Music > Live Reviews

Evil Scarecrow @ the Waterfront

22/11/15

What do you get if you cross a robot and a crustacean? Answer: a robot crab, obviously. And how is this done? Well, through robo-insemination, of course. How else would you do it - duh? If you already know the answer to the above, then I'm guessing that you know who Evil Scarecrow are. And in that case, well done. You, sir/madam are not missing out on what is potentially one of the most fun acts on the scene today. You may have a cookie.

For the uninitiated, however, Evil Scarecrow are somewhere between Spinal Tap and Slayer; a costumed comedy of science fiction inspired spoof-metal. With songs such as Crabulon - a chilling warning of the upcoming robot-crab war for world domination, and Robototron - the tale of a reading killer robot wreaking revenge on humanity, but with riffs heavy enough to crush either threat, they are equal parts insanely good, and insanely funny, with just a dash extra insanity thrown in for good measure. 

The first thing that struck me tonight, having seen Scarecrow before, was the lack of onstage props. In fact, being upstairs in the Waterfront always means a ltitle bit of a lack of stage full stop, so it would be interesting so see if they would be as engaging and could get the crowd worked up in quite the same way as they had done at Download festival back in the summer. Well, they were, and they did. Which was good, because the more intimate studio seting was perfect for the size of the crowd. It was a good turn out for a mid week moshpit, but had it been in a bigger room the crowd would have been diluted to the point where the front of stage antics from the band would have been lost. 

And what antics they were; from scuttling from side to side, to drumming standing on the bar, and even including a 'war march' that looked suspiciously like a conga, the crowd were as involved as the band in ensuring their own good time was had. Evil Scarecrow managed to pitch themselves perfectly between the absurd and the artistic, and whilst clearly they are having the most fun out of everyone in the room, the comedy is not at the expense of the music, and it was clear that the audience is laughing with them, not at them, as they expertly played with the expectations of the crowd. Are they a novelty band? I guess you could call them that. But I've seen them twice now, and like anything done well, I think it'll take a hell of a lot more times than that before the novelty wears thin. 

8/10