Rock and Pop: Coming Up - Fight Like Apes at Barfly, Sept 21
Published: 09 September 2010
by ALAN STAFFORD
RARELY has the spirit of a band been summed up more gloriously and accurately than with Fight Like Apes.
In their live shows the Irish four-piece tear through their punky synth-driven songs with the demented energy of, well, apes fighting.
Singer May-Kay regularly disappears behind her seething mass of flying hair as she lunges into the songs, and sometimes the crowd, while bandmate Pockets lurches over his keyboard like a lunatic primate. They’re back on stage in London for the first time in nearly a year with a show at the Barfly, a chance for a first listen to songs from their new album.
The band’s taste for trashing pop culture is reflected in the names both of the album – The Body Of Christ and The Legs Of Tina Turner – and individual songs such as Pull Off Your Arms And Let’s Play In Your Blood, and Waking Up With Robocop.
They also write a good line – early single Jake Summers includes the wilting putdown: “You’re like Kentucky Fried Chicken but without the taste.”
That’s really not something Fight Like Apes could be accused of. This is one for those who like music that sends fur flying.
• Fight Like Apes play at the Barfly on September 21