Ergo PhizmizSat 1 Aug – PEOPLE LIKE US & ERGO PHIZMIZ
Are you sitting comfortably? Then we’ll begin...
This wasn’t quite how they introduced themselves and the start of the music, but it could have been, perhaps it even should have been, for Ergo Phizmiz and People Like Us played the part of children’s presenters (or entertainers, at least) for their two hours of sonic abandon. Phizmiz, particularly, had all the attributes present and correct : slightly camp, smiles upon smiles and a bit too excited about everything... and he had enough toys to play with to make any autistic child drool. I have no idea what half of them were, but they included cap guns, drums and a voice-distorting megaphone (perhaps set to ‘the setting to most annoy your parents’).
They bounced around in the pre-recorded interludes, played shadow puppetry in the projected light and generally seemed to do anything except take themselves seriously. But herein lies a deception... there is a dark heart to this seemingly-innocent anarchy... perhaps like children’s television itself... it appears jovial and breezy but is actually some of the most violent, misogynistic material on the boob tube... not watched by impressionable youngsters illicitly while their parents’ backs are turned, but aimed squarely at them – watch this kids... to get ahead in life you need to smash big things on heads, shoot, mangle, maim, drown, run over, blow up or ridicule your rival to get what you want in life... and also to impress your love interest who does nothing but stand there looking pretty, waiting for the victor to claim her. I may be showing my age here... perhaps modern cartoons are about tidying your room and being nice to everyone, but I doubt it.
I digress.
Their dark heart is not that, exactly, but there is something under the surface that is not quite as wholesome as it seems. I came to this realisation later, not at the gig – where I was quite fooled by the lightness. It came to me when I was listening to Phizmiz’ cover of The Velvet Underground’s White Light/White Heat... not the song, the album. A very serious (and seriously drug-addled), noisy album by anyone’s standards, that is to say – not your average material for a blowing-strawberry flavour-bubblegum-bubbles-through-kazoo interpretation. But it’s not really a light take on the source... it ups the craziness and perhaps even ups the danger by adding a seeming stupidity in to the mix... no naïve move on Phizmiz’ part, I feel (to be honest, when I heard about this project I was intrigued but not all that hopeful, being a little bit in love with Reed et al and especially that album... so it’s further to his credit that I didn’t put him on my ‘hunt and burn the heretic’ list along with Scissor Sisters for Comfortably Numb, Limp Bizkit for Behind Blue Eyes, Nouvelle Vague for everything they’ve ever done, etc etc).
The Velvets were inspiration on the night as well with a cover of Femme Fatale that, somehow, worked without ever actually using the words “She’s A Femme Fatale”. In fact, other works and others’ words were a continuing source (artistic dipping sauce?)... although generally more populist in nature... Singin’ In The Rain and In An English Country Garden spring to mind. I put this down, now, not to a lack of ideas, but to a mischievous pleasure in twisting and warping the familiar. Children like to play and they often don’t play nice. Adults like to play too, but they’re more cunning because they appear to play nice but in fact play not-so-nice.
OK, I’ve milked this adult/child teat dry... enough.
If I gather the strength I might add something to this about Vicki Bennett’s Steampunk visual projections, but probably not because I’ve pretty much exhausted my creative faculties by 1) recognising and 2) describing them as Steampunk, which they were. They echoed the homemade and mixed-genre sensibilities of the music... how about that.
Anyway... don’t hire these guys for a children’s party, but do bring your own balloons next time they’re in town.
(Oh bugger, there’s another adult/child reference).
Are you sitting comfortably? Then we’ll begin...
This wasn’t quite how they introduced themselves and the start of the music, but it could have been, perhaps it even should have been, for Ergo Phizmiz and People Like Us played the part of children’s presenters (or entertainers, at least) for their two hours of sonic abandon. Phizmiz, particularly, had all the attributes present and correct : slightly camp, smiles upon smiles and a bit too excited about everything... and he had enough toys to play with to make any autistic child drool. I have no idea what half of them were, but they included cap guns, drums and a voice-distorting megaphone (perhaps set to ‘the setting to most annoy your parents’).
They bounced around in the pre-recorded interludes, played shadow puppetry in the projected light and generally seemed to do anything except take themselves seriously. But herein lies a deception... there is a dark heart to this seemingly-innocent anarchy... perhaps like children’s television itself... it appears jovial and breezy but is actually some of the most violent, misogynistic material on the boob tube... not watched by impressionable youngsters illicitly while their parents’ backs are turned, but aimed squarely at them – watch this kids... to get ahead in life you need to smash big things on heads, shoot, mangle, maim, drown, run over, blow up or ridicule your rival to get what you want in life... and also to impress your love interest who does nothing but stand there looking pretty, waiting for the victor to claim her. I may be showing my age here... perhaps modern cartoons are about tidying your room and being nice to everyone, but I doubt it.
I digress.
Their dark heart is not that, exactly, but there is something under the surface that is not quite as wholesome as it seems. I came to this realisation later, not at the gig – where I was quite fooled by the lightness. It came to me when I was listening to Phizmiz’ cover of The Velvet Underground’s White Light/White Heat... not the song, the album. A very serious (and seriously drug-addled), noisy album by anyone’s standards, that is to say – not your average material for a blowing-strawberry flavour-bubblegum-bubbles-through-kazoo interpretation. But it’s not really a light take on the source... it ups the craziness and perhaps even ups the danger by adding a seeming stupidity in to the mix... no naïve move on Phizmiz’ part, I feel (to be honest, when I heard about this project I was intrigued but not all that hopeful, being a little bit in love with Reed et al and especially that album... so it’s further to his credit that I didn’t put him on my ‘hunt and burn the heretic’ list along with Scissor Sisters for Comfortably Numb, Limp Bizkit for Behind Blue Eyes, Nouvelle Vague for everything they’ve ever done, etc etc).
The Velvets were inspiration on the night as well with a cover of Femme Fatale that, somehow, worked without ever actually using the words “She’s A Femme Fatale”. In fact, other works and others’ words were a continuing source (artistic dipping sauce?)... although generally more populist in nature... Singin’ In The Rain and In An English Country Garden spring to mind. I put this down, now, not to a lack of ideas, but to a mischievous pleasure in twisting and warping the familiar. Children like to play and they often don’t play nice. Adults like to play too, but they’re more cunning because they appear to play nice but in fact play not-so-nice.
OK, I’ve milked this adult/child teat dry... enough.
If I gather the strength I might add something to this about Vicki Bennett’s Steampunk visual projections, but probably not because I’ve pretty much exhausted my creative faculties by 1) recognising and 2) describing them as Steampunk, which they were. They echoed the homemade and mixed-genre sensibilities of the music... how about that.
Anyway... don’t hire these guys for a children’s party, but do bring your own balloons next time they’re in town.
(Oh bugger, there’s another adult/child reference).
