Maleny Community Centre was packed to the rafters when Gold Coast band Tijuana Cartel played the first gig of their album launch tour on Friday night. Supported by Wild Marmalade and with DJ Booth, the usually quiet ridges of those rolling hills were well and truly rocking until the wee hours. The floor boards of the Community Centre hall vibrated with the sound of a village full of exuberant dancing feet.

Doors opened at 8pm and by this stage a large crowd had gathered outside the venue. It appeared the whole town had come out for this event. It was an interesting combination of locals: those dressed to impress, dreadlocked hippies, just about all the local teenagers, Mums and Dad with kids running around and even babies in prams. You’ve just gotta love the real community feel of a Maleny gig!

The event was the official launch of Tijuana Cartel’s new album aptly titled They Come. And come they did, in their droves. Unfortunate late-comers were turned away as the hall reached its capacity – and boy did they miss out on an awesome night. Brilliant bongo player Daniel Gonzales was celebrating his 30th birthday on the night, which just added to the real celebratory feel of the event.

DJ Booth did a great job of warming up the crowd and some feet too itchy to wait for the main acts got straight into the serious business of shaking their sillies out. Others took the opportunity to catch up with old friends outside the venue and wait for the much-anticipated duo that is Wild Marmalade.

Coming on at 9.15pm, didg player extraordinaire Si Mullumby reminisced about the last time he had played a Maleny gig. According to his calculations, it had been 54,440 days since he played at the very last Maleny Festival, before it outgrew the town and was relocated to Woodford and became the now famous Woodford Folk Festival. Judging by the reception of the crowd, it had been far too long. Usual partner in drums Matt Goodwin was unable to play the gig, so Mark took to the kit to create some very groovy Aussie dance drum and didg beats. It was obvious that this crowd wanted to stomp non-stop, so Si picked up the pace accordingly.

Towards the end of Wild Marmalade’s set they were joined on stage by Tijuana Cartel’s guitarist Paul George and bongo player Gonzales for an impromptu jam session before handing the stage back over to DJ Booth (just love that DJ name!) for a short break at around 10.15pm.

How do you describe a band like Tijuana Cartel? I was lucky enough to catch their gig at the Woodford Festival in December and was just blown away by their music and danced myself silly. I was stoked, then, to be able to catch them again in my new hometown. Drawing comparisons to any other act or style just doesn’t do justice to the absolute uniqueness of this band.

Drawing on dance styles from almost every continent, Tijuana Cartel’s recipe for funk combines electronic keyboards, mixing and sampling. It’s served with live flamenco guitar, a splash of trumpet and generous doses of Latin-style bongo beats. Add to the mix a rapping MC and a sprinkle of didgeridoo. The result? Mucho funkadidgilisciousness. If the Spanish gypsies held an Aussie-style bush doof, Tijuana Cartel would be playing.

Nobody but the sleepy little cherubs curled up down the back of the hall wanted the night to end and the dancing went on way past the scheduled finish time with several encores called. I had an absolute blast and can’t wait to do it all again. Thanks for coming back to Maleny and congratulations on your album Tijuana Cartel!