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Fungal Punk - Manchester England gig review 06/29/07

Another gig and very welcome it is too with a guaranteed masterclass in punk rock precision and passion. Well after the amount of people I told about this I bloody well hope so! Anyway myself and lovely missus arrived at the Grand Central in Manchester at 7.30'ish to a busy pub but with no punky people present. Mmmm - have we got the wrong night or something? A quick check at some flyers and all seemed OK. Paranoia - what a bugger?

Anyway local chums Tez and Daz arrived soon enough with Mayo, Steve and Mike Scab, the incredible drinking machine known as Sassy Bex (sorry I just can't help it), Simon, Gill and Adam, Terry and Punk4Life Tim contributing to a good friendly atmosphere. The bands soon arrived with Andy K of Demob in his usual amiable mood and well pleased with The Objex tour so far - and so he should be has this bunch are getting rave reviews all over the place. Tino and Rik of Negs fame with mooching Dave of No Eager Men in tow arrived also. What a grand do!

Anyway after much frivolity The Objex kicked off a gig that would be memorable in its own right for downright quality and a genuine top notch soundscape. The effervescence and general energy exuded by The Objex is spellbinding and 'Sally' burst forth with a vitality and charisma that promised much for the forthcoming aural assault. The drumming throughout was high octane stuff and delivered by an 'erbert who knows how to get into the groove and really fuckin' enjoy the rock 'n' roll vibe. Guitar and bass were impeccable throughout and worked in unision just perfectly and gave an exquisitely raucous backdrop for Felony Melanie to strut her sexualised stuff. And boy did she do just that? Crazed and full of unbridled enthusiasm she ripped out quality song after quality song in pumped up, fun-loving style and with her seeemingly motorised titties and gyrating hips, entertained all before her. 'Fun In Your Funeral', was a joy, 'PDA' is fuckin' awesome and the best and somewhat belligerent 'Kill Your Steroetypes' was just flawless in every aspect. Very exciting indeed! This is a good band and a sheer pleasure to view and review and the whole crowd seemed to enjoy this one. All laid bare and truly infectious the music was enhanced by the fact that this is a band who are ravenous for success and radiate a feeling of commitment and belief. After last weeks performance at Bradford, which was a cracker, I can truly say that this was several steps ahead on the road to solid critical acclaim and the bassist being present and the fact that they are playing night after night has really fine-tuned this outfit to a tee. On this evidence one of the best American imports of all time and for me and up there with my personal faves of Discontent, Bonecrusher and The Epoxies. I just love it and if sucess is a pie then get several slices ready for this crazy crew. One other point - the set length was just perfect and the venues I have seen them at so far have been very beneficial to the bands approach. A worry is that with success comes demands of longer sets and bigger venues which I hope doesn't take its toll on the bands quickfire beauty and intimate delivery - I hope they continue to play this type of arena as well as the more spacious stage as they really do seem at home when its up front and in yer face. Other than that - fuckin' awesome.

Now then for a band having to follow The Objex my deepest sympathies would be generously offered as this would be no mean feat. All the members of Billyclub looked impressed and guitar maestro Karl gave one of his cheeky grins and seemed totally unfazed by the whole experience. And having seen this band on numerous occasions prior to tonights gig I could easily understand his confidence. Well Billyclub kicked into action and in a different style to The Objex rattled the gaff to the rafters with a brutal onslaught of high powered efficiency and controlled aggression. This was a heavier sound throughout than the preceding band but the two sounds complimented one another perfectly and Billyclub flowed through the set with a solid conviction and sanguine steadiness borne of technical know how and ability. Thumping drums, varied guitar, exemplary bass playing and a real fuckin' quality frontman this performance was a real treat for lovers of hard edge punk. '3 Little Piggies', 'Fuck U Very Much', and the incredible new stuff that is to be with us on their forthcoming album (plug, plug) was brilliant to behold and sets like this I am sure will lead to Billyclub being one of the most respected bands on the circuit. 'I Saw God' is a track second to none and its insidious build-up is inspiring as is the whole darn delivery that just bursts into a frenzied crescendo of mind-blasting noise. The finale 'Homicide' capped another fantastic performance by this band and over the years I have yet to see a bad do by this accomplished outfit. Why they are not playing to packed houses is beyond belief but its only a matter of time. More gigs to come, a much promised stormer of an album and consistently good reviews wiil see Billyclub take off in a big way next year - if not then Ken Dodd is an honest man!

Overall two class bands who were both equally effective and enjoyable in their own right at a venue that could become a great punk night out. The sound system was pretty good indeed and hopefully this venue will offer more for the punk in the near future.

Its nights like this that keep the punk rock fire flaming and let both bands go on to bigger and better things and remember nights like this forever. Superb.

To view the website, click here

The Objex Interview
By AJJ

“Wow, you’re the first Americans we’ve ever met,” The Objex are something of a novelty in Ramsgate.

It’s not that hard to imagine that NO American has ever before travelled to that distant tip of the south-east coast of England that looks out over the Channel to Belgium. It's even easier to imagine the reception they received when they eventually arrived.

…When we caught up with The Objex it was in Liverpool, mid-way through their first UK tour...

Blast off back to the future its modern retro-punk from The Objex. More than a band they are an image, a fashion statement. In Felony Melony they have a front-woman to reinject the sexy swaz back into punk music which has been soiled by the mark of pierced-nose stinking skinheads. “Skinheads are different here.” Jim Nasty explains, “In America they’ll fucking kill you. If you see skinheads at a gig in The States you know they are there to fight.”

Loads of my mates have skinheads. In the UK it’s fashion, its music, its culture. It’s an example of the cultural differences between two nations that sees themselves as brothers in arms. “Here all your newspapers look like our tabloids.” Not sure what Jim means by this. I’d hate to see the size of their broadsheets if this is what he’s getting at. I suppose the band have seen only the top-shelf best-sellers. The Sun, The News Of The World, The Daily Mirror. I think you have to order the broadsheets from Amazon to get a half decent print paper nowadays. Anyway let’s not get distracted. The Objex aren’t homesick, God no, they’re happy to be here. It’s just clear the finer things in life are homemade in their eyes. Like guitars and kick pedals, but we’ll get back to that.

I encourage to them to tell me about Las Vegas and bang, they’re off and the interview is over before I’ve had a chance to ask them their favourite colour and if they could be any robot from any sci-fi movie or cartoon ever which one would it be? All I’ve got to write about now is Las Bloody Vegas. Then I figure, this might not be such a bad idea.

You think of the Nevada desert what do you picture? The sign: Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas, The Rat Pack, Fear and Loathing, Oceans Eleven et al. Nicolas Cage landing Con Air on The Strip.
“We avoid The Strip as much as possible,” explains Aly 2x, who grew up there. “We only go there when friends come to visit us.”
It seems Hunter S. Thompson was not far off in his description of Las Vegas. “It’s a place drunk on gambling.” Aly 2x is The Objex bass player and the subtly attractive female member of the band. As opposed to Felony Melony who with nine-inch Mohawk, blood red lips and a rack to die for is conspicuous to say the least. Melony walks into a room and you want to know who that is. Melony takes the stage and you instantly know who she is. Melony is the girl who you want to be kicked in the face by tonight.
Getting back to The Strip; The stereotypes are there and Las Vegas wants to enforce the images of sun, sand and Tropicana in the desert because it wants you to vacation there, so once you are there they can pump you full of cocoa butter air-conditioning and keep you awake for 48 hours straight until you no longer know how much money you haven’t got. What they don’t want you to see is the filthy mess that surrounds Sin City, the largest growing economy in America.
But this is where you can find The Objex, probably hanging out in The Double D Saloon. You can gamble there, you can gamble everywhere in Las Vegas. “There’s gaming even in supermarkets or in the gas stations people play cards all day.”
The casino moguls have real power in the state of Nevada; they are mini-governments in themselves. They make their own rules and they make their own money. Again, go back to The Seventies and watch Al Pacino as Michael Corleone going clean in the casinos, paying off Senators and Congressmen with back-handers. I know it’s tiresome, but educate me otherwise! I throw every movie cliché at the band. I joke there are bodies buried out there in the dunes. They don’t laugh at me, they just nod. “Yeah, it happens…”

Jim Nasty tells us a story about the time when the sewage blocked up and the filth from the pipes flooded The Strip. Gross justice it would seem that all the crap hands dealt and massive crimes overlooked should come back and fill the street in a river of piss and shit. Only the story ends that an hour later it was all gone. The town’s authorities had a plan in place if such an event were to occur. Sure the smell lingered but then according to the band, “it always smells there anyway.”

The band are being well looked after on this tour by Demob’s experienced singer Andy K. Their only casualty so far seems to be Joe Perv’s kick drum pedal which snapped a hinge mid-set last night.
By all accounts, mine included, the gig was a great success. “We’ve played so far with ‘traditional’ punk rock bands so last night was really special, we enjoyed playing with different kinds of band,” says Jim. The Dead Class and Flamingo 50 were the other bands of note on the bill, a co-promotion between Inner City Sumo and The Dead Class who discovered The Objex on Garageband.com, a track rating community based website.

When asked if the girls hold their own up on stage, Jim says, “Sure! We have a picture of Aly literally punching a guy out.” As for Melony, there seems to be a level of respect from the crowd that keeps her out of trouble during gigs, “In Edinburgh the stage was only a foot high so there were people flying all around us, but they don’t fuck about.” The Objex may have Joe ‘Perv’ in the band but we were all a little guilty last night of ‘perving’. We know how he must feel when you have a front woman that hot! It’s enough to put anyone off playing drums but trashing your equipment, intentionally or not, on a low-budget tour can be expensive. Having to replace kick-pedals is also, but in this case for Joe, a necessity.

When the topic of equipment comes up it sets Jim Nasty off. “You can’t get left-handed Gibsons, Fenders anymore, they don’t make them. You have to order them, so I have to use any old shit, as long as it’s left-handed.” Joe is also left-handed as is Melony. They say all the smart ones are. It’s really only left-handed people who say that.
Joe recalls playing for the first time ever on this tour with all three drummers on the bill being left-handed. You have to be a drummer or a techie to appreciate that coincidence. Have you heard the one about the sound engineer who says to the left-handed drummer, “Can’t you play open handed?” and the drummer replies, “Fuck you; switch the kit round.”

The Objex leave town as they found it, one kick drum less and a lot of jaws that still need picking up. I never got to ask Melony about her wardrobe which apparently takes up half the tour bus, we talked a lot about the Nevada desert instead. “Look us up if you’re ever in Las Vegas,” they say as they depart. “OK, sure.” I say, but I’m not sure I want to go there anymore; you only reinforced every fear I had about the place. Think I’d rather meet you in Ramsgate.

To view the website, click here

The Objex is the type of punk rock you're not going to see on TV in between videos by Lindsay Lohan and the cast of High School Musical. These guys, lead by the sexy Felony Melanie, play the kind of garage punk that is raw yet fun, not unlike such bands as The Stooges, The Derelicts, Gas Huffer, Yummy, The Sinister Six or MC5, or even The Dwarves (whom they've played with a number of times over the years. Bound & Gagged is their attack on the senses, where the punk rock is one part PUNK and many parts RAWK. Guitar and bass riffs are immediate with no time to spare, it's every man and woman for them self. It's a five song EP running less than 13 minutes, and begins with a ugly and disgusting "Fun In Your Funeral", which reminds me of how it felt to hear Christ On A Crutch and The Gits for the first time. In fact, Felony Melanie sounds a bit like the late Mia Zapata in the first track, it's almost eerie.

I liked "Kill Your Stereotypes" as well, for it's not only about being unique and identifying yourself as an individual. It's also Melanie's way of addressing those who may question a black woman fronting a punk band, and pretty much is a nice way of saying "fuck off, open your mind".

What I like about the band is how tight they play, with the kind of rhythm and precision that comes not only from playing together and enjoying the experience, but also having a good sense of how to play. A song like "Gotta Get Some" has the kind of brutal in-your-face punch that reminds me a bit of Helmet or Unsane.

By the time the energy picks up at a controlled page, they close shop with "Gag" and literally go for the throat before the CD ends. It left me wanting to hear a lot more, and I hope "a lot more" will follow very soon. I've always wanted to be in a punk band and the style of The Objex is one that I favor. I would do a duet with Felony Melanie, but she would punch a microphone in my face and make me believe my teeth were made out of Chicklets. Bound & Gagged, but not left for dead, they at least save us from our inevitable state in order to be musically tortured (in a good way) many times over.

(Bound & Gagged is available through CDBaby.) - John Book - www.musicforamerica.org

CD review from the Las Vegas City Life

. . . there was mohawked Objex frontwoman Felony Melanie at a recent Cheyenne Saloon show threatening to spill out of her bustier with each quake, stomp, shutter and spaz.  It was hot & heartwarming at the same time and no doubt many intense, drunken crushes materialized on the spot.  The band's new 5 song demo Bound and Gagged makes the same kind of strong first impression with opening track 'Fun in your funeral' a glorious, clanging 90 second mess . . . Little fuck all frills quite confidently thrown in, sinister chant a longs, stinger guitar lines let you know you're in the hands of some experienced punks.  . . . the Objex proceed to turn in crafted, studied punk rock that hits all the right points . . . The fun factor remains in a boozy bar band kind of way - 'Kill your stereotypes' is destined to be a jukebox classic, and the oohs-ahhs of 'Gotta get some' are the best moaning you're likely to hear in a 2 minute quickie . . . Andrew Kiraly, Las Vegas City Life

The Objex, "Bound and Gagged":
by Jason Bracelin - Las Vegas Review Journal 5/30/06

Formed by drummer Joe Perv from the ashes of local punks the Pervz, the Objex come with the kind of fast and loose rock 'n' roll that normally results in lots of sweat stains and sore limbs.

Frontwoman Felony Melanie delivers come-ons and put-downs in a throaty bellow that boasts just enough tunefulness to highlight the hooks buried beneath all the grease and denim. The band occasionally approaches a near-rockabilly beat on songs such as "Kill Joy," but for the most part the Objex race through this disc like teens on a joyride 'til the gas tank's empty. - see the review