Screaming Tea Party: Brixton Windmill 10/12/08
Monday, January 5th, 2009
Screaming Tea Party at the Windmill
London-based Screaming Tea Party offer a superb live spectacle. In style the three-piece range from three-minute punk songs to longer Spacemen 3-style wig outs with some superb guitar playing and some hilarious stage antics.
The band consists of the ball of energy that is lead guitarist Niyan, who holds his axe somewhere around his ankles as he expertly plays a series of high-necked solos; tall gangly lead singer/bassist Koichi, who sometimes wears a sarong, and whose vocals range from tenderly sung punk verses to heavily dubbed screaming echoes soaring eerily over the wall of feedback and noise; and new London-born female drummer Nell, whose occasional vocals provide a welcome element of melody in the madness. The last time I saw Screaming Tea Party with their previous drummer they were equally impressive but the extra vocals bring a new dimension to them, such as new song I’d Rather Be Stuck on the Stair Rail which they deliver tonight.
Tonight they arrive onstage in gasmasks to a somewhat bemused Windmill crowd, with the exception of those who have seen them before and know what to expect. They proceed to win everyone over with their enthusiasm for what they are doing. Unlike many pub punk bands, they obviously do mean it maan, as can be seen by the jumping around, writhing around on the floor and the sheer energy they put into their performance. As for the music, well, as mentioned before, it’s very hard to describe - pyschedlic post-punk new wave whatever, at the end of the day just think noise and melody, combined.
Tonight’s two special moments come firstly when Screaming Tea Party play Witch From Oregon, which could be the perfect punk song, boy/girl vocals, power chords, screaming feedback and chaos onstage. That is surpassed shortly afterwards, when another heavily feedbacked monster of an intro that feels like its just about to make the ears bleed segues into Moon River, sung in falsetto with heavy echo, the crowd slowly realising that yes, it’s that Moon River, provoking a singalong and proving that there is more to Screaming Tea Party than shouty punk.
If Screaming Tea Party are playing aywhere near you I urge you to go and see them, they are one of the most exciting live bands around. And check out recent EP Golden Blue, recently awarded 8/10 in NME.