Leadfinger is fronted by Stewart ‘Leadfinger’ Cunningham. Stewart has been a player on the Aussie scene for over 20 years, having played with The Proton Energy Pills, who were Tumbleweed before they were Tumbleweed. He’s also played with Asteroid B-612, Yes Men and Brother Brick. No Room at the Inn is the band’s fourth album.

The impact of the live gig setting, and the band’s stage presence, added some extra muscle and grit to their sound. There is something truly memorable about a band whose every song sounds like something you have heard a million time before. By that, I mean that every riff, and every chorus has that perfect hook that draws you in like all your favourite songs.

Tonight’s set mainly consisted of new tracks from their latest album, Pretty Things, which has a classic thematic feel to it. It’s hard not to love a song about girls. Harder still, not to love a frontman who hangs shit on Neil Young.

How dare Neil be playing in town the same night??

It was banter like that, that made the crowd’s affinity with Stewart, and his band, even stronger.

One of the last tracks was Gimmie the Future, which Stewart mentioned was a personal favourite. The track chugged along and left the band and the crowd on a euphoric high.

Soon after, Deniz Tek casually wandered on to the stage. From the moment he plugged in, he was smashing out the jams. By the second song, Deniz was pounding through a classic version of the Radio Birdman’s Murder City Nights. Even though he didn’t sing the original, his vocals weren’t too dissimilar to those of Rob Younger, who sung the original.

His new album Detroit (his first in 10 years) is classic garage. The album’s leading track Pine Box was a slow burner on the night, that pierced the crowd’s ears as the song progressed.

One of the other surprises was the added bonus of Radio Birdman keyboardist Pip Hoyle. Pip’s keyboard was such an integral part of the Birdman sound, it was great to hear him backing up his old cohort again.

Though Ghost Town was one of the slower, and more bluesy songs of the set, it held the crowd’s interest, however the small size of the crowd seemed to deter the energy of the band. Not to say that they were flat, they just didn’t seem as engaged as they might have been.

Can of Soup was another classic example of Deniz’s masterful riffage. Without any effort, he ripped his guitar apart and excited the crowd even more. His legacy shining more and more, as the night wore on.

Deniz finished the night on the classic Birdman track Aloha Steve And Danno (which famously borrows the riff from TV show Hawaii Five-O), and then, all of sudden, he announced the gig was over, citing that his management said he had to finish.

Those influences are fairly evident here so let’s kick a few around. “You’re So Strange” and “Gimme the Future” show “Let It Bleed”and “Exile”-era Stones touches, especially in Chloe West’s wonderful backing vocals. There’s a call-out to the late Rory Gallagher in the credits and you could read his guitar playing into any number of the songs. (If you don’t know Rory or his pre-solo band Taste, go to Google and make a beeline for a solo album called “Jinx”. That is all.)

There’s a big dose of Groovies pop here too while “The Other Ones” gives the most obvious of nods to the MC5 before walking around in its own skin. You could go on, but these songs do a pretty good job of standing on their own two feet. The band’s sure-footed confidence and Cunningham’s soulful vocal, and highly lyrical guitar-playing, underline the strength of the songs.

There’s a quotient of mid-tempo rockers like the stinging “Cruel City” (which could have easily sat in a Brother Brick or Yes-Men set list) and “It’s Much Better” the most prominent, but Leadfinger aren’t afraid to step outside the boundaries. “Segue Three” is a haunting instrumental that leads into the Celtic-tinged title track. Tour narrative “The Lonely Road” delicately builds to become a muscular rocker.

If you’re looking for trademark Leadfinger guitar, go to “Gimme The Future”. The lyrics aren’t the only thing referencing the Stones here; Stew’s playing on this one leans to the Mick Taylor rather than Keef side of things.

“The Wandering Man” is a widescreen effort that would demand airplay in a more enlightened world. Ultimately though, “Pretty Thing” is the real pop star in this lot, chiming in just past the album’s mid-point and commanding you to lighten the fuck up. “Don’t Think Twice” is a bright closer that recalls Big Star’s chiming guitars.

The maiming of his guitar-picking hand gave him a characteristic heavy-handed style, an attribute which, like his dedication to music, was to stick with him for the rest of his life.

Leadfinger is on tour with their fourth album, No Room At The Inn, supporting ex-Radio Birdman guitar-slinger Deniz Tek across Australia.

While Leadfinger is a cult underground phenomenon, the band is widely regarded around the world, as is Stew himself, who has been on the brink of mainstream success many times.

He was a member of the seminal Proton Energy Pills, which teetered on the edge of international stardom in the ’80s.

“We kinda got in the next big thing category, but then we split up. We were so young, it was all so tenuous,” he says.

More reverses were to follow.

“Another band I was in, The Yes Men, had a world tour lined up, but the singer OD’d, so it all went down the tubes. Asteroid B612 were on the brink, really going places, but it all fell apart really suddenly, we just didn’t get on together.”

These disasters failed to deter Stew. Having moved back to his home town of Wollongong, where he mows lawns for a living, he’s happy to keep producing his own albums.

“One day I sat down and thought about it and decided I just like playing guitar and writing songs and that’s what I’ve always done.

“Plenty of times I’ve felt ready to pack it in, but it’s never been about success. I need that outlet. I’m not good at expressing emotion in conversation, but put a guitar in my hands and that’s when I let it out.”

Leadfinger is renowned as a rock band with a fine flair for melody and a distinctive, almost folk-rock sound.

“I listen to a lot of Irish rock – Thin Lizzy, Van Morrison. Those bands were good at blending rock with their own roots. No Room has that ¾ time and I wrote on a 12-string guitar – a very powerful instrument. Harmonies are easy and the simplest chord progression sounds amazing.

“I also love the electric guitar and coming up with kooky riffs.”

Equally important is lyrical content.

“I’m very conscientious about the lyrics… if I wasn’t a musician I’d probably be a poet. Poetry’s a marginalised thing, like original rock’n'roll,” Stew says.

The marginalisation of rock’n'roll, hand-in-hand with the closing down of revered venues across Australia, is a theme which crops up in the artwork of No Room.

“We had photos of this place in Western Sydney called El Caballo Blanco, where people used to go to see dancing horses and that connected. They were really interesting photos of a run-down motel. Australian music was built on pubs and clubs that are now struggling,” Stew says.

Stew sees this as symptomatic of the state of modern music.

“A lot of songs don’t sound real any more. There’s no flaws, it’s almost hyper-real. I’m kind of revolted by it and also in awe of it.

“I know that to get to that point costs a lot of money. And we don’t have a lot of money. So we just put out what’s real for us.”

Meanwhile, he enjoys the camaraderie of being in a band and staying true to his vision.

“I’ve got no illusions. I’ve always had this thing that I’m happy to play to 100 people a night. Some people go fishing or play golf or are into their cars. I love writing songs and playing guitar.”

Leadfinger – the band and the man – are well established in their nook of the rapidly shrinking Australian underground. If they’re the last people left in the room you’d trust them to stubbornly resist the order to turn off the lights. These songs crackle with the conviction of a band entirely comfortable in its collective musical skin. They swagger and they rock and they’re a lot of fun. From the gritty (and larynx-testing) “Poor Man’s Boogie” to the strident power popping Replacements-flavoured rock of “Pretty Thing”, to the testosterone honesty of “Behind The Wall Of Sleep”, these are songs to crank at maximum volume while cruising down the highway bound for the beach.

There’s a lot of late ’70s British working man rock here with no excess flash. You even get a legit buried treasure in the cover of Chris Wilson’s “All The Action”, a long-lost follow-up to “Shake Some Action” that’s delivered with deference and aplomb. Political comment with a seasonal twist (“Left Wing Yule”), gnarly pop-rock (“Laser Love”) and a evocatively mellow sleeper (“Indians”) all show off Stew Cunningham’s distinctive guitar and rich voice. The band is up to the job. Trust men on this one.