Gilla Band and The Psychotic Monks
Two challenging and inventive bands, one of which Pavlis falls in love with, the other of which he fails to connect with.
It’s a mixed bag tonight at the Arts Centre. Two challenging, confrontational bands pushing the boundaries of music and which are both - to a greater or lesser degree - alighted with or at least on the edges of post-punk. They’re both bands I like on record but I’ve seen neither before. Tonight, I absolutely fall in love with one but fail to connect with the other.
Hailing from north Paris suburb of Saint-Ouen, first up its THE PSYCHOTIC MONKS. From the opener, this is Laibach-meets-Young Gods-meets-Throbbing Gristle industrial pounding with guitar work rooted in a New York no-wave and a touch of The Birthday Party. Whilst there are moments of delicacy, these are queasy and dread inducing, the kind of quiet interludes that appear on horror OSTs just before someone checks out in a most unpleasant way.
The Psychotic Monks
Artie Dussaux, Paul Dussaux, Martin Bejuy, and Clément Caillierez make a fearsome noise and it is not for the faint of heart. My notes say “if Hieronymus Bosch and MC Escher collaborated on the design of Hell’s own discotheque, Psychotic Monks could well be the house band and that is a very good thing indeed”. Hyperbolic? Maybe. Pompous? Definitely. Do I stand by it? HELL YES.
The Psychotic Monks
So, it is clear which band I fell in love with... I should also love GILLA BAND. All the elements are there: industrial pounding, martial drumming, thunderous bass (including some delightful slide work) and shards of abrasive guitar work. It brings to mind an even more caustic Pop Group with hints of a guitar-abusing Young Fathers.
The audience is a real mix, from teens to pensioners, most of whom don’t stop moving from the set’s opening to its close but it just doesn’t connect. Maybe my expectations were too high: to fellow gig-goers whose opinions I trust, spoke very highly of the GB live experience. Maybe it was the fact that they and The Psychotic Monks plough similar furrows. Maybe I just wasn’t in the mood. Whatever, I just found it all a bit, well, exhausting.
Gilla Band
I was probably in the minority - albeit one of my gig mates who recommended Gilla Band to me said that they didn’t hit the heights of previous sets - and I will definitely give Gilla Band another chance if I can.
FULL PHOTO GALLERY HERE
