NO DYNAMICS as part of Will Munro’s VAZOWEEN, Lee’s Palace, October 28. Tickets: $7. Attendance: 120. Rating: NNN Rating: NNN
Despite the sea of slit hearts, mine included (the Slits cancelled their hotly anticipated headline appearance in support of their swoon-inducing EP, Revenge Of The Killer Slits, released October 17), Vazoween managed to maintain a solid pulse.
Campy celebrity knock-offs and French maids vied for attention, and a hospital’s worth of nurses tore up the dance floor thanks to spin tag team Will Munro and Mikey Apples.
While Nancy Kerrigan bobbed for a butt plug (and won!), I engaged in a bout of make-out so unruly that it inadvertently knocked a bottle of beer directly into my purse. Until, that is, No Dynamics‘ raunchy blues-punk bravado tore me away from her mouth. The foursome’s set was a barn-burning scorcher.
Sporting a showstopper of a wig – Crystal Gayle, what else? – and a checkered one-piece mini (think fifth-grade picture day), Vanessa Fischer delivered her signature swaggering vox with the kind of brawn that makes Jack Daniel’s taste like true love. Especially when she swore over and over, “I’ve got you on my mind.”
Jeremy Finkelstein was also in fine form, really giving it to his skins. Dosed a little too high on testosterone for my taste – think formidable thrusts and plows while excessively drooling from the mouth – though it’s precisely his hard-as-hell brute force assault that nabbed him best drummer in NOW’s Best Of 2006. Finkelstein may not be very dynamic, but his timing’s impeccable and his intensity’s relentless.
It wasn’t long before sailors and cowgirls swarmed the pit, and when No Dynamics launched into the climactic pounding pulse of Infectious, rife with wailing synth distortions and sleazy guitar riffs, Fischer’s blazing vocals set my ears on fire.
Too bad attendance wasn’t at its peak – No Dynamics could’ve used some body heat to really push things over the edge. Their November 4 show at the Boat should be on your to-do list.
music@nowtoronto.com
