Payne's Pretzels

A USUAL TUESDAY afternoon in early November – raining, dark and cold and I find myself sitting in a booth in the infamous Techno Cafe at the Science Site. Not for the first time that day, my mobile rang and instead of the usual Purple Radio call, it was a fellow from Sony BMG records regarding an email sent several weeks ago. 24 hours later, I was zipping down the A1 to Leeds to meet, interview and see one of the most critically acclaimed bands of 2008 hitting the Carling Academy.

On their latest jaunt around the UK, MGMT managed to miss out Newcastle (and Durham, of course) on their final tour before some relaxing time and re-entering the studio. After hanging around outside the newly-rebuilt Academy, we were granted entrance and made our way up to a deserted dressing room waiting for the band to enter. A sudden panic hit me and my friend who had tagged along – would they think we were idiots? Were we cool enough? Should I have passed on the ‘Vote Bert’ T-Shirt?

These feelings passed when an assertive but friendly American entered and introduced himself as manager, and was flanked by two men barely older than myself that were instantly recognisable as Andrew Van Wyngarden and Ben Goldwasser – the songwriters and founding members of the band. Unusually, Andrew was not sporting his typical array of bandanas and psychedelic clothing – just tight fitting jeans, duffle coat and your typical polo shirt. Ben went for a more indie look with a checkered shirt. Both were smiling and were welcoming and the chat began. Within a few minutes, it was a slight misnomer, the band didn’t seem to open up too much or expand on our questions. Maybe our credentials might have been suspect, hence why they were quite guarded with their answers – although there were a few interesting facts you may not know.

Ben uses conditioner on his hair while Andrew simply washes it – and it naturally goes frizzy for those who wonder. They have never eaten an electric eel but have eaten octopus on several occasions. Their favourite thing about this country is the weather – the depressing cold and sleet is a good thing. Maybe they should try the snow Durham has been experiencing? The original band consisted of just Ben and Andrew (who recorded the album) and they asked some of their friends to join for the tour this year to form the live line up. They are huge Pink Floyd fans and found The Piper At The Gates of Dawn to be a very influential album on their music, as well as Kraftwerk – not too surprising. They let no hints drop about their future musical direction but did reveal that the first half of their debut album was written before the band were signed and the rest was written later, with most of the hit singles on the latter half.

Ben was the quiet one while Andrew mostly picked up the answers, and disconcertingly stared at my open diary. After questioning about vintage clothing shops in Leeds, of which I had no idea and mumbling some response about turning right, we left the band in search of food. After some exploration of Leeds (which is a very nice place indeed), it was gig time. The mix of ‘indie kids’ was high in attendance and few university students like myself could be seen. Coming on stage to the sound of Funk #49, the evening kicked off with an unknown new song that no one was sure about. The frenzy caused by the arrival of the band continued but by the end, no one was really sure what was happening. Thankfully, Weekend Wars came along, sounding more lively and just as impressive as on the album and kicked everyone into shape.

The Youth managed to get a swaying audience to sing along to “and you, started to change” and lined everyone up for a great gig. However, things started to go downhill from here as the band launched into song after song of generic psychedelic-progressive hard rock; each song was almost unrecognisable from the last and the jumping and screaming subsided until people looked almost bored and only polite applause. This all changed when gentle hum and chiming guitars signalled Time To Pretend, surprisingly early in the set. It blew everyone away – just fantastic and has to be a live highlight of the year. The band just came together – the cheesy synth live, the breakdown and build up and the lyrics we know and love. As usual for a packed gig, copious amounts of beer were poured over my head, reassuring me that the T-Shirt was a good idea. The audience had time to relax until Electric Feel came literally out of nowhere – it seemed the band had given up on their song and just bashed into this to cheer us all up.

Matching the previous single, the crowd went wild and the band obviously enjoyed the stimulation of the audience but it went downhill once again. Pieces, Of What was thrown in somewhere down the line to provide the usual acoustic diversion. Eventually, the band went off stage and cheering for the encore ensued – but was this for the band After The Handshake, the distinctive drum beat of Kids began and it went mad. Crushing, bouncing, dancing and more beer throwing made this the highlight of the set but for some inexplicable reason – there were no instruments played, minus one guitar solo! Their drummer sat, looking impatient but didn’t play anything. Ben left his keyboard station to sing with Andrew. Their bassist was nowhere to be seen. Ironic that the best song of the gig was not even played with instruments? For the audience, they didn’t mind because it was what most had come to hear. Why pay £22.50 to listen to a recording that you can hear in most clubs up and down the country every week.

This may all sound rather negative – it wasn’t a bad gig – the atmosphere was electric. On the way out, the banter was “fantastic… that was raving” but I’d have to say that MGMT are a singles band. They didn’t manage to bring alive their other songs and (unusually) for a band with one album, they didn’t throw a cover in. Both The Feeling and The Last Shadow Puppets have done this in their shows and it helps to showcase their musical prowess, which leads me on to another point – their sound.

My friend commented that the ‘sound’ is very important to enjoying their music and this struck me as the main problem with the night’s entertainment. The additional members of the band are simply too heavy, with overdriven sounds that don’t suit the songs on Oracular Spectacular. Hard rock certainly isn’t what MGMT is about – their next album may expand in this direction to a new audience but it was not what I expected.

If you are thinking about making a trip to see them, wait till they gather more songs and more experience before shelling out the cash. MGMT may still prove to be one of the biggest bands of the decade, or might fade away with a poor sophomore album and mediocre live shows. Only time will tell, and hopefully they will prove us wrong and not be fated to pretend.

Originally published in Palatinate Issue 702