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Photo: Richard Gray
It is with a slight sense of trepidation that we approach a Fat White Family gig. We've read reports of them throwing a pig's head around the crowd, of frontman Lias Saoudi rubbing butter and faeces over his naked body, and of various members pulling out their penises mid song. Freedom of artistic expression is something we believe in fervently and unequivocally – it’s just that we’d rather it wasn’t expressed through us getting hit with a dead animal carcass, or having to watch a sweaty man writhe around in his own excrement.
Thankfully, our concerns were unfounded – tonight at least, Fat White Family steer clear of attention-seeking gimmicks (apparently the faeces incident was a protest because ‘the venue only gave us two drinks tokens each’), and stick to providing a good old-fashioned dirty, grimy, sweaty rock show.
Their performance at Camden's Electric Ballroom is manic and raucous, but it’s also played with a precision and polish that belies their reputation as utterly shambolic and discordant. The song’s instrumentals are injected at times with ‘50s rock and roll riffs, and there’s even the occasional hint of surf rock – but in their live shows they, very deliberately, bury this refinement under Saoudi’s bellowing, unrefined vocals.
At times this is a stroke of genius - in ‘Autoneutron’ for example, and the lyrically repulsive ‘Is It Raining In Your Mouth’, the balance between order and chaos is negotiated perfectly. On other occasions, Saoudi’s inability to contain his own energy leads to strained, overworked vocals which deny their live show the light and shade moments demonstrated so well on record.
As the gig ends though, and Saoudi stands shirtless, arms held outstretched as if he’s a sweaty Jesus embracing the whole venue, we’re left with two feelings – relief, that they all managed to keep it in their pants, and excitement, at their unfettered enthusiasm for performance and the potential that their live shows so loudly and pungently demonstrate.
