!!! Electric Ballroom, London 7/7/09
3/5
By: Andrew Misuraca
It could be taken as a general rule that ‘!!!’ fans are beautiful, inside and out if tonight’s crowd are anything to go by. People look happy to be here. No one is scowling at anyone else. People actually move out of the way when you want to get by… strangers are talking to each other!
Waiting for the band to take the stage we’re treated to the gangstalicious tune that is Zapp’s ‘Dance Floor’. The crowd nod and bob approvingly. The bass pumps, the room is vibrant and I couldn’t think of a better place for the gig tonight. I am ready to dance like a dickhead with my Red Stripe in hand. The lights dim, the people get excited and we shuffle forward like dance hungry penguins.
We wait anxiously as the intro loop plays, “be there; be there; be there”, toes twitch, feet stomp and on they come straight into a new song. Singer Nic is on it, coming across as some hybrid raver/Betty Boop Booty Bouncer. He dances so camp all I can do is stare. He transcends sex, he is just dance, oddly captivating dance in a strangely human, paradoxically sexy form.
“What happened to the rest of the band?” I’m asked, and it’s true, they do appear to have a slimmed down lineup. Old members have taken up and are sharing new roles, the drummer no longer sings and I’m not sure if that is even the old drummer anymore… regardless, guitarist Mario is a magician. A guitar ventriloquist at very least, the way his hands glide seamlessly about the fret board, his Telecaster singing.
After half the set and not a single recognizable song I’m fiending for a bit of ‘Dear Can’ or ‘Intensify’ or something off of Myth Takes even and I don’t think there’s a single person here that wouldn’t rather something vaguely recognizable as a !!! song. I can’t keep going back to the bar and with limited funds the beer buzz will only last so long and I’m at least one guy that wants to get his dance on. It’s more like a Scissor Sisters gig at points with Nic’s flowery arm gestures and homo-erotic posturing, I can’t focus on much else as I’m actually starting to get a bit sick of the new stuff. No doubt I’ll love it once I’ve heard it on record but that’s just it. !!! are one of those bands that need study. It took me a while to get into them, a handful of friends and a couple of years but it wasn’t until I forced myself to sit and really listen to Louden Up Now that I started to get them. The guitar interplay, those rhythmic nuances, the culmination of drums/percussion/programmed beats, the angry waster youth lyrical damnations and exaltations; how had I been so blind to this awesomeness?! I can only liken it to the hated foods your mother would make you eat all through youth and up to young manhood until you were able to eat it on your own terms, albeit under duress from your girlfriend who has just made it for you but you take a bite and… damn, blindsided by shepherd’s pie, the contender that never was, the safe bet always lurking in the corner of the fridge and the shame faced humility of admitting it to those that pushed it on you for so long.
So I got hyped about Myth Takes when it came out and it took a while for me to admit it was as good as Louden Up Now but I’d put them in equal stead, however, tonight the dance fever that infected us with our first excited glimpse of !!! is slowly waning, the new material creeping over the crowd like a sterile, curing blanket. Still the fervent few go nuts and groove their shouty butts off when just as I’m back from the bar with my last beer Nic announces, “That was a bunch of new stuff, now we’ll play some hits” and straight into ‘Must Be The Moon’. The crowd goes off, the beer buzz kicks in. Within minutes he’s into the crowd, singing and bopping in their faces, they watch attentively his every move. Back up to the stage and he starts grinding up against the speakers, towel around his neck, little camp bum wiggling at us, taunting us but I’m too zoned to care right now and my dickhead dance ensues. Three tracks and a bit of a jam later they bust into ‘Heart of Hearts’, their final song of the night. Not a single track off Louden…, not even a handful of tracks from Myth Takes but those moments of butt shaking familiarity are well worth it and we make the most of our groove window.
Not everyone is happy, it’s almost safe to say not many. It’s almost a different band, some say missing integral members and it’s a topic of much debate outside the Electric Ballroom. “It’s the first time I’ve ever seen them booed,” says my mate Nicky, he who got me into them and eight-time live show veteran. Fair enough, it was mainly because they didn’t play an encore as opposed to be people hating but all in all, it was a bit of a let down. A Portuguese guy passes around pre-rolled joints to strangers and it seems like some sort of consolation. Post-show talk evaporates within minutes and everyone goes back to their corners of the world to talk about other things like Big Brother or how boat shoes are so in right now and resign the gig that once shone with such promise to the dusty corners of their memory banks. Tonight was unfortunately a case of the dog for Christmas but like that metaphorical dog, I look to the future in the hope that the next record will have me once again dancing like a doggy dickhead.
Artists in this article: !!!
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