According to my research BEARSUIT have been around for a while, although this is the first time they have played together for a while “It might be good it might be shit…” exclaims the bassist. Well that’s one way to not build up any kind of expectations.
A boy/girl band they jump straight into the fire with high pitched screams of 1-2-3-4. The boys seem to have acknowledged Movember (the month where men grow moustaches to raise money for testicular cancer – for those of you who were confused!) as they are all sporting moustaches and in true fashionable style one of the boys have donned a pair of rectangular black framed glasses. Geek chic is definitely in at the moment, members of Young Knives, We Are The Physics, We Are Scientists are all modelling the look.
The girls have matched the boys in the fashion stakes I am particularly impressed by the lead singer’s shoes.
So that’s the look of the band dealt with now to the sound. There is a lot happening in the songs. Sometimes a bit too much for my taste.
The tunes are an exploding compendium of almost every genre out there, it reminds me of an aural version of the Dulux exploding paint advert (I think it was Dulux – the one where paint explodes out of buildings). There are brief spurts of electronica, punk, ska, rock, pop and classic. This band undoubtedly comprises of some multi skilled musicians at one point you watch the flute and a drum being played at the same time…by the same person!
Songs like Jupiter Force – where the audience are encouraged to join in - encapsulate all that Bearsuit is about; the sound is chaotic, modern and colourful. Other tracks have experimental and unexpected endings like a childish tantrum or an almost choral set of ahhhhhhhhhhhhs sang by the 3 girls.
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Single Foxy Boxer takes a step down the crazy scale and is really enjoyable - drums, keyboards and singing are done in tandem and the lead singers voice is not quite so high and squaky.
This band have been around since 2001, John Peel commented that "In an era when almost everything is quite like something else, Bearsuit are not quite like anything." I can imagine in 2001 this band would have sounded fresh and as the legendry DJ says not quite like anything. But today their are other bands doing it so much better; 586, We Are The Physics and Polysics (to name a few). While I enjoyed the show I felt songs were too busy and the lead vocalists voice was too high pitched and often sounded out of place. Admittedly this was not helped by Metro’s sound quality.
Had Bearsuit been a new band then I could say that I think they are good and have a lot of potential. Having discovered the truth I am less impressed. In 2001 the band was ahead of their time but tonight I thought they sounded unpolished and a bit of a mish mash. I would not say they were bad by any stretch…definitely go and watch this band, and if you do like them, then watch someone like 586 to see how comedy/musical chaos should be done.
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