Cash Savage and the Last Drinks

All hail Cash Savage and the Last Drinks!

Cash Savage is impressive and the Last Drinks will leave you hung-over asking for more. Hauntingly beautiful, this six-piece band is going to take you to a dark place where your only friend is an empty whisky glass. With their slightly gothic spin on the blues/country/rock genre, the band put on a great one-off show in the Aurora Spiegeltent at the Garden of Unearthly Delights.

The 60-minute show was an emotional vortex of lost love and tragedy. Led by the melancholic voice of Cash Savage, violinist Kat Mear, banjo player Brett Marshall, drummer Rene Mancuso, guitarists Joe White and Chris Lichti, The Last Drinks will hypnotise you.

The homegrown band kicked off their performance with a few singles off their last album (The Hypnotiser) and then dived into a crowd favourite 19 Years. Savage’s aching voice and Marshall’s playful banjo skills make this song an anthem for the broken-hearted.

This was followed by the classic Five Boys, One Farm, which tells a tale of a bitter divorce. The longing ache of I’m In Love will make you wish you were jilted just so you could mourn with the beauty of these lyrics.

The band’s music is always switching pace. One minute you are foot tapping to the playful banjo, and the next, the song will make you want to headbang to Cash’s growling voice; being seated just seems to be so unfair.

Next to follow was the raw yet melodic Let Go. The ferocious drums skills of Mancuso and electrifying bass guitar performance by White need to be felt to be believed. The duo jammed to this number while the crowd cheered in awe. Joe’s guitar sacrificed a few strings.

Savage and the band share great on-stage camaraderie and spontaneity that shine through their dark lyrics. Music aside, Savage is quite humorous, always sharing anecdotes between songs and leaving the audience in chuckles.

The whirlwind performance came to a close with the band’s mesmerising title track Hypnotiser. The lingering violin and the echoing bass made a great close to the show. We were left asking for more.

The music of Cash Savage and the Last Drinks is raucous and reckless, yet gentle and soothing. This young talent displays a powerful performance in complete harmony and sync. The band has definitely made their mark in the Australian music scene and they’re here to stay. - Rip It Up

Jdu si na guláš a začínám být dosti nervózní. Teď to totiž přijde. Cash Savage and the Last Drinks. Láska na první poslech. Jestli jsem se předloni zamiloval do kazatelů Slim Cessna's Auto Club, tak letos moje sluchovodní hercna a duše patří jednoznačně Cash Savage. Ona a její šestihlavé hudební spřežení káže o vykoupení a pokušení zároveň. Dirty country a rockový blues. V tu chvíli jseš na světě úplně nahej. Začínali před lety v Melbourne a některý řeči vyprávěj, že znějí jako pobodanej chlap z barový rvačky, kterej leží na špinavý podlaze. Hypnotizuje publikum Šramlfestu na sto procent. Sebezničující upřímnost v textech, hypnotický rytmy a syrovej zvuk. Skvělá basa a housle pronikající do morku kostí. Padám na dlažbu Mikulášskýho náměstí. Tohle byl okamžik, na kterej se nezapomíná. Po Cash Savage přichází Mucha na víně a je roztomile rozverná. Set ovšem odehrává důstojně. Hudební progres je u ní více než patrný. Ze Záviše v sukních se tak posouvá trochu do jiných sfér, i když svou vulgární vtipnost a podstatu neztrácí. - akurnik.cz

Banjo. Upright bass. Horns. Violin. Telecaster. Hollow-body guitar. Drums. Folk. Blues. Country. Cabaret. To say that there are many facets to Cash Savage & The Last Drinks is somewhat of an understatement. It is apt then, that the first song of their set urged the crowd to Let Go And See Where She Takes Me. Which the crowd did willingly. Cash Savage is unlike any other band touring Australia's pubs and clubs. She is an Australiana soul singer with a colonial blues band, who writes songs brimming with veracity and vulnerability.

All of their songs tell the story of a moment. Bareknuckle Boogie captures perfectly the brainless stupidity that can be seen any weekend, in any pub, in any town, of dickheads punching on. Early Morning Comedown Blues evokes the wince behind your eyes as the first cracks of dawn bring reality to a fantastic night out.

Musically the band are balanced. The violins and banjo don't sound like a Mumford & Sons rip off. The guitars don't battle for solo supremacy. Meanwhile, the drum and bass create an alloy of strength underpinning Savage's husky low tones. All of this, as musically high-brow as it might seem, had an eager crowd dancing from the opening bar to the end of the genuine encore. - The Music

Cash Savage has forever and a day held that intrinsic X-factor. From a stage presence that marries a daring, charming and devilish feel to the recording studio that still retains the rough-around-the-edges approach, Savage holds court in Australia as the queen of the roots/rock/blues scene. The Hypnotiser* is her follow-up to 2011?s squallier *Wolf and – as it should, due to musical progression – takes on a cleaner, more considered production path.
As a consequence, our American-whiskey-swilling protagonist shuffles her vocal from gospel holler to brute punk force from one gregarious parable to the next. Guitars are strummed gently hard up against the mix and immense group choirs bob up (45-strong at times) as violins snake in and out next to Hammond organ, piano, trumpet and double bass.
There’s real texture emanating throughout The Hypnotiser and an appreciation of production nous courtesy of Savage’s working relationship with former band member Nick Finch (Graveyard Train) and Melbourne engineer Nao Anzai. With the pair seemingly concentrating on elevating and isolating the Savage vocal, always careful to never let it blast off course on a drunken ramble, the album benefits tenfold.
Cash Savage And The Last Drinks – Hypnotiser by Heapsaflash
Graceful narratives ensue; with a haunting violin that’ll break the hardest of hearts and sweeping soundscapes of washed percussion that flesh out the mise-en-sc’ne. For a track that only runs through for a matter of minutes, ?Howling for Me? is pure spine-tingle courtesy of Savage’s ode to a lost confidant. Staunch acoustic guitars overlap much like a Welch/Rawlings dynamic as Savage battles on through her most personal moment.
?Five Boys, One Farm? explores the loss of a family farm due to a divorce settlement, with that slicing fiddle again speaking volumes. Kat Mear, take a bow. ?I’m in Love? is, like all Savage’s tunes, a sincere and life-affirming statement. Again, there is no overstretching on the vocal to blow a woofer valve, just a clever manoeuvring of the pipes to ensure the desired result. It’s still all heart but navigated, or channelled, in a new manner vocally.


The penultimate track, ?Early Morning Come Down Blues?, leaks a laidback barroom bent with zigzag riffs ripping through. Building like a mini-tornado in a drunken head, the tune looks to break the shackles with persuasive electric guitar and horn breaks that kindly allow Savage to reload for another session on the sauce. As she professes: ?The sun is going down/It’s time to get back on it.? Meanwhile, the closing ?Mother’s Lament? runs a lo-fi evangelic line to yet more sorrow as Mear continues to honour The Frames? Colm Mac Con Iomaire’s signature violin sound.
The Hypnotiser is a melancholy, frank recording by an artist who has the ability to stick to her guns, yet be as chameleonic as she needs to be to get the job done. No mean feat. - MESS+NOISE

The second album from Melbourne's Cash Savage and the Last Drinks is an impressive and immensely moving record. Cash's profounding affecting and vivid storytelling is matched with soulful musical arrangements that span country, blues and gospel styles. The instrumental range of the record is broader than before, with strings, horn section and a choir soaring in harmony with the band. - RRR 102.7FM