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Demob Happy Setlist
Tour Dates
Nov 16 Chicago, IL Beat Kitchen
Nov 17 Detroit, MI Lager House Nov 18 Toronto, ON Adelaide Hall Read More
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Local hardcore groovers, BlurCurve, opened up the evening at the Turf Club to an excited crowd. Their website states: We Like it loud & fast. And they certainly lived up to the billing with Kris Heur on guitar, Bob Furniss on bass, Justin Westplate (sporting no shirt and an iridescent mohawk) on drums and Alythia Scully on lead vocals and corny dad jokes. (What does the Eiffel Tower and a tick have in common? They are both parasites.)
After boisterous approval for their first song, Scully said, “If you like that, we have eight more for you.” And they played songs from their 2015 debut album and 2003 EP Pluto & The Fool, finishing the furious set with “Holy Alms.”
Demob Happy next took the stage and I have to say they were the sharpest dressed band I have seen this year. Everyone looked like they were ready for a night of champagne and caviar, except for the drummer. But you can never expect a drummer to be constricted with clothing when expending energy like an olympic prize fighter.
Demob Happy is from Newcastle, England. This is their fourth American tour and they are promoting their third album Divine Machines. They are Matthew Marcantonio on lead vocals and bass, Adam Godfrey on guitar and Thomas Armstrong wearing a white tank top on drums. They were backed by a utility musician sporting a Russian ushanka and a female singer wearing an elegant full-length noir-colored dress. Everyone looked great and they kept up the loud propulsive beat set with crowd favorites like “Muscular Reflex” and “Succubus.”
Marcantonio stated that they are in the third month of their tour and had to ask his fellow mates what night it was. He knew that he had been to the Twin Cities before but had to be reminded by Godfrey that they actually played at First Ave (twice). But one can be forgiven for mixing and forgetting dates on the backend of an extended tour, which makes their name apropos.
Demob Happy is an English phrase first used at the end of World War II when large numbers of the military were demobilized. Now the term means the ending of a long, arduous period.
Bands come alive when fans gather and amps are cranked. But it is only a sliver of time on the road. In and interview with The New Order Armstrong gave a vivid description to what can happen in between shows:
On the last US tour there was this three week period where our luck just seemed to go to sh*t. It felt like we were cursed. We broke down four times, the last of which was in 45C heat in the Arizona desert and had we had to limp into Phoenix and abandon our vehicle; our new hire car was impounded in New Orleans; we had a guitar and a bunch of Matt’s clothes stolen; we had two near-crashes; we lost a box of our vinyl; we were almost struck by lightning — it hit a tree right beside us in an explosion of white flame; there were speeding tickets; missed gigs, the list goes on. Sh*t just kept coming our way to the point where all we could do was laugh.
That’s Demob Happy.
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BlurCurve |
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Demob Happy |
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Demob Happy |
Demob Happy at Turf Club, St Paul (15 Nov 2023) |
| dave ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com |
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