Belle Phoenix with Jeffery Wegener and Ken Gormly
+ Fabels
Thursday, 4 September 2025
Lazy Thinking, Dulwich Hill, NSW

WORDS: Ed Garland
PICTURES: Keith Claringbold

With her elfin appearance and cat’s eyes, Belle Phoenix, is part musical performer and part Factory girl, and surely would fitted into Andy Warhol’s Bohemian scene of 1966. Her sweet vocal has held her in good stead as a backing singer on other people’s albums, but she’s steadily built an impressive body of work with her own material.

Belle Phoenix’s music would work as a soundtracks to European movies (indeed, she did live in Europe for a time with Finland a home base.) It has hints of the spoken word spirit that pervaded the San Francisco of 1958 when alcohol-fuelled beat poetry nights were all the rage, long before anyone had an inkling of the Summer of Love that was lay ahead.  Yet, Belle can also sing like the angels and produce pure soprano bliss amidst her swamp darkness.

The evidence is her sensational and largely ignored album of a few years ago, issued under the name Belle Phoenix and The Subterranean Sea. Back in Australia now and spending time in Melbourne and Sydney, she’s struck up a creative partnership with Jeffery Wegener (Laughing Clowns, Saints, Birthday Party) to produce two albums “Cinematic Love”  and “Demolition 2025”.

Wegener is one of the most significant drummers to have emerged in Australia in the last 50 years. He’s a local version of the late Charlie Watts with the hands and wrists of a card shark. His movements around a kit are lightning fast - when required, Adopting the upright poise of a jazzman, he appears emotionless on stage but has helped produce some remarkable music.

_{The well-dressed Jeffrey Wegener.}

I still have memories of seeing him walking around Darlinghurst, dressed in a wrinkled suit and emerging into the sunlight in the mid-afternoon.  He was a night creature who would been producing music that was on the edge into the early hours of the previous morning.

Tonight at Lazy Thinking, Fabels open the evening. They are Ben Aylward and Hiske Weijers and I have been seeing this duo for some time. They have put a European tour under their belt since the last time.

Fabels consistently evolve and they have moved away from dance beats but still play evocative music with a distinct atmosphere, full of whispers and textures. Hiske’s subtle, sultry vocals and nimble bass-playing are highlights. The newer songs are softer and have a sense of deep emotions.  There is a nod to the Cocteau Twins and much of the set’s songs are dreamy, soaked in reverb and delay.    

The sets finishes with a dose of pure surrealism, courtesy of Ben’s textured guitar-work. Fables are a cherished part of the Sydney music scene, unique and a breath of fresh air.

Word about a week ago was that Ken Gormly (The Cruel Sea, Sekret Sekret) was going to join Belle Phoenix and Jeffrey Wegener at Lazy Thinking to play bass. It became even more a gig not to be missed.

The venue itself has that European-Melbourne vibe and is quite tiny. Plastered with tattered posters and with shelves full of vinyl records and T-shirts of bands that played there, it’s a surprise package. With cans of beer for less than 10 bucks, plus an array of house wine and hard liquor, the place has a great vibe. It’s down beat and mixed with cheap eats.

Back to the gig and Ken chose to the throw himself in the deep end,  happy to sit in without the benefit of a rehearsal.  It’s a scenario where chaos can reign and it could seem like simply a jam session to onlookers. And disaster can run wild.  

Mind you, Ken is more than capable of winging it. He’s notched up so many gigs since the late ‘70s and is a killer bass player. Despite putting thousands of gigs under his belt, he’s remarkably unpretentious and has never left his love of street music.

It's close to the starty of the main event and the venue is now packed to its rafters. Belle, Ken and Jeffrey take time to adjust their gear and there’s a slight sense of nervousness. Discussions ensue about what song to play. The song list is thrown out the door and the trio begins with “Andromeda” as a groove uncoils.

Belle jumps up suddenly and runs to the back wall of the room as she’s also taken on the role of photographer with her phone.,  This is not going to be an ordinary gig. Rock ‘n’ roll bluster gives way to chic cool. The opening songs click and as Belle fires up, the higher notes are reached.

_{And the girl lights up...}

There’s a demand from the stage for shots of tequila and the audience responds by sending them over as Belle lights up a cigarette. Rolling her eyes, it’s an outlaw stand and a statement is being made that she owns this venue.

The set unfolds and the songs recall hazy times, and a few could have come from the Velvets’ first album. Sometimes, it’s almost shambolic but it hangs together, held by a thread and avoiding collapse.   Gormly is showing supreme improvisation, keeping the bass-lines simple and powerful as he locks in with Wegener and follows Phoenix’s chords. It makes for some remarkable playing.

It is Jeffery Waggener who I am fixed most of the time, and his steady backbeat and shuffles anchor the set. He keeps the beat like a powerful metronome, allowing Belle to float off and be free. And she goes places in her songs, most notably “Blossom of Love” and “Fire”.  

There are moments of stunning songwriting here and as “Dance with Me” ends the evening, there’s a feeling that we’ve witnessed a high-wire act.  There was no sense of the trio being an actual band; it was more a collective of like-minded friends and comrades.

Belle wanted it that way; loose and wild and a sense that feeling of falling off a cliff that is rock ‘n’ roll.  It was far removed from the RSL and boomer heritage acts and a glimpse back to another time and space.  A gig I won’t forget in a hurry.