Seattle Subsonic

Does It Offend You, Yeah? Dance Party, Please.

September 21st, 2008

A couple of months back Kevin, our blog maestro, shared some tracks from a little band from Reading, England: Does It Offend You, Yeah? Being a slow summer for me music wise, my ears took immediate attention–this is just what I’ve been looking for. A mix of electro-rock, dance party and 80s new wave, their first full length You Have No Idea What You Are Getting Yourself Into was an album one could say had ADD but in a very good way. One minute, it will getcha thinking B-52s (Attack of the 60 ft Lesbian Octopus). Next minute, 80s style new wave: Dawn of the Dead (clip below) and Being Bad Feels Pretty Good. Another minute LCD Soundsystem with We are Rockstars. Now who doesn’t love cowbell? And then there’s With a Heavy Heart ala Rage Against the Machine.
[audio:http://www.seattlesubsonic.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/04-dawn-of-the-dead.mp3]

.
So when Seattle Subsonic was offered up the chance to go check them out at Chop Suey last Wednesday I was totally up for it as DIOY,Y? was the most played album in my iTunes library all summer long. Plus, I was especially ready for another dance party after seeing !!! at Bumbershoot and knew DIOY,Y? had the potential to produce.
.

When I showed up at Chop Suey around 9 pm, I was a little worried. The crowd was pretty dismal and the energy level was low. I started to think, damn, there goes the dance party I was looking forward too. Meanwhile, the first band took the stage, a punk outfit out of NYC named Team Robespierre. That’s when people slowly crowded around the stage and energy levels started to rise. During their set more and more people began to trickle into the club just in time to for DIOY,Y?. At that moment, Kevin, who was also in attendance, said to me, “You may get your dance party yet!”

.
We made our way over to the stage to set up camp. The band went on shortly after 10 opening with electro-infused Weird Science. Instrumentals were tight living true to form as if streaming seamlessly from the stereo. I turned around to check out the crowd and was happy to see that it numbered in many. And after their first song was up, as if reading my mind, James Rushent (vocal/bass), asked thru the microphone to “dim the lights, we want a dance party.” Yay! The set went on and the dance party ensued with DIOY,Y? playing every inch of You Have No Idea What You Are Getting Yourself Into however somewhere towards the middle, my right eardrum decided to give out to the loudness. Ouch!
.

Featured as song of the day on KEXP:

[audio:http://www.digitalwell.washington.edu/dw/1/51/87/87239691-f8f0-40f9-9076-21f58ca3dff1.mp3]
We are Rockstars
.
The best songs of the night were the instrumentals and the OMD like 80s prom songs (as I like to call them) straight out of Pretty in Pink. I was also surprised that many on the floor knew the words to their songs. Very impressive considering I haven’t heard them played once on KEXP. What was missing was the raucousness that I’ve heard much about “they sound dance and act rock” but I really only chalk that up to the fact that they were completely sober as mentioned a couple of times by lead singer James Rushent. Was it b/c Chop Suey doesn’t allow alcohol on stage? Or they just didn’t get a chance to drink beforehand? Either way, these guys are from England for crying out loud, give the boys some beer. All in all, a fun night. Seeing them live was the sticky tape that brought the songs together into a cohesive genre crossing package. Oh, and if you happen to find my eardrum on the floor of Chop Suey, please let me know. Just drop me a line over at Seattle Subsonic headquarters.