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The Locust fucking own y'all

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I saw them in Exeter last night and it was - imagine this bit in 72 point text - a BLAST.

Not that anything much is going to change my opinion, but what is the general critical consensus on this lot, if any?

There always seems to be this suggestion that they're gimmicky, or just for, like, kids. I dunno. Share opinions won't you.

― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Friday, 22 August 2003 11:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, I haven't heard anything they've done since some early 7" and the debut album, but that, to me, was very boring.
I do enjoy my fair share of grind, but their Star Wars grind thing is nothing for me; I don't like the related death metal band Cattle Decapitation much either.

I'm sure they might be fun live though, since it's so dancy, and they have that amusing image-gimmick and all, but the music I can safely live without... I'll lock them off along with crap like Libido Airbag.

― Øystein Holm-Olsen (Øystein H-O), Friday, 22 August 2003 11:48 (twenty-two years ago)

*googles for Libido Airbag* Ah right. Well, I wouldn't put them in a bracket with goregrind type stuff for a second. Unless they both happened to fall into the "bands I like / don't like" category of course.

― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Friday, 22 August 2003 11:52 (twenty-two years ago)

i have to go with oystein on this one - people have been running off at the mouth about this band for a while, doesn't do anything for me. asterisk is better. three studies for a crucifixion were better. hell, assuck were better.

― your null fame (yournullfame), Friday, 22 August 2003 13:13 (twenty-two years ago)

They remind a lot of Pop Tatari era Boredoms, but faster. People should give props to Pop Tatari more.

― dleone (dleone), Friday, 22 August 2003 13:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Mencap: well, the Libido Airbag comparison was pretty much because LA has this dancy style to them that for some reason reminds me of Locust. They don't have the big synths though, so I guess it dumb to connect them.

"Pop Tatari" on the other hand is a helluva good time! Though "Chocolate Synthesizer" is probably still my favorite Boredoms album, though I may be biased as it was my first (well after the fact, mind you)

― Øystein Holm-Olsen (Øystein H-O), Friday, 22 August 2003 13:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Donut Bitch and I know their keyboardist from KUCI daze. And he's a character.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 22 August 2003 14:12 (twenty-two years ago)

they are not the stretchheads

― bob snoom, Friday, 22 August 2003 14:37 (twenty-two years ago)

I saw them at 924 Gilman in Berkeley the other day, and they were terrible. Technically proficient but every song sounded identical: lightning fast riffs, lots of screaming, incomprehensible vocals..it was just a complete assault on your senses, in a boring way. If the albums are anything like the live experience, I don't know how anyone could sit through them, much less listen to them more than one time. They're kind of like XBXRX on speed (not in sound, but in spastic behavior), if you can imagine that.

Oh yeah, and all their songs are 30 seconds long-- which prompted me to remark to my friend that they make the Minutemen look like Yes.

― King Kobra (King Kobra), Friday, 22 August 2003 14:41 (twenty-two years ago)


i liked them... then didn't like them.... and now i like them again. they're latest one has some crazy flutter on it that's pretty rad.

their remix album is still better than anything they've personally done tho.

m.

― msp, Friday, 22 August 2003 14:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Can't argue with 'em only having one song - that actually comes across even more live - but it sounded like a fucking tearing song all the same. I like to think they've heard Pish In Yer Sleazebag, aye... loved the Kid606 remix on that rekkid, not so convinced by the rest.

― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Friday, 22 August 2003 15:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Orthrelm are better.

― David. (Cozen), Friday, 22 August 2003 16:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Orthrelm are fucking *something else entirely*... I'd only heard the odd track here and there and was wholly unprepared for them. Can a musician in the area please tell this dumbkopf how the fuck the dude is making that fucking noise on his guitar? And if I recommended it to a Yngwie fan should I be cackling in gleeful anticipation of his (always his) horror or doing him a genuine service?

― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Friday, 22 August 2003 16:24 (twenty-two years ago)

The odd track? When I saw them in Glasgow the other night they played the one song for 40 minutes straight, 'what' completely overtook 'how' in the end, as it should be, since I'm not a muso, but 'how' really was something else.

― David. (Cozen), Friday, 22 August 2003 16:26 (twenty-two years ago)

>they are not The Stretcheads

Hey---what ever became of the Stretchheads?! What in Hell happened to BLast First?? Help me...

― Stephen Boyle (SBoyle), Friday, 22 August 2003 16:33 (twenty-two years ago)

>And if I recommended it to a Yngwie fan should I be cackling in gleeful anticipation of his (always his) horror or doing him a genuine service?

You should hang your head in shame for making more people listen to that boring crap!
OKokokok, I know several people who absolutely love Orthrelm, but to me it sounds like bedroom-noodling, the kinda thing 17 year olds record into their computers nowadays when they're not in the mood to write songs of any sort. At least the one album I heard by them struck me as such (it had an owl on the cover...fairly recent, I assume)
Might as well start listening to Necrophagist too then.

Doctor Nerve are far more exciting for that whole over-technical deal, IMO. But they don't have the metallllllness.

To me Orthrelm is pretty much on the same line as Yngwie, all flash and little else.

― Øystein Holm-Olsen (Øystein H-O), Friday, 22 August 2003 16:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh yeh it's flashy and it's horrible on paper but there's some some sort of magic to it, faith in repetition and some sort of disdain for an audience that manifests in them throwing us the 'scrap' that is a change in the riff. It's like muscle memory suddenly took form and hated you.

― David. (Cozen), Friday, 22 August 2003 16:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Utter shite and assholes to boot.

― roger_adultery, Friday, 22 August 2003 21:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Aye, the Locust. I dunno about assholes, but gimmick and shite.

― David. (Cozen), Friday, 22 August 2003 22:07 (twenty-two years ago)

The VSS and Antioch Arrow own the Locust.

Nervous Circuits is so scary.

― Jon Williams (ex machina), Friday, 22 August 2003 22:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Orthrelm are better.

no.

― your null fame (yournullfame), Friday, 22 August 2003 23:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Why gimmick and why assholes (something I hear about The Locust a lot, usually unqualified)?

― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Saturday, 23 August 2003 09:22 (twenty-two years ago)

No idea what happened to the Stretchheads - Blast First is still going, although its roster (Labradford, Pansonic and the Sonic Mook compilations) is pretty unrecognisable from its mid-late 80s era.

― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Saturday, 23 August 2003 09:24 (twenty-two years ago)

In work already eh?

I only just got out of bed.

Adult were great.

Laters

― mei (mei), Saturday, 23 August 2003 09:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, that's a fair cop, I might try qualify my gimmick slant but then I don't really feel like doing so right now.

― David. (Cozen), Saturday, 23 August 2003 09:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Fair do's... it's the asshole 'accusation' that I'm more curious about, 'gimmick' is a matter of taste... I really shouldn't be here anyway. There's football on.

― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Saturday, 23 August 2003 10:20 (twenty-two years ago)

fantomas still own me

― chaki (chaki), Saturday, 23 August 2003 12:27 (twenty-two years ago)

I am mine.

― mei (mei), Sunday, 24 August 2003 08:12 (twenty-two years ago)

I wish I were someones elses though. :-(

― mei (mei), Sunday, 24 August 2003 11:30 (twenty-two years ago)

I enjoy the s/t CD I have.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Sunday, 24 August 2003 17:38 (twenty-two years ago)

I like that the recording doesn't sound like shit. More hardcore bands should follow suit.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Sunday, 24 August 2003 17:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Seriously roger_adultery, why assholes? I had chat with Justin on the phone and he seemed nice and accomodating. I'm not arguing, just would be good to know what my favourite bands are like in this instance...

― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 08:42 (twenty-two years ago)

i only have the s/t but it doesn't do much for me. it just seems like Anal Cunt with bloopity bloop keyboards added? i certainly won't write off live Locust without seeing them though, i'm sure all the outfits are a trip and such.

re: assholes - judge for yourself! http://www.makeoutclub.com/interviews/locustinterview.htm

― Adrian (Adrian Langston), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 10:24 (twenty-two years ago)

The outfits don't make a lot of difference either way, it's just slightly more interesting than four mongs in Vans and mesh caps. Stupid questions deserve stupid answers and that's what this fellow on makeoutclub seemed to get. I wish people would use proper spelling and punctuation though.

― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 10:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Not so much now, but back in the day, I could see how someone seeing the Locust live would get the whole "asshole" impression.. Justin would be very confrontational in a "i don't give a fuck about you" way. But that was just Justin, and even then, all you'd have to do is just talk to him after the set, see him smile, and realize it was just a stage show. Can't see how anyone would accuse Robert or Joey or anyone else of being assholes.

― donut bitch (donut), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 12:57 (twenty-two years ago)

(Same thing with Le Shok, but multiplied by ten. All you'd have to do is talk to Hot Rod Todd after the set, and you'd be like "Oh! ok!")

― donut bitch (donut), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 12:59 (twenty-two years ago)

two weeks pass...
Okay, let's all razz on their funky togs.



http://www.meirion.lewis.btinternet.co.uk/pics/barfly/locustband.jpg

Note that their costumes are bereft of their insectoid namesake's short antennae but otherwise very impressive. Figure hugging, in a mix of dark greens and black (this seasons new black, don'tchaknow), the trousers have removeable lower sections for conversion to shorts and likewise the jerkins' arms unzip to offer a tank top style alternative for hotter venues. The masks' tea strainer eye coverings mimic the multi-faceted orbs of insects, and openings at the mouth allow for respiration and vocalizing.



http://www.meirion.lewis.btinternet.co.uk/pics/barfly/locustguitarist.jpg


(Close up with eye-hole detailing)




http://www.meirion.lewis.btinternet.co.uk/pics/barfly/locustband.jpg

― mei (mei), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 07:45 (twenty-two years ago)

(Sorry! One too many image tags! Ack!)

― mei (mei), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 07:47 (twenty-two years ago)

twelve years pass...

There's like no good live footage of vintage Locust on the internet....

― ♫ as we get older and stop making threads ♫ (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, 15 January 2016 17:42 (ten years ago)

It's really hard to explain how important this felt ca. 2001, and I wish there was some footage to do them justice!

― ♫ as we get older and stop making threads ♫ (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, 15 January 2016 17:46 (ten years ago)

I don't think any footage could have captured that moment tbh. it was a time to be around.

― tremendous crime wave and killing wave (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Friday, 15 January 2016 17:58 (ten years ago)

swing kids were better!!!!!!!

― Man Bun B (jim in glasgow), Friday, 15 January 2016 18:10 (ten years ago)

here u go whiney

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uqdw8wXqpA4

― gr8080, Friday, 15 January 2016 18:41 (ten years ago)

fond memories of them tearing it up on stage while the crowd threw firecrackers at them

― ﷽ (diamonddave85), Friday, 15 January 2016 18:50 (ten years ago)

JW otm

― the late great, Friday, 15 January 2016 21:25 (ten years ago)

four years pass...

listening to locust and swing kids today for the first time in years. I basically never want to listen to anything in the area of hardcore/punk etc. anymore. an age thing.

swing kids "discography" is so classic. what's the best locust album? plague soundscapes was my favourite I seem to remember

― Temporary Erogenous Zone (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 23 July 2020 22:25 (five years ago)

four years pass...

John Brady has posted up photos of a Swing Kids rehearsal, I guess there are some gigs coming??

― Maresn3st, Sunday, 2 March 2025 13:18 (one year ago)


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