MUSIC ---- Darwin Deez @ Green Man Festival

It’s 1997, you are in a small club in North Carolina and a less- inebriated-than-he-actually-believes-he-is joker thinks, if he spikes each member of Ben Folds Five’s drinks with acid, it might stop them whining about pseudo depressing self-conflict.  The result is Darwin Deez.  First coming to the attention of the UK in late 2009 with the release of his single; ‘Radar Detector’ reaching Number 5 in the indie charts, the  Darwin Deez stage circus is a sight to behold.  I’ll be honest, Darwin’s pretty dull tunes and drawly vocals don’t really do it for me musically but that’s really not the reason I am suggesting you see a Darwin Deez show.  Darwin’s appearance is somewhere between Jesus and one half of the endlessly irritating 118 advertising bozos, but inbetween the average vocals and generally uninspired guitar playing, he and the band, who are best described as a rough approximation of all the most neurotic sidekicks from every US teen movie since time began (Cameron from ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ anyone?), stage ridiculous dancing to, among others; ‘Walk Like an Egyptian’ and ‘Do the Bartman’.  I don’t think there was a single person that wasn’t at least partly distracted from their organic falafal by their antics.  With the exception of the visceral punch in the face that is The Flaming Lips this was undoubtedly the most entertaining stage show of the weekend.  Darwin Deez may not be much of a wonder in the way of musical inspiration and skill but as far as perfect festival flavour goes he’s pretty much nailed it.  Would I pay for a gig?  Absolutely not.  Would I make an effort to drag all my friends to see them at a festival I was at anyway, even after 5 pints of cider have made my wellies feel like lead boots?  Almost certainly.  Ladies and gentlemen: I bring you Darwin Deez AKA Napoleon Dynamite; the university years.

http://darwindeez.com/

By Sarah Broomfield

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