26th August 2010

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Nobunny/Jacuzzi Boys at the Knitting Factory

What a show to forget my camera. As each member of Nobunny took the stage, things got progressively goofier; the guitarist was wearing a Zorro mask, the bassist was wearing a Silence of the Lambs mask, the drummer was dressed kind of like a big baby, complete with oversized novelty bowtie, and Nobunny himself was covered in weird and creepy accessories. Of course, there was the bunny mask, unnerving enough on its own, but in addition to that nightmare-inducer, he was sporting blue briefs and no pants (oh, and so were the drummer and bassist) with a special cottontail, a red ball-gag draped around his neck, and a pair of handcuffs hanging from his waist. Oh, and he had a carrot taped to his microphone. Now, with all that shit happening, you might worry that they put all their effort into appearance, and may lack in the performance department, but don’t sweat it. They sound exactly how you’d want a band dressed that way to sound. Having already heard their record, I wasn’t really expecting them to put on as fantastic a show as they did, but Nobunny turns out to be one of those special performers (like the Mummies, for instance), where no recording could ever do them justice.

Cell phone camera again… lame.

The entire set was full of jaw-dropping moments, but I think the craziest thing happened during their first song. The group got maybe half of the way through “Nobunny Loves You” before a guy pushed his way to the front (right in front of me, by the way), started grabbing empty beer cans and cups, and hucking them at the band. A couple seconds after this, a full one came back his way, but missed its mark, and ended up getting me more than anything else. A half-second later, Nobunny had walked over, at which point I attempted to get some distance from the scenario. This turned out to be a good idea, because, somehow, the disgruntled audience member managed to grab the guitar out of the man’s hands, and swung it against the stage, before yelling “FAGGOT!” and running away. He didn’t get too far before Nobunny caught up to him. One might be worried this would put a damper on things, but just a few seconds later, the show continued, Nobunny continuing to play the guitar, now down to four strings, and shit rocked even harder. I was covered in beer, and it was awesome. Someone got a picture of me all wet, so here’s hoping that surfaces soon.

Throughout the rest of the performance, Nobunny would fall down, sit in girls laps, get tangled in microphone cables, slap a cowbell, and perform the “suck it” sign multiple times. Perhaps most hilarious, some young ladies would get up on stage, start doing some R. Kelly shit to him (you know, grind on him, suck on his fingers, attempt to fellate him, the usual), and he would turn down their advances in order to feel himself up. That’s a true artist.

Musically, I couldn’t ask for more. Stomping, blazing garage punk, and the few cuts heard from the new record were definitely taking things to a new level. Of course, my favorite part was probably the Spinal Tap cover, but then again, that would probably be my favorite part of any show in which it was included.

Nobunny is proof that drunkenness can lead to some awesome shit.

Now, I shouldn’t forget the opener, Jacuzzi Boys. They knocked out some sweet Dinosaur Jr.-inspired jams, complete with stomping drums, psychedelic face-melting guitar licks, and punchy bass. In other words, they had all the parts you need for a kickin’ set. They were a bit rough around the edges, like you’d hope (at one point, the guitarist accidentally muted himself, confusedly exclaiming into the microphone “what the fu…?”) and knew how to get heavy grind going. My only complaint was they they had too many bookbags.

Tagged: nobunnyknitting factoryjacuzzi boyswpodfuck you