*Brief musical interlude:*
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‘Meet me in St. Louis, Louis,
Meet me at the Fair
Don’t tell me the lights are shining
Anyplace but there
We will dance the “Hoochie-Koochie”
I will be your “Tootsie-Wootsie”
If you will meet me in St. Louis, Louis,
Meet me at the Fair. ‘
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*Turns music off.*
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Hoochie what? I don’t even want to know what a “Tootise-Wootsie” is. Strong enough to raise bile in your throat; this song from 1904 may or may not be where Surrey-based rockers, Meet Me In St. Louis got their moniker from, but it’s one possibility.
The other would be the Judy Garland film of the same name, but we’re not here to talk about famous gay icons and films that involved the Louisiana Purchase Exposition World’s Fair. (Well, we could; but you could always look that up on the fountain of all knowledge, Wikipedia!)
Meet Me In St. Louis formed in June 2005 after the demise of Escanna and Strobe 45 and began making a healthy racket, touring every toilet venue that would have them. After receiving positive reviews of their energetic live sets and the distribution of their 3 track demo, they signed to Function Records and released a five track Ep to critical acclaim.
Those interested in MMISL sound are in for an interesting journey. Whilst the band seem to retain a punk sound to their music, it’s punk music that has been chopped into pieces and scattered over many other musical styles and then mixed together in one big cooking pot of musical dexterity. That sounded bad didn’t it? Hmmmm…. I’ll try again….it’s just their style, is quite unique. It’s a refreshing, invigorating, unpredictable and rife with anarchy and youthful exuberance.
There is something for everyone in the racket they make, from the fast guitar-rock of ‘The Kid Who Got His Ear Slapped By The Druggist,‘ which is spliced nicely within it’s mellow build up and somber conclusion; whilst ‘You Said Your Finger Was A Gun’ is a beautiful acoustic offering; overwhelming with emotion and despondence. (As you can probably guess, with song titles as long as these, they play havoc with last fm’s tagging database. Check the band’s page to see what I mean.)
Live, Meet Me In St. Louis are a right barrel of hyperactive monkeys. They ooze this aura of pent up-explosive energy; vocalist Toby spends most of his time with the audience; the microphone positioned off stage, whilst he twirls himself around it like a deranged lookout clinging on to a crow’s nest; whilst the rest of the band spasmodically jerk and strut their way through their songs and drummer Paul, continues to play on the tiniest kit I’ve ever seen.
Like a Coca-Cola truck crashing into a Pop-Rocks factory, MMISL are a volatile and unsteady musical force. Ignore them at your peril, mortals.
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FAST FACTS
Personnel
Paul – fisher-price drum kit
Benny – air guitar
Toby – vocals, shouting
Oli – guitar hero
Lewis – bass and hair.
Disc
Self-released 3 track demo (2005)
And with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark – the place where the wave finally broke and rolled back (2006)
Variations on Swing (2007)
Online
Meet Me On Myspace!
Official Site
Function Records
Big Scary Monsters!
Status
In between their truly heroic tour schedule, the band have completed the recording of their debut album, “Variations on Swing” with producer Alex Newport (At The Drive-In, The Locust, The Mars Volta) this is going to be one hell of a record. (Release date August 2007!)
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Contemporaries
At The Drive-In
HPR
The Blood Brothers
Judy Garland
Lizard Hips
Junior Vice President of Keep It Fast. In other news: I work in social media, talk about dinosaurs, run a book club and have amazing facial hair. I am also a male man who is still not dead.
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