I’m a simple man. I just want a band with synthesizer and girls yelling that sounds like McLusky. Is that so wrong?
There are various comparisons you can make in the case of Fight Like Apes—their Wikipedia page throws in Devo, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and a bunch of ones that baffle me—but on appearances alone, you might mention Fall Out Boy, at least insofar as wordy, knowing, jokey titles are anything to go by. (There’s a song on their debut called “I’m Beginning To Think You Prefer Beverly Hills 90210 To Me” and a previous EP was called David Carradine Is A Bounty Hunter Whos Robotic Arm Hates Your Crotch.) This might just be a British Isles thing, since Los Campesinos! (”Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks” is my personal fav) and McLusky are also prone to this tendency. But the question in both cases would seem to be: where’s the emotional connection with this sort of jokeiness? In both McLusky’s and Fight Like Apes’ cases, the answer would seem to be in anger. The humor is used in an aggressive way, with the song above serving as an elaborate and hilariously specific takedown of a guy named Jake Summers. But that doesn’t make it angry, like hardcore, necessarily, which would certainly be one-dimensional. The anger seems to be at real situations, which implicates the speaker, too; we suspect that maybe Jake Summers might not be so bad, while the wronged tone of “Digifucker” never gets the creepy self-righteousness of, say, “You Oughta Know.”
But what about Fall Out Boy? It seems awfully odd to call them emo anymore, given how strategic and controlled their lyrics seem to be these days. The humanity comes from the anger being self-directed, which is certainly emo enough, but increasingly their power stems from the way that anger is directed outwards. It’s become like a punk variation on David Foster Wallace’s technique of squarely admitting all the problems with the utterance making whatever comes after seem both more sympathetic and more credible. What’s ultimate impressive about FOB’s jujitsu is its maturity; Fight Like Apes’ use of humor, invigorating as it is, ultimately requires them to be innocently charming and to come from a position of weakness. As much sense as it made for McLusky to break up, ultimately, it would’ve been interesting to see where they would’ve taken it. This gives us another chance, maybe.
Fight Like Apes - Jake Summers [YouTube]
Fight Like Apes [MySpace]
I don’t hear McLusky at all. This is like 1/10 as aggro as McLusky. LC! is much closer.
who is McClusky?
Ugh, Los Campesinos is fucking horrendous, and should never be mentioned in the same sentence as McLusky.
This is where you hear the McLusky in Fight Like Apes: the way the bass is used as the primary mover in the songs, the particular way she sings in about half the songs, the specific type of humor in the lyrics. Also, they do an amazing cover of Lightsabre Cock Sucking Blues. THere are other elements in there, but I’ve never heard another band get the McLusky spirit across better than them, unless you want to count Future of the Left, which is, of course, the same dudes!
I was excited to get home and listen to a band that sounds like McLusky, but everyone seems to think this apes band doesn’t sound like them. Bummer.
Love this band. Was a little let down by the album but it’s solid. They have a new video out now for ‘Tie Me Up With Jackets.’
fyi Jake Summers was the lead character on Peter Engel’s post-Saved By The Bell show California Dreams.
[en.wikipedia.org]
@Lax Danja House: oh wow, thanks, that makes it even better.
@Matthew Perpetua: Except maybe when that sentence is about bands with jokey song titles?
McLusky?! No way, no day.
Some friends of mine made an almost-official music video for Digifucker while they were in Dublin:
Well it’s “unofficial” but the band put it on their MySpace and posted it through their YouTube account.
@Lax Danja House:
“Surf Dudes with attitudes! (Kinda grooving!)”
Great. Now I have that theme song stuck in my head. Good times!
They sound sort of like the Breeders until they get to the chorus. Then I can hear the Mclusky in ‘em. Now I’m going to watch it again.
@therighthandofnixon: Kim Deal is all over the basslines on the album and their EPs.
@Tauwan: I can’t find the interview now, but I remembering reading (or maybe listening) to one where the singer, May Kay, talked about getting in contact with Jay Anthony Franke and he started sending her pervy messages on myspace.