[ATTENDED: July 17, 2022] Fucked Up [moved from January 23, 2021]
I’ve been intrigued by Canadian band Fucked Up since I first heard of them. Obviously they had no intention of getting mainstream success with a name like that. And yet, their music has turned heads.
Which is also a bit of a puzzle because, while it can be very, very catchy, lead singer Pink Eyes screams like the lyrics are comic from the pit of his soul (although you can actually understand most of what he says, which is a neat trick).
Pink Eyes is Damian Abraham who had led the band since 2001.
Fascinatingly, the band won the Polaris Prize in 2009 (for an album with mostly guest vocalists). They followed up that album with david Comes to Life in 2011–a rock opera set in 1970s and 1980s England. The story involves unreliable narrators and meta-narrative plot devices.
And so it was that in 2021, they were going to do a ten year anniversary and pay the album front to back. It was postponed, but, undaunted, they pressed on in 2022.
I had never seen Fucked Up before, but had a pretty good idea what to expect. And yet they exceeded any expectation.
The band came out on stage while a projection of the band with their logo was on the screen behind them. They played the opening song (an instrumental) and then Damian came out in sweatpants, and a black vinyl glove (he later revealed that he had cut his hand and this was protecting his from getting blood everywhere). He proceeded to do his screaming thing. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 