CAUSTIC + Surgyn + The Gothsicles
The Classic Grand, 6th April 2011
 Fresh from the stage of the first ever Resistanz festival, The Classic
Grand managed to bag The Gothsicles and Caustic for a show before they headed
back to America. Even better, it was free.
Dundee-based support act Surgyn are regulars on the Scottish industrial
scene, if not so well known outside it - though hopefully that will change soon
with the launch of their first album, Vanity, in May. Swapping vocal duties
between tracks the duo specialise in dancefloor-friendly malevolent industrial
with a medical-horror theme, though things take a turn for the less-than-serious
when The Gothsicles vocalist Brian Graupner joins them for a cover of the viral
internet phenomenon Friday, which the band barely make it through without
breaking down in hysterics.
 To say that The Gothsicles (Brian Graupner and keyboardist Katja Lunde)
don't take themselves seriously would be an understatement. Wearing a Nintendo
Powerglove Brian bounces around the stage like a hyperactive 14-year old who's
having the time of his life, while his sugar-induced fever dream of 80's
children's cartoons and retro videogames plays out on a monitor at the rear of
the stage. Retro videogames provide most of the material for The Gothsicles
songs, especially on songs like Triple Shot and One Second Ghost, along with
lampooning goth and alt culture. As the packed dancefloor would attest it's
almost impossible not to be won over by the bands infectious sense of fun.
 Soon the Gothsicles are back onstage, providing live duties for Matt
Fanale's Caustic.
Caustic are one of the most controversial powernoise band out
there, whether it's due to outrageous stage performances or their lampooning of
everything that certain industrial scenesters take too seriously. Tonight's show
was quite restrained (there were no tampons, costumes or gay porn involved) but
Fanale's performance wasn't, screaming into the mic one second and happily
playing the fool the next, including performing what was probably the most
guttural, aggressive cover of Lady Gaga's Poker Face ever.
Though the sense of
humour was still in place the beats were heavier and the crowd responded, the
dancefloor descending into a moshpit and, in a final rock'n'roll touch, Fanale
threw his sampler out to be destroyed beneath the New Rocks of the riled up
masses.
Review and photos by David Lees
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