Why don't you all move forward?"

Anyways, its hard to describe how the rest of the show went, but instead of a backing tape, Tim Fite sang along with a backing video that had different versions of him singing backing vocals and occasionally playing instruments. At other times, the screen behind him showed childish drawings that matched up to the lyrics in the songs. Maybe its best to just watch a clip of it:



Late in the set, Sexy Leroy climbed out into the crowd and setup a ladder. He perched himself on the top step and bent over with a bottle of water in between his legs, spraying everyone around him when the chorus line hit:

Is there a place where I can go
Where the rich don't get rich
And the poor don't get sh*t on?

Sure it was puerile, but what an awesome sentiment and a hilarious way to get it across. So I bought his album Fair Ain't Fair (which is where I found "Big Mistake") and last year I came across his latest album, Under The Table Tennis. For free on his website, no less.

Like that moment in the show I saw (which was a song I later learnt was called "The Snakes"), this new album is all about about people getting screwed by the man and how it has to stop - songs about losing your home ("For-closure"), health insurance ("Not Covred"), working heaps of jobs ("Jobs", obviously) and not getting paid for your work ("WYNPM").

Its an incredibly strange and unclassifiable album and I know that a lot of people won't be able to get into it. But its also utterly brilliant musically. Even more importantly, he is voicing his concerns about the ills of society. And he does it more poignantly than any other musician I know of. And I really respect that, because so much music is incredibly pointless and bland so as not to offend anyone.

So go download it now and if you are a little unsure, start with the song "Money Back". Everyone will be able to relate to this one and it will prime you for the rest of the album.