Photo: Artwork
There are many things in this vast and glorious world that could be described as pure genius: zips, folding chairs, Bank Holidays, the final two seasons of Breaking Bad and, of course, stuffed crusts. Today we add a new example of such astounding human ingenuity to that list in the form of this: the concept of being your own tour support band who play only covers of your favourite 90s post-rock band.
This Nobel-worthy idea has been put forth by none other than California’s !!!, who tonight confound and confuse a room full of fans - this Gigwise writer included - with their amusingly, meta musical turn.
Chk Chk Chk have sashayed into London as part of their European tour and tonight sees them headlining the first night of Convergence Festival, a three-day event that celebrates all things of a cultural and cerebral bent.
Although somewhat baffling to lesser-in-the-know types, !!!’s half hour set of Stereolab covers under the name of Stereolad (we told you it was genius) is the perfect tease for their main set. The motorik, kraut-throb of Stereolab’s greatest hits urges the prone-to-chin-stroking crowd to nod heads and hastily down beers in anticipation of what’s to come. And boy does it come.
If you’ve never seen !!! live before you need to do so post-haste. They’re a fabulous funk of sass, dance and punk that even those often too shy to throw shapes can’t help but get a bit twitchy too.
Frizzy-haired frontman Nic Offer struts the fuck out of the stage dressed in a tight black tee and oh-so short-shorts. He’s like a vivisected Tina Turner and Iggy Pop, resulting in a snarling, sinewy indie-disco diva that’s literally learned all the world’s dance moves and isn’t afraid to use them, even while stood atop a speaker stack.
Offer and band are joined on stage tonight by backing vocalist and partner in choreographic crime, Lili, who matches his every hip-thrust, twirl and hair-flick move for fabulous move.
Watching !!! is like being Scissor-Sistered and Friendly Fired all at the same time. It’s like being in the Venn-diagram sweet spot between camp club tunes and floor-filling indie - and what a place it is to be.
With no more European dates currently scheduled, your best bet is to check (chk?) out new album ‘As If’ and prepare to be literally by moved the newest set of highly-twerkable tracks from the kings and queens of dance-punk.
