Reviewed on Monday January 25
“I got a joke for ya!” Halfway through Batpiss’ set of boiling-point intensity and knife-edge guitar rumble, bassist/vocalist Thomy Sloane takes it upon himself to alleviate the mood a little bit. He does this the only way he knows how: by playing shadow puppets with the venue’s projector, bending his arms at the elbow and clasping his hands together to visualise a part of the anatomy that would no doubt get him kicked out of this establishment were he to actually show us the real thing.
It should come as no surprise that Batpiss’ brand of humour is a little more skewed than most. If you hadn’t gathered purely on the surface value of their name, this Melbourne outfit is one that does things a little differently, dragging a noisy and cathartic style of scorched-earth sludge along by the collar and tossing off track by track into the abyss with a sense of reckless abandon. It’s executed with precision, but also allows certain points to wander off into the desert with only a wave of feedback to guide them along. It would even feel rude to describe Batpiss as devil-may-care – Satan would unquestionably jam to this.
The irony of a band with a very intentionally provocative name opening for a band currently between names on account of their former one being unintentionally provocative is surely not lost on anyone. The Band Formerly Known As Viet Cong were initially billed under their original name for this tour, but it’s been said that this will be the last run of shows they do with it attached to them. What the future holds for these four young men is anyone’s guess, but if tonight’s set proves any old saying right, it’s this: a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet. Or play this loudly. Or jam this extensively.
OK, perhaps there’s a pinch of paraphrasing in there, but it’s what serves this set justice. The drums are crisp and fill-heavy, matched up to jaunty bass and a twin guitar/synth attack from stage left and stage right. It explodes, it whispers, it cries out for more and culminates in a seemingly endless avalanche of noise that would even put Shellac in their place. They may well be a band with no name right now, but one thing needs to be made exceptionally clear: that is the only thing that is missing. Hands down one of the month’s most surprising shows.
