Electric Eel Shock
Astoria
09 November 2005
I’ve never seen this venue so full. The night kicks off with an explosive 3-piece Electric Eel Shock, who take no prisoners. These little Japanese guys have the biggest, hardest sound. Think Metallica cross Led Zeppelin. Complete Rock ‘n Roll in the most classic sense~even though they are classified as Garage-Metal. Combined with a fantastic stage performance and a healthy balance of nudity, they played a mental show I would definitely sign up for again. Big hair, big personalities and a healthy dose of originality make them a performance not easily forgotten.
Bloodhound Gang! They start off with some favourites, new tracks from their 2005 ‘Hefty Fine‘ release and, some old classics from ‘Hooray for Boobies‘. And yes, some of the Tesco Essex girls (I never said it-they did!) in the crowd took that quite literally! Every word was sung like it was a mantra. They threw in ‘The ballad of Chasey Lain‘, ‘Along comes Mary‘ and, ‘Hell yeah‘-enough reminiscence to make you feel 16 all over again. Their new album may not be a musical wonder, but their humor and stage antics definitely make it an entertaining show. Jimmy Pop seems to have followed in Steve O’s steps and done course at circus school. It must have been all that time off between their last album release in 2002!
It was all above the belt until Jimmy Pop and Evil Jarred Hasselhoff started spitting in each others mouths. The challenge got so out of hand that the crowd started spitting at bassist until it was dripping off his face. Juicy…no really, there was spit and shoes everywhere! It was a few steps away from a GWAR gig! When that got tired Evil J downed a bottle of Jagermeister, between the well-rehearsed VIP fuck you guys banter. About 30minutes later he puked it all up over Jimmy Pop. It was like watching Jackass and South Park live, while playing instruments to a really bad backing track! Apparently that’s what they do all the time. Its fast becoming a BG trade mark-projectile puking! Their encore was great! They attached drum helmets to their heads, and let their drummer rip into ‘You look pretty when Im drunk’!
Their new album is cheesier, and has a vast amount of dick ‘n’ fart jokes! Their 2005 claim to fame would be Bam Margera’s guest appearance in the music video for ‘Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo‘ ~obviously in true BG style that spells FUCK. That and their petition to get their new track “Pennsylvania” to become the new Keystone State’s anthem! (*see their website for more details-http://www.bloodhoundgang.com) They are definitely worthwhile seeing live. The music becomes secondary to their infantile humor, but heck if the shoe fits… This band is bigger than their music, and hopefully they get roped into a few MTV shows or 2.
Niki Kova’cs