Monday
April 28th 2003
Flesh Field, Dj Hellraver and Pulse Plant
The Reverb, 651 Queen St. W.
Doors 9pm, $12 advance, $15 at the door, all ages.
www.fleshfield.com
Flesh Field
interview by dem and flipps
review and photographs by kotovski (May
2003)
(This was written for a Russian page and, originally, in Russian... Sorry for
the quality of the translation -- haven't done this in a while.)
On the 28th of April, our glorious city of Toronto was visited by Flesh Field,
the industrial band from the States. Good industrial shows don't happen too
often here, so I couldn't miss this opportunity and, naturally, was absolutely
delighted.
Honestly speaking, I used to be quite skeptical about this band, for reasons I
don't understand (anti-Americanism?). However, the concert blew away all my
unreasonable prejudices -- I got a full dose of ebm of supreme quality.
The happening has happened in the Reverb club, one of the major punk/metal
clubs of the city. It is famous for its pleasant amtosphere, perfect for
hanging out, and for its good sound. The crowd was pretty small -- in the local
newspapers the concert was not announced AT ALL, and, if my friend hasn't told
me, I would miss it completely and not even notice. However, the crowd was
bigger than on the Diorama show a month ago -- perhaps, brutal ebm is more in
tune with the hearts of local scenesters, than romantic synth pop from Torben
and Co.
Before the performance the crowd was getting warmed up by local DJs, who played
mostly all kinds of harsh ebm and dark electro. People were lazily sipping on
their beers, nobody was really eager to dance, everything was quiet and
peaceful. The impression was slightly spoiled by some youthful gothic damsel,
who had too much of something and was modestly barfing in the corner.
After a really long DJ set, the stage was finally occupied by the Band
themselves. A huge-ass synthesizer was set up, and a small KORG one beside it
(Ian played it from time to time). Thanks to the sound engineer -- the sound
was really nice. Rian's vocals sounded simply majestically, with all the
effects in the right places. As for Ian, his vocals were made almost clean,
with minimal effects, and it was obvious that his vocal skills are quite
inferior to Rian's. Most songs were played purely on synths, but they have used
a guitar on three or four songs, and those simple distorted riffs fitted the
songs perfectly.
On stage, Ian behaved like a possesed one. He would run around for some time,
than shout a bit into the mic, then press some keys on the synth, then run
around again... Strangely, in his interviews he says that he doesn't like to be
on stage and, if he could have it as he wants, he would never leave the studio.
But, judging from their performance, he had his portion of enjoyment from the
show -- after the concert, the Flesh Fielders looked exhausted but happy (by
the way, Rian said that Reverb was the biggest venue they've played yet).
Somewhere in the middle of the set Ian took his shirt off, perhaps from being
unable to constraint his emotions, and started to make out with Rian, who was
playing the Icy Gothy Beauty part for the whole show (well, she really might be
the icy gothy beauty after all). The keyboard player, whose name I could not
establish, periodically started rocking his synth rack back and forth, making
scary faces in the process. The crowd was whole-heartedly going nuts, as much
as it is possible for the slightly hybernated Canadian public.
As for the music itself... Hard, dirty-ish ebm, very energetic and dynamic,
with a perfect balance of agression and dancyness. All that was flowing like
balsam on my tortured soul, and my feet involuntarily danced. By the end of the
set my soul was in a state of perfect harmony. Flesh Field's music is a perfect
soundtrack to our catatonic-paranoid life, with all these absurd and stupid
wars, SARSes (by the way, respect to Flesh Field who didn't get scared), and
all the other things on everybody's list... Well, you know yourself why we love
and value industrial music.
Oh yeah, I made some pictures, they are not especially artistic, but you
understand that the conditions for photographing were far from perfect.
review and photographs by
kotovski
May 2003
related links:
www.fleshfield.com
Flesh Field
interview by dem and flipps
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