Dammit I’m Mad
-THE PEER HAT, MANCHESTER-
We have a wealth of support acts in store at the Peer Hat tonight, and some excellent craft beers to accompany us. It’s a nice place for a drink as well as a gig.
Chaos LOL gets his five-minute warning and hastily drops some super-heavy gabba before throwing down some polyrhythmic madness, then running round the room like crazy. The rest of the set is similarly eclectic and heavy. It leaves most of us thoroughly entertained.
Voxish will be gutted to not really live up to his stage-name, when he breaks his microphone in the middle of the first song. Much artist-engineer banter ensues during the improvised tech-support performance piece that plays out against a bleak, lo-fi electronic soundtrack.
Then Jeuce play their America-themed set, which is interesting.
And now we’re on to the big boys – although in this case, one very tall boy, one kinda normal-looking (underneath the masks, at least). They’re Swedish debutants Dammit I’m Mad, on tour promoting their first album release.
DIM went up doubly in my estimation when I arrived at their merch stand and not only appreciated their funky, nice-looking t-shirts, hoodies, jumpers and (yes) bath towels, but also cottoned on to the fact that their name is a palindrome.
I quickly fall further in love with them when they start their gig with a string of anagrams read by the Stephen Hawking voice, before they play a bunch of tunes that sound like the Strokes covering the soundtrack to International Superstar Soccer Deluxe 64 (which is a masterwork of high-energy muzak).
DIM make a brief stop at heavy metal and travel on via pure free improv noise, but we’re never far away from a super-catchy, quirky riff in an odd time signature. Not many bands have a favourite chord, but DIM claim to, and dedicate a whole song to it (although I have to say, guys, I don’t believe C7++ is a real chord).
Like their songs, the set is short and sweet – but it’s a really carefully crafted performance, with a lot of sequenced parts deployed by the drummer via synths, and all hooked up to some pretty cool home-baked visuals. The show also includes a number of crafted interludes, mostly read by the computer narrator, but also including Ken with his tuba (you had to be there).
To give you one last idea of how much I liked Dammit I’m Mad, I wasn’t even upset when Mr Hawking told the audience that this was their first time “in Leeds”. Off to Bristol tomorrow, by which point they assured me they’ll have updated Mr Hawking with their correct location.
Dammit I’m Mad: Facebook | Soundcloud
I've been playing bass guitar and guitar for over half my life. I last played bass in in a band called Electromotive and as a singer-songwriter I have written songs about cheese and vajazzles (separate songs!). I started out listening to 60s, 70s and 80s rock as a kid and I was in to grunge and U.S. punk and ska in the 90s. Since then, I've broadened my tastes and I like the best of all styles of music, even country. I've been writing for Silent Radio since it started.
