Fantomas Gig Review
27/07/2000, Rock City, Nottingham, UK.
Fantomas are one of the HoBo’s favorite bands, so when we heard that they were playing down the road from HoBo towers we were so excited that we queued two weeks in advance like those Star Wars freaks everyone saw on Telly. John and Ross have written two separate reviews to double your pleasure!
Click To Go See The Mike Patton Interview
Click To Read The Newport Gig Review (18/07/2001)
Click The Thumbnails Dotted Throughout The Reviews To See Fantomas In All There Glory
Hobo John's Review
For me the term supergroup conjures up hideous images of bad eighties rock mistakes such as Asia or 'Brian Mays Big Hair All Stars' and all manner of self-indulgent guitar wankery. And as a consequence, supergroup has been something of a dirty word. Strictly speaking Fantomas are a supergroup, composed as they are of members of other successful groups, Mike Patton (Mr Bungle /ex Faith no more) Trevor Dunn (Mr Bungle) Buzz Osbourne (Melvins) and Dave Lombardo (ex Slayer). Yet they are one of the freshest most exciting bands I have ever seen. In a packed disco two (Rock City’s smallest live room) Fantomas played a set that would have surely killed my grandmother had she bore witness to it but delighted me beyond the realm of decency. Patton was almost conducting the other members through the complicated set, which was the whole debut album plus a couple of covers and ad-libs. A small percentage of the crowd clearly hated it, as testified by cries such as” £7.50 for this rubbish” (although he could have been talking about his mullet) or “Girls of porn!” (Wrong band lads) but they were probably expecting something akin to Faith No More. Brilliant as FNM were this is a different band with a very different sound. Anyway, Dan HoBo hadn’t heard them before and he went ape shit and had to be sedated afterwards he had such a good time. Mike hasn’t lost his showmanship by the way, being funny (if you want to know what he said look at Kevin’s Nottingham entry on the bulletin board at IPECAC.com) and visually entertaining throughout. All members were superb musically and looked like they were really enjoying it. Mike was friendly to all the fans that approached him before and after the show which was nice to see. This was one of the HoBo’s best ever nights out. Supergroup is no longer a dirty word.
Hobo Bully's Review
Recently I was sent to prison by a military court for a crime I didn't commit. I promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Nottingham underground. Today still wanted by the government, I survive as a Flashing Hobo. If you have a problem. If no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you should lobby your local member of parliament, they're paid to deal with that sort of thing. Just leave me out of it, I've got enough problems of my own without worrying about the plight of some displaced melon farmers.
It was when I was online looking at the latest plans for miniature flying machines, made out of old oil drums, broken CD cases and cabbage juice, that I first came across Fantomas. Being how I am big into Mr. Bungle and Faith No More I thought I'd give Fantomas a try. I'll admit when I first heard the Album I was confused, disappointed, and a little scared. But the more I listened the better it got, almost as if it was waiting for me to invest sufficient time in the music before giving up its secrets. When I heard Fantomas were playing a live date in Nottingham I knew I had to go, if only to see how the beeps and squeaks and growls and roars would be translated to a live environment.
The support act was Ex Girl. They were deeply mental. I thought they sounded all right, but I was in the minority, the bloke standing next door to me said, 'they sound like me playing crap guitar and some twat on a playstation'. Their set appeared to last forever which is a good indication of the lack of depth in the music. They also went out of there way to appear all wacky, which rapidly became annoying. Maybe if I had known the songs I would have liked them more. Probably not though.
Mike Patton appeared on stage in a golden chariot being pulled by 137 miniature clones of Gandhi. Or at least he might have done. I couldn't see because of some fat bastard who decided at the last minute that he wanted to stand right in front of me. The position of Fantomas on stage was a little odd. Mike was well off to the right looking just like Davros, behind banks of technological stuff with flashing lights on. From this position he controlled his killer army of sonic Daleks, but also remained hidden from most of the crowd who were packed in down the right hand of the venue as there was no space anywhere else due to a DJ booth and mixing desks.
In the first 10 minutes quite a few people got stroppy, it was like they expected Fantomas to be some sort of Faith No More cover band. Fortunately most of them pissed off home, giving me a chance to use my HoBo guile to sneak towards the front of the crowd. Fantomas sounded fantastic, the gig took place in Rock City's 300 capacity Basement Room (which for some reason is on the ground floor. Explain that one with your science) and the sound filled this space with no problem at all. Indeed the bass rattled though my colon in a rather pleasant manner and cleared up a lingering case of constipation.
The gig consisted on a spot on rendition of the debut album (also called Fantomas), the reason I found it so enjoyable was the passion that was bursting out of every member of the band. Even when all that could be heard was clearly just white noise, it was still fascinating to look at band and feel the anticipation of the next sonic assault. At one point Mike started singing words, a feature not included on the album. This singing coincided with some vocal criticism from an 80s metal chump and for me was the perfect put down for the heckling twat, although on reflection it may have been a glorious coincidence. Another deviation from the album occurred when the lead came off one of Mike's mics (eh?), when this happened Buzz kicked off a little bit a jamming, sounded shit hot it did. The encores included 'Chariot Choogle' (Mark Bolan cover that has lodged it self in my brain even though I only know one line) and a Slayer song so intense I nearly fell over.
Apart from the exception mentioned earlier on the crowd were well into it, and I was surprised by the number of people at the gig that knew what was coming next. I had not expected the gig to be conducive to head banging as it varies so much in tempo, from turbo nutter to invalid carriage. But once again I was totally wrong, during the invalid carriage sections people just built up there energies waiting for the next turbo nutter section, when this arrived everyone went bezerker.
What else is there left to say. Well maybe I should mention that Mike Patton has to be the most sound blokes in Rock. Before the gig he was wondering round, not appearing annoyed when he was approached by hordes of people (including HoBo John and me, John talked to him, unfortunately I lost the power of speech and suffered a rectal prolapse due to the excitement). After the gig he even helped pack his own gear up. This guy has sold shed loads of CDs (and you can fit a whole shit load of CDs in a shed) and owns his own record label, I though people like that hired people like gorillas to stop people like me getting within 28 feet of them. Mike reminded me that celebrities aren't any different from anyone else. Well except for having an entourage of miniature Gandhi clones.
Click To Go See The Mike Patton Interview
Click To Read The Newport Gig Review (18/07/2001)