Infadels

Stealth, Nottingham on Thu 16th Feb 2006

It’s hard not to feel a little bit sorry for The Infadels. Back in 2004 (it seems so long ago!) their frenetic live performances turned heads here at there and after winning a Diesel U-Music award they snagged a record deal with the Wall Of Sound label. Things were looking up. Then it all went quiet, the album took forever and it’s only now that they’re rearing their heads, two years later, and it seems they’ve missed the boat. People are more interested in the dumbed-down Britpop revival and scummy northern ape attack than in this East London quartet’s acid electronica. Album reviews have been mediocre, no one seems to want to commit to them as, let’s face it, to do so would look uncool.

Sadly, this taste upheaval is as much a loss to the band as it is to the world at large, so while the NME masses continue to twat about at the disco dancing like they’ve got rats chewing on their sphincters, in a room next door The Infadels will be starting a real party and most people will be none the wiser.

Infadels

Across the Atlantic, !!! and LCD Soundsystem hold the mantle for punk-funk disco rock. Some reviews have complained that The Infadels are whack simply for not being these bands – but conversely, there aren’t any other decent British acts furrowing this niche so why the hell shouldn’t we view them as our bastion?

Opening up with the pulsating ‘Love Like Semtex’, the crowd are instantly enraptured in dance utopia, a fact that transcends any suggestions that this band aren’t great. Lead singer Bnann not only has a name that would sit well next to a Chicken Korma, but does everything within his might to make sure everyone in the room is moving to the heavy disco beat. He does a fine job of it.

Naturally, as a band that have unduly been cast as outsiders, a proportion of their fans seem to have been drawn to them from their own social outsides to come and find acceptance. Thus, overweight obsessives that are probably more au fait with the rules of Warhammer than social interaction scream obsessively at the front, as if they’ve all eaten young Westlife fans that are now desperate to be heard from inside these clod’s bulbous guts. Behind them spin aggressive bozos who mistake the opportunity to dance as being an opportunity to act like a tosser, pushing people over and flinging their arms at ribs in a manner more akin to that of a Slipknot mosh pit.

Infadels

But when The Infadels hit their peaks, ‘Can’t Get Enough’ and ‘Reality TV’, the atmosphere gives way for sheer unified euphoria. Forget what the mainstream thinks, they’re still the ultimate party band. So if you’ve got that dancing bug but you can’t wait for LCD Soundsystem to return to these shores (and that could be a long time from now, I warn), go check out the Infadels, you won’t be disappointed.

article by: Alex Hoban

photos by: Alex Hoban

published: 18/02/2006 16:36



FUTURE GIGS


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