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Lamb Quartet/Anti Product/Electric Eel Shock

Exeter Cavern - 4/5/04

SEX, DRUGS & E-MAIL!

Lamb Quartet are Mr Bungle fans. I don't know them, I've never spoken to any of them and yet I can say this with confidence because there is no way a band can make that sound without owning a large proportion of Mike Patton's back catalogue. Both the music and vocal style reek of Mr Patton and his various projects but lets face it, all the best bands owe something to him don't they? The music, and vocals, flit between light and playful and heavy and screamy at occasionally alarming speed. Creating the kind of musical equivalent of a mischievous smirk, it's disarming at first but very disturbing when you get into it. Needless to say I love it. Their frontman is the best of any local band, sings brilliantly, screams brilliantly, looks good and dances funnily. And I'm pleased to report their new material sounds just as good as their older stuff.
9 out of 10



I've always tried to keep an order of the best bands I've seen in my head but I've never really cared enough to think about what the worst ones were, until now. Ladies and gentlemen, I present the Worst Band in the World Ever - Anti Product. First of all they cover the entire stage in special effects (a fucking strobe light? I thought they banned those out of human decency in the 80's) that take forever to set up, pissing me off. Then they come on stage to an annoying intro tape wearing the most fucking ridiculous day glo costumes and make up you could ever imagine (I couldn't take a photo of their bassist, her costume was too reflective). I would call it a triumph of style over substance but that implies there was a triumph involved somewhere. This was a failure of style over substance. Then the music starts. God almighty save our souls what the hell is this shit? They play crap throwback heavy metal which I can only compare to pre Phil Anselmo Pantera (*shudder*). As if insulting my eyes and ears wasn't enough they then turn out to be the biggest bunch of cunts I've ever met in my life, insulting the crowd, spitting on the roof, making shit jokes, going for "crowd participation" even when the crowd just wanted to be left alone, singing some shit about bungee jumpers, using the most stupid posturing, ranting badly about George Bush before plugging their merchandise, everything about them is designed to annoy. I actually tried to bite the singer. I never bite anyone who isn't a dentist but this bastard forced me into it. Even their road crew were a bunch of indignant, pretentious cunts. Let's see then, 2 points for the music (based on technical competence), -3 for being a bunch of shits and -2 for slaughtering Blitzkrieg Bop in the worst Ramones cover ever. That makes...
-3 out of 10



Rock'n'Roll Can Rescue the World say Electric Eel Shock. By gum they're right! They certainly rescued tonight. You'd of thought with all my vitriol against posturing and heavy metal throwbacks I'd hate EES wouldn't you? But you're wrong. The difference is that while Anti Product want to be rock and just end up cock, Electric Eel Shock are rock. They embody rock'n'roll. Imagine Tommy Lee snorting cocaine out of Ozzy Osbourne arse crack while Tony Iommi and Zakk Wylde stand on either side playing guitar solos and headbanging and you're still not thinking rock enough. Wait for the cocaine to kick in, hire a bunch of crack whores to dance and throw devil horns and get Keith Moon to drive a limo into the whole caboodle and you're just about there. They're a bunch of Japanese lunatics playing slightly cheesy but immensely good fun heavy metal music while having the time of their lives. The guitarist likes to hit himself in the face with his flying V guitar and pull strange faces during guitar solos. The bassist climbs on things, throws devil horns and dribbles manically a lot. The drummer doesn't wear trousers. Or pants. Just a sock. And keeps yelling strange things out in a high pitch voice between songs that no one can understand (not even his bandmates). And you want audience participation? This is how it's done. Get an entire crowd to yell about "Sex, Drugs and E-Mail!", or just get the most cheers for repeating the words "Heavy Metal City Exeter!" that you could possibly expect to get. And while you're at it play great metal anthems, paying a lot of tribute to Black Sabbath along the way, entitled 'Do The Metal', 'Suicide Rock'n'Roll' or simply 'WAAAA'. Electric Eel Shock are a wonderful live band who you really can't take too seriously and will leave you grinning from ear to ear to ear. See? You'll have to have another ear put on just to be able to grin enough to do them justice.
10 out of 10