You know the story of !!! by now. Their name is pronounced any way you please with three repeative sounds but preferably 'chk chk chk' like three beats of a snare drum, and they consist of a bunch of ex-punks from NYC and Sacramento out to fire up the dance floor.
Tonight they take their New York no wave punk/funk riot to the mighty london "super club" Fabric and effortlessly win our hearts. They arrive on stage about 1.30, the indie kids having stayed out late, missing the safety of last train curfew, all to see the latest hip sensation from across the pond and bloody glad they did.
A stomping house big beat fills the void, eyes front. Say hello to !!! The first thing you notice is that the stage struggles to squeeze in all the band's seven members.
Nic Offers is the vocalist, John Pugh masters drums/vocal, Mario Andreoni is on guitar, there's a two piece horn section, Justin Vandervolen funks up the volume on bass and Tyler Pope handles electronics...although they change instruments regularly, and it's impossible to keep tabs most of the time.
"Pardon My Freedom" is an exhilarating ride, with its' "...like i give a fuck" chorus sneer and high energy full out assault revving up to a controlled chaotic ending. Every song tonight lasts near the 10 minutes mark and the band's inspired jamming makes the songs feel epic.
Their love of improvising together has seen the birth of several of their killer tracks like "Me and Guiliani Down By The Schoolyard", where the twisting melody elevates the song to another level and has even resulted in well-deserved radio play recently.
Tonight, though, the pace is frantic, there are precious few pauses and no rest for the crowd. The music bounces around and indie kids and clubbing regulars are shaking in unison. The acid house spirit lives again? Who knows.
It's impossible to keep track of energetic frontman Nic Offer as he flings himself about on stage with a series of arm windmills and sky-punching Russian dance moves. Finally, he dances manically into the crowd, leaving John Pugh (who's no less energetic) to take over vocal duties for a song.
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"Hello?, is this thing on"will be the next single, released to coincide with August Carling festivals, and if it's anything like tonight's charged performance, it will set the Reading/Leeds dance tent alight (but hopefully not literarally in Leeds after their previous exploding bogs debacle).
After an hour in charge, the mike has to be ripped away from Nic's hand to allow the set to wind down. He's astonished, left panting for breath, standing completely still and shocked as the rest of the band wrap it up, and are gone shortly after: not to be seen again. The crowd are drained, but undoubtedly very happy.
No doubt !!! share things in common with Gang of Four and Prince (not only in terms of a symbol for a name but also in the knowledge of how to get funky), but as comtempories around at the moment go, only The Rapture would compare: that is if they were a highly destructive killing machine from the future, brought back to the year 2004 with the sole purpose of terminating any traces of tired mediocrity currently found in most dance music today.
Time to head for the exit with converse allstars fallen to bits (CHeck!);ears ringing and sweating through to your pants (CHecK!) and with no intention of keeping secret about the best live music party of year (CHecK!).
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