The Catheters - London Feet First @ Camden Palace - 4/6/02
4/5
By: Toby L
'We're The Catheters - from Cardiff, Wales,' proudly proclaims Catheters frontman, Brian Standeford from this evening's stage; yet, aside from the occasional humour, everything musical about this Seattle four-piece is relentless, uninhibited, and dangerously loud.
Sure, there's been an influx of guitar-orientated scene-drifters flying their way over to UK shores from all directions in the last twelve months, presumably in the hope of bagging a mortgage and a three-up, three-down property - yet can we take this anymore? Well - actually, yes - certainly when it's this good. The Catheters, after all, represent everything that's right about modern rock-music, serving themselves as passionate, sincere and fearless of portraying a bum-note here and there for that extra added grittiness.
Indeed, there's no compromising on the performance-edge, either - Standeford himself jumps around like a man possessed; when not climbing PA-systems, he instead chooses to leap on to the venue's floor to prompt some crowd-response. Clearly, material such as that which exists on their current Sub-Pop release, the stunningly-entitled 'Static Delusions and Stone-Still Days', along with all its snarling energy, grinding riffs and manic solos, is even bettered when heard live.
Admittedly, the song-structures are amusingly limited in their format, yet a dosage of early-Nirvana in the guise of 'Clock On The Wall', complete with the obligatory feedback and desperate vocals, really shows how emotional-distortion is the best form of expression outside of catapulting random paint at a strategically-placed canvass.
Fuelled with a desire to enthral, surprise and simply entertain, by the time the end of The Catheters' live-experience arrives, you may need just that which is depicted in their band-name to save you from an internal meltdown. Cool, huh?
Artists in this article: The Catheters
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