other logo

'Pride' Purple Turtle, Camden,  
London, Feb 11th 

EYELASH/BEAUTIFUL DEADLY CHILDREN

and - ooh - so much more!!

Review by PIPPA LANG 

Eyelash
Nyuszi

Eyelash
Sophie & Nyuszi

How Purple is your Turtle darling? Tonight's Deadly Sin, one of the seven celebrated by the gloriously decadent Festival of Sins, is - Pride? - and turtles (no, not turds), indeed, threatened to pop their curious little heads out of the tightly moulded rubber, leather and latex of tonight?s carn-iv-al gathering. At least such barely concealed - nay, proud protuberances - prevented any embarrassing gender identity problems.

Pride, of course, demands a certain amount of decorum even in this hedonistic heaven, and tonight was - it may surprise detractors to know - a tasteful display of naughtiness. In fact, Nyuszi and Sophie's balletic pole dancing duet and Sophia's semi-naked fire-eating act - and not a whiff of burning thigh - were things of beauty, choreographed with perfect fluidity - and definitely not a sweaty perv's wank fantasy. For that -- well,
you know where Soho is darling. 

SophiaLandi
Sophia Landi 
Photo credit May LR

SophiaLandi
Sophia Landi 
Photo credit May LR


And what a tranny treat Blanche Dubois is! A statuesque creature in full army camouflage fatigues,
a formidable sight! -- and the alarming realisation that he was to strip to nothing but a purple g-string raised
a few eyebrows even in these salubrious surroundings!

BlancheDubois
Blanche Dubois

Eyelash
Beautiful Deadly Children
-- Paul Steventon-Marks

BeautifulDeadlyChildren
Beautiful Deadly Children
-- John Douglas-Madison 



Amidst all this, Beautiful Deadly Children (from the most unglamorous Birmingham) played centre-stage in gothically splendid form, frontperson Paul Steventon-Marks sweeping onstage in a magnificent red velvet cape, glamorous side-kick Olivia Barnard-Firth (who admits to having little in the way of her own body parts) wiggling her vast tail of peacock feathers with remarkable poise, considering the small stage and variety of onstage obstacles. But, like a couple of vampires, the two glid
about with supernatural poise.



BeautifulDeadlyChildren

Beautiful Deadly Children - Paul Steventon-Marks

BeautifulDeadlyChildren
Beautiful Deadly Children - Paul Steventon-Marks

BeautifulDeadlyChildren
Beautiful Deadly Children - Paul Steventon-Marks 


BeautifulDeadlyChildren
Beautiful Deadly Children - Olivia Barnard-Firth

BeautifulDeadlyChildren
Beautiful Deadly Children - Olivia Barnard-Firth 



I was, I have to say, a little dubious as to what to expect musically. The thing about overdressed bands, I find, is they can be bloody awful musically, relying too much on gay apparel than music (probably spending band rehearsals comparing fashion notes). But BDC managed to blend stylistic excellence with some very fine, dark and menacing goth.

A final note about BDC: I got horribly confused halfway through their set when Paul introduced one of their
two keyboard-players as Kurt Vile ('the only heterosexual on the gothic scene' sic). Kurt Weill,
I asked myself? Didn't he die eons ago?? Go on, laugh at me if you like?!!

BeautifulDeadlyChildren
Beautiful Deadly Children - Kurt Vile

Eyelash

Eyelash
Eyelash - Ru and Flow

And so we come to the wonderful Eyelash. Strange though it may seem, in this glorious festival of decadence, rubber, titties (both real and not) and general naughtiness, tonight I realised that Eyelash should be heard before being seen. They have an extraordinarily strong musical identity, which has nothing to do with visual image. Okay, I guess it?s pretty important to know that vivacious vocalist Fe could ' nay WILL ' give Gwen Stefani and Pink a run for their money, both in the looks department and vocally. And that both her and bassist Marina looked bloody gorgeous, curvaceous and dead sexy in their rubber dresses. Guitarist Ru, incidentally,
is more of a goth, drummer Flow a long-haired rocker. But their stage gear is irrelevant.

Eyelash

Eyelash - Ru


Eyelash
Eyelash - Fe

Nick
Eyelash - Fe

So, it ain't the look that matters. I heard Eyelash before seeing them, and was pleasantly surprised at their rampantly infectious rep of spunky (yeah yeah) punk pop songs, attitude blasting out of every gorgeous pore of blonde Fe. The main strength of the band is the awesome vocal affinity between Fe and Marina (and here, as I've so enjoyed mentioning before, there's a touch of ABBA in their magnificent harmonies!) I also the fact that virtually every song is a potential hit. Sometimes, this can be a tad annoying, and there were those who looked a bit bored by the constant onslaught of catchy punk-pop melodies. From 'What Is It You Need,' through 'Bow To The People' the bouncing punk of 'I Was Born The Year Punk Died,' 'Overkill" and 'Put Your Faith In Me,' and onwards, it's impossible not to be affected one way or the other by Eyelash's boundless enthusiasm. Only criticism with having so many luminous songs is the danger of overdoing it.
The odd ballad wouldn't go amiss to break the set up a little.

Eyelash

Eyelash - Fe

Eyelash

Eyelash - Fe


Anyway, when 'The Party's Over' runs into set-ender 'Your Man-Fake Smile Fake Tan, I'm Gonna Fuck Your Man,' girls down front were grabbing their men possessively. Yeah, I'd be worried. What a bitch of a song!!

And what a Turtley Purple night, boys and girls and boy/girls--

PIPPA LANG

FashionMademoiselle


Eyelash

Eyelash
Lady Amelia O'Brian daughter of legendary Rocky Horror Show writer Richard
Photo credit Dutch Michaels



back to home page