Stuffy and The Fuses @ Joseph's Well
By Michael Lodge
The marathon framework of the day creates a nice ad hoc feel as each band comes on. However, this can be a problem for the bands upstairs. Just ask Emma Bob 3 who had to sing songs of lesbian heartbreak above a couple of guys clattering through a game of pool. Everybody's been milling around, half of them have been watching the band tune up, somebody says "Have we started yet? ... oh right" and off we go. So it was that The Scaramanga Six took to the stage.
With two drummers on stage, (one of them, their old chum, Stuffy) the Six do not give us a subtle opener. 'Soul Destroyer' a track from their new album gives us a slow riff, which we can feel will bolt into a thumping double-time ending. It does. Older track 'Poison Pen' we are told was a request (from a NY Dolls fan?) and goes down well. But more impressive is the band's new single 'We Rode the Storm', with The Scaramanga Six finally nailing a riff and blending well for the first time. Its outro also saw the (re)appearance of the days omnipresent promoters on stage vaingloriously trying to get us to clap in time.
If a musical performance could be likened to a found object exhibition we may have on our hands an entirely inadequate analogy for Napoleon IIIrd. Eclectic electronic beats and samples never really attempt any discernible melody or normal structure. I could see him with a guitar but couldn't hear a guitar. Fizzing hi hats (a personal highlight), muted trumpet, big beats and a man in a dirty baseball cap. Intriguing.
Stuffy retakes the stage with his own outfit next. Stuffy has a nice blasé way of playing drums. He swots at them as if dismissing a tenuous argument. If you didn't know Stuffy had been around for a while you would have to guess, as a couple of the Fuses look half his age. New boy 'Chopper' Fuse has a good line in keyboard moshing if you need some. That said it's a nice performance by Stuffy and The Fuses, finishing off with the jerky syncopation of 'Evil Knieval'.
