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“We’re the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and we’re from New York,”
guitarist Nick Zinner helpfully informed us as they
took to the stage at the Northampton Soundhaus. Like we didn’t already
know. Unless you missed the whole ‘New York is the Coolest
Place on Earth’ thing through solitary confinement or
a trip to outer space, you’ll know that every band from
the Big Apple last year was considered The Next Big
Thing.
Well, the Yeahs are kind of like The Last Big Thing
(Who were also New Yorkers – can you guess who it is
yet?) stripped down, reworked, with a psychotic female
vocalist who thinks she’s Susie Sioux.
Ikara Colt paved the way for crazy Karen O and her band
of two with some sub-standard glam-garage-rock which
was a disappointment considering I’d been led to believe
they were quite good.
Not that it mattered. Packed into every available space,
we waited for the answer to one question: Will they
be as good as we’re expecting?
Fast forward to Karen O’s dramatic entrance, which set
a few hearts racing as we thought she might stagger
across the stage and pass out into a drug-induced stupor.
But no – it’s OK, she was just pretending. Fooled you!
So, down to business – music, well, that’s not really
the main attraction here at all. Art punk trio they
may be, but the Yeahs never get past the garage-punk
to be really arty. Granted, there are some smart beats
going on, frenetic guitar-playing and freaky vocal stylings,
but nothing to really blow you away in the wake of the
White Stripes’ success.
Karen O is already being hailed as the female rock archetype,
even if her leather-clad right hand smacks of Spinal
Tap’s ‘Hand That Smelt the Glove’ (accompanied by theatrical
poses and the sneaky suspicion that their amps really
are turned up to ‘11’).
Still, Karen O is the driving force, the atomic nucleus.
Propelled across the stage by apparently boundless energy,
she screeches, chatters and moans like your hyperactive
little sister after one too many Ribenas.
Stylish, sexy and talented at throwing herself around
like a maniac whilst smiling candidly at the wide-mouthed
audience before her – girls want to be her, guys want
to be with her: Even if she is a slightly schizophrenic
nymphomaniac with a strange haircut. 
Natasha House for Crud Magazine© 2002
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| 04/02 1 Giant Leap - My Culture
04/02 Elfpower Interview - Andrew Rieger - Creatures
04/02 Frou Frou Interview - Guy Sigsworth/Imogen Heap
04/02 Gomez Interview - Ian Ball
04/02 Idlewild - Live - London Astoria
04/02 K's Choice Interview
04/02 Leaves - Live - Camden Dingwall
04/02 Longwave Interview - Exit
04/02 Lucy Mongrel Interview
04/02 Oasis - The Hindu Times
04/02 Phantom Planet - Interview
04/02 Unwritten Law - Interview
04/02 VUE - Coordinates Interview
05/02 BRMC - LIve - Kentish Town, London
05/02 Breeders - Title K
05/02 FC Kahuna - Machine Says Yes
05/02 Moco - Live - London Monarch
05/02 Need New Body - Interview
05/02 The Soundtrack of Our Lives - Live - Soundhause, Northampton
05/02 The Bellrays - Meet The Bellrays
06/02 Fleadh Festival - Finsbury Park
06/02 Frou Frou Coordinates Interview
06/02 Incubus - Interview - Mark Einziger
06/02 North Mississippi Allstars - Interview
06/02 Papa Roach - She Loves Me Not
06/02 Proud Mary - Live - Northampton, Soundhaus
06/02 Pulp - Live - Sherwood Pines, Edwinstowe
06/02 Reindeer section - You Are My Joy
06/02 Silverchair - Diorama
|  | 06/02 Something Corporate - Leaving Through The Window
06/02 Soinc Youth - Interview
06/02 The Burn - The Smiling Face
06/02 The Coral - Live - Roadmender, Northampton
06/02 The LIbertines - Live - The Social, Nottingham
06/02 The Vines, Sheffield Leadmill
06/02 Trik Turner - Interview
06/02 Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Live, Soundhaus, Northampton
07/02 12 Stones Interview
07/02 Arolo -Interview
07/02 Buy To Let Doncaster - Anti Social Behaviour
07/02 Cassius - Interview
07/02 Farrah - Interview
07/02 Glassjaw - Interview
07/02 Neil Michael Haggerty - Interview
07/02 Hoobastank - Running Away
07/02 Leaves - Interview
07/02 LL Cool Jay Interview
07/02 Oasis - Live - Finsbury Park, London
07/02 Polyphonic Spree - Live - Camden Monarch
07/02 Queens of the Stone Age - Songs For The Deaf
07/02 Super Furry Animals - Interview
07/02 The Beatings - Live - Metro Club London
07/02 The Bellrays + The D4 - Virgin Megastore, Oxford Street London
January 2001
July - August 2001
September - October 2001
November - December 2001
January - March 2002
April - July 2002
August - December 2002 | |
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