Flaming Apes Head
took to the stage as the venue
neared capacity and announced
their arrival with the quirky
punk medley that is their set
opener “Pink Marshmallow
Party Song /
ExcuseMe.” With funky
bass lines leading into crashing
choruses it certainly grabs the
crowd’s attention.
As
people leave the bar and
gather in front of the
stage, they are met full
on with “The Hey
Song.” Three
minutes of angst
delivered in infectious
packaging, with the main
riff rising and falling
around the alternate
vocals of Neil (bass +
vocals) and Simon (guitar
+ vocals).
The great
atmosphere of the crowd is shown
as Andy (drums) gets his name
chanted just for coming out from
behind the drum kit to fix a
cymbal stand, whilst Neil and
Simon down-tune their guitars.
Up
next are the three
heaviest songs in the
set. “This
ones about the green
stuff you put on
pasta” Simon quips. “Pesto” goes
down so well that it even
inspired one fan to ask
Simon at the end of the
set whether you could
really have it with
pasta!!
“Sacrifices,
Priorities and Lies”
explodes into life and only lets
up its fierceness during the
midsection, which in stark
contrast to the rest of the song,
is incredibly bouncy and
happy! There are some huge
riffs packed into final
down-tuned song, “Extinct
Vikings”, which along with
set closer “Mint Rhino”
has become something of a
fan’s favourite.
'Time for
something a little more
melodic” is how Neil
introduces “Spectres,”
which builds and crashes like a
wave until the final huge
crescendo.
“This
is the other one off our
free CD…its called
Shallow.”
Neil’s infectious
bass leads into
Simon’s haunting
verse, into a short
taster chorus, into the
verse… building into
a huge chorus which
bursts into an immense
ending with Simon’s
guitar screeching, Andy
pounding every inch of
his kit and Neil flinging
himself wildly around the
stage!
The
penultimate song in the set is
the 90 second burst of punk fury,
book-ended by Black Sabbath style
riffs that is “Along the
Lines of What?”
The set
closer “Mint Rhino” is
fantastic upbeat funky punk, with
psychedelic lyrics about
hallucinogenic toothpaste,
penguins, monkeys and of course
rhinos. As the crowd
are about to applaud, Andy’s
drum roll signals the song is not
quite over. Neil and Simon
step forward into the crowd, and
as the cymbals crash, burst into
a furiously paced ending of
guitar thrashing, which ends with
Neil jumping on Simon and licking
him, whilst still playing his
bass. “We’re
Flaming Apes Head,
cheers.” The huge
ending to the song is matched by
an equally gargantuan roar from
the crowd.
With
their irresistibly funky
bass lines, guitar hooks
that are as catchy as
they are quirky, and
immense, dynamic
drumming, Flaming Apes
Head are extremely
original, and have
massively diverse songs.
They
certainly look like a band with a
big future! If they are
playing at a venue near you, then
you must go to see them as you
will not be disappointed!!!
