Look out Milli Vanilli - you may have unwittingly started a trend of artist dishonesty!
Nitzer Ebb, an industrial pop band from Chelmsford, England, that has risen quickly to fame (largely due to opening stints during Depeche Mode's most current U.S. tour), put on a show Tuesday night that could best be described as pantomimed, and at worst, obviously lip-synched.While most synthesizer pop bands add taped keyboards and similar effects to augment their live shows (the aforementioned Depeche Mode, for one), Nitzer Ebb appeared to be going through the motions during its entire set. Singer Douglas McCarthy would have apparently been out of breath from most of his exhortations but instead screamed song after song without much pause. Percussionist Bon Harris, on the other hand, spent much of the night pumping up and spent much less on his percussion set.
Though such "performances" (if they can actually be called that) may pass in such places as the Montreaux Rock Festival, it seems particularly disheartening for industrial artists to try to pull such an obvious maneuver - especially in light of the increasing popularity of and media attention on the musical style, which blends synthesizer pop (in its clanking synth effects) with harsh metallic and punk influences (such as howled and tortured vocals).
What's most galling about the performance fraud is the band's self-righteous attitude toward non-musicians and non-band oriented people in the music business (as documented by their hypocritical "DJVD" number), especially when the duo is guilty of worse behavior.
If the monochromatic, largely dark-clad crowd noticed the subterfuge, most patrons were seemingly unoffended. Instead, most danced and bashed merrily to the band's set, which, somewhat fortunately, blended equally old and new material.
I guess if there's one thing positive to say about the concert, it's the fact that "Control I'm Here," "Murderous" and "Hearts and Minds" were piped in to keep the crowd happy and to overshadow the presence of "Family Man" and "Godhead," two recent singles that show the duo increasingly embracing more Depeche Mode-like disco influences and decreasing their shrieked industrial noise.
Fortunately, though another similar band (Front 242) tried a similar maneuver last year, Utahns have had the opportunity to see some industrial bands that do play their own music in concert, and quite well at that (most notably, Nine Inch Nails and Ministry). Add Ethyl Meatplow to that list.
The previously unheard-of industrial trio put on a brief set that was, if nothing else, more honest than Nitzer Ebb's, and was refreshing for the most part.
Mixing elements of industrial pop with rap, Ethyl Meatplow sounded like the progeny of an unlikely pairing of Front 242 and the Beastie Boys. While one vocalist mugged shamelessly, shrieking and howling, the other added nasal vocals that matched the Beastie's Mike D dead on.
Ethyl was disappointingly inconsistent though. Although the funky "Close to Me" and the brash "Poison" showed promise, "Sex Me" and "You're Physical" showed the trio mining the same tired cliches that some unoriginal industrial bands keep trying to rehash.