LondonNet Gig Review
 Country
Teasers
Gin
Palace
Headless
Semi-Finalists
12/02/05
Buffalo Bar
259 Upper Street N1 1RU
tel: 020 7359 6191
travel: Tube/BR: Highbury And Islington
Weird Science
Scotland's Country Teasers rant and rave...
When Country Teasers front man Ben Waller hastily slurred "Ok,
thank you, yes, we'll do an encore" seconds after bidding the
crowd good night, a few cries of "no!" could distinctly
be heard from the Buffalo Bar crowd - cries which were met with
silent sneers from those actually there to see Scotland's outlaw
purveyors of a bizarre, art-damaged fusion of countrified no-wave
and rock'n'roots stomp. The whole scene was indicative of the famously
indifferent Teasers' talent for alienating their audience; as true
outsiders, they take frequent and hilariously offensive jabs at
political correctness and don't care whether people get the joke
or not.
The evening had started innocuously enough, with the Semi-Finalists
playing their utterly mundane indie rock, which the singer desperately
tried to pervert into something resembling avant-garde with a full-face
feathered mask that was far more silly than unsettling, which seemed
his intention. The night was quickly redeemed, though, as Headless
proceeded to rock unabashedly, ripping through a heavy, darkly riff-driven
tune about the perspective of a corpse that took the Adverts' classic
tune "Gary Gilmore's Eyes", and swathed it in shadowy
industrial brooding reminiscent of NYC no-wavers Mars.
Gin Palace then stormed the stage with their furious loud-and-fast
ethos, churning out unadulterated punk with front woman Meaghan
Wilkie emitting a ferocious wail incongruous with her tiny frame.
The Country Teasers took stage without ceremony, taking a few swills
of beer before launching into songs from the absurdly long-winded
"Secret Weapon Revealed At Last Aka Full Moon Empty Sports
Bag". The semi-title track, "Full Moon Empty Sports Bag",
and also something of an underground "hit" (as far as
any song from the Country Teasers can be called as much), elicited
a few cheers of recognition from the crowd. Near the end, Waller
made a sort of ranting speech over dissonant notes that was peppered
with insults designed to deliberately offend as many people as possible.
It wouldn't be inaccurate to say that Waller has little, nay, zero
stage presence, but all the inaccessibility is genius in its lack
of studiedness.
His deadpan Scottish drawl is more spoken than sung, and although
the Teasers's music nods to classic country and industrial, their
haphazard cut-and-paste hybrid is entirely original. The Country
Teasers's live shows probably won't win them any new fans, but for
those for whom the apparently random string of words "Science
Hat Artistic Cube Moral Nosebleed Empire" actually carries
meaning, Saturday night was a surreal display of unruly and deranged
musical brilliance.
Ashley
Brown
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