'You Are The Hat' from Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Global Medallion LP. The usual set opener for the band.
So that was it. The FLApes debut album launch after ten months, for me, of listening to arguably the biggest, and most exciting, indie band to have come out of Dublin for a long time. Last November was their first headlining gig in Whelans, to promote their second EP, David Carradine Is A Bounty Hunter Whose Robotic Arm Hates Your Crotch. With a band with eight songs to their name - plus one very special cover - they blew me away then; last night, with the last time I had seen them being in April with 2/3rds of Mclusky, Future of the Left, was full circle in a perfect way.
I was going to review the show, but I've always been ambiguous in my attitude 'reviewing' shows as such. A lot of what I have to process about this show is tied up in processing the album, which is really cohering for me now that I have it on the turntable (and only a couple of scattered mp3s in fact, as I'm out of eMusic downloads for the moment.) In addition, I still haven't found out the name of the support band, who were actually quite good (were they English?). Sort of Mclusky surrogates as well (see below). Anyway, I might get back to it.
EDIT:
Still haven't found out the name of the three-piece support band, but I did find this interesting review on Irish indie music website Cluas.com ('cluas' is the Irish word for 'ear') which describes the show as "one of the most terrifying gig experiences of my life" - due to "an over-excited crowd" - but also "inexplicably one of the best gig experiences" for the music.
Thanks to Tower Records for the free poster above, which came in a canvas bag - it's the tenth anniversary since the opening of the flagship Irish store on Wicklow Street, which is still by far the best major record store in Dublin and probably the rest of Ireland - with a bunch of promo CDs and, get this, Fight Like Apes - 'Lend Me Your Face' 7". Yellow vinyl, backed with their excellent cover of Mclusky's 'Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues'.
On which note, very many thanks to the girl behind me who picked up my glasses after they fell off during that song (yes, I wear glasses. Who'd have thought?) They've - surprisingly - never done that before, but I had to go apeshit, as it were, for that song, especially for MayKay's line "This isn't a question, it's a statement: Mclusky". I'm not sure exactly how many of Dublin's gig-going population are familiar with the Welsh noise-punk pioneers yet, but anyone who's been to one of Fight Like Apes' gigs will have heard that song. Two things to note: first, it's Mclusky, all one word, with a lower-case 'l'; and second, Future of the Left are very good, but Shooting at Unarmed Men - Jon Chapple, the Mclusky bassist's band - are the ones to check out this year for their album Triptych.
Fight Like Apes on eMusic (full album & the two EPs)
6 comments:
my bloody valentine is recording a new album.
You Are The Hat isn't on the album! Or at least not on my one! Need to get that promo stuff though, is that free or with the vinyl or what?
sounds like a good show. I didn't even know it was possible to lose your glasses behind (?!) you
oh, and new MBV = multiple huzzahs
karl - it's on the vinyl (hence I said LP, I wasn't just being totally pretentious!) It's just before 'Do You Karate?' on Side B.
cretin - behind is where they ended up, how I'm not really sure.
that 'new' MBV isn't going to be all that new, from what I remember from the Kevin Shields interview with Ian Svevonious, it's going to be mostly stuff left over from the previous recordings plus a few new tracks. that might have changed since, but that was his stated intention then. still good, though.
Fight Like Apes still have 'shoegaze/pop' listed as their style on Myspace, so maybe they can cash in on the boom :)
karl - sorry, I didn't read your comment properly.
'You Are The Hat' is on the vinyl version of the album.
I bought it in Tower on the day, and I got the bag of stuff, including 'Lend Me You Face', with it. That might just have been for this week, though. I forgot to go to any of the instores, which is a pity because Ham Sandwich really rock it a small space.
I like this a lot. I am definitely going to check out their album. Thanks!
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