By: Andy Little
Evil Blizzard | website | facebook | twitter |
The Lexington, London | May 14, 2016
While the annual Eurovision song contest was conspiring to fool the general public that it is important, musically relevant, and entertaining, Evil Blizzard made the journey down from Preston to London to penetrate successfully exactly those aims to a sold out Lexington. A tour de force of punk D.I.Y. theatrics and attitude, experimental noise jams, and general malarkey, revelling in chaotic behaviour.
On a previous outing to London at the Barfly in Camden last year they dispatched a tighter delivery of songs, trimming the improvised elements of their set to promote their recently released powerhouse second album Everybody Come To Church. But not tonight, as it is a return to mass noise jam blowouts, creatively dark fun-fuelled pantomime inspired frolics, to an audience eager and willing to answer the call of ‘are you evil?’, ripping up the customary cheering in-between song audience reaction, instead instructing rallying ironic cries of booing, by holding up hand held cardboard cut out, marker pen instructions to indeed, boo.
A blink of an eye, a turn of the head, had the potential to miss an array of visual goings on whether it being further cardboard cut out phrases from the self-deprecating humour of ‘refunds are available’, ‘you can leave you know’, to Lancashiran football rivalry, ‘Blackpool division 4’. To the simply classic provocative effectiveness of merely sticking two fingers up to the audience. Or, the excitement and potential danger of being hit by bass guitars being hurled through the air so requiring a constant eye on the pursing shenanigans. All this inevitably leads towards the end of the set to the easy encouragement of a jubilantly participated stage invasion.
While the closest to a compact delivery of a song is with the explosive ‘Are You Evil?’ and ‘Sacrifice’, the rest of the set adds into the mixer occasional vocals, horns, trumpet, an Evil Blizzard head logo seraphim, to the four, and eventual five bassists (and of course additional bass strumming from willing punters), the result is pulverising motoric rhythms and a tour de force of rollicking supersonic blasts of immensely glorious sounds.
But what all this shouldn’t hide is of a band who know exactly what they are doing regarding stage presence, theatrics, and creating a fully enhanced blistering mesh of varying music genres, which ultimately never distracts from an Evil Blizzard sound and look all of its own. It all adds to a complete package to thrillingly entertain, aware of a dose of danger thrown in for good measure adds to the experience. Evil Blizzard are the perfect antidote to Eurovision and the rest of Saturday night’s mainstream T.V. music competition shows – Chaotic, anarchic, and bloody vital!
