Murderdolls welcome you beyond the thunderdome

Smell of sweat, beer and rebelliousness are the traditional (somewhat lost?) ingredients of Rock’n’Roll but Murderdolls have it to export. This smallish club, official capacity is 500 (oh, okay – 505 for the pedant in the back), is full of Goth-kids, fresh-faced with multicoloured hairs. It is the night of rock ‘zombies’, hidden for far too long in their dungeons of frustration…

Murderdolls’ chosen colour is black and the musical vibe might appear to be appropriately dark but the twist is that this is fun-horror, just like the imagery of Hollywood shock-flicks the band’s been inspired by. What matters is music and it is raw, loud and invasive; you gotta be a corpse not to feel a tribal-call to all this, in general, feelgood evening. A joy that couldn’t even bypass a cynical journo at the bar, already hangovered with self-importance…

This is an intimate venue and with all the energy expounded from the stage, it takes members only a handful of songs to look like they’ve just collectively visited a shower-room. The band, a brainchild of Joey Jordison, simply blasts from the stage with a sound so huge it almost feels these walls will cave in. Confidently led by Wednesday 13, he is a skilled frontman who works crowd with some clichés – he could have omitted a tirade against one Will Young who is as important to the annals of music as a petrol-station attendant, not that’s anything wrong with pumping gas for living – but also with a teeth-brushing and rinse spat onto the crowd.

He also tells us a story about how their record company prevented them from having a little love ditty on their album, ‘Beyond The Valley Of The Murderdolls’, called – ‘Wet F**k’. It turns out they’ve got a number of songs that employ the F-unctional word so readily sung by fans with force to upset all ‘Dubya’’s supporters (and they could certainly do with it!). ‘Grave Robbing USA’, ghouls, dismembered brides, gutted grooms, devil-kissed babes… murdered dolls. Sure, this is not a music revolution, which band members are gladly admitting, but it recalls the days when Rock’n’Roll could still upset one’s parents.

Toward the end W13 announces a special treat that turns out to be Jordison and his guitar, played all the way through, crowd-surfing to the sound-desk and back! Joey spoke, although earlier on he preferred to pass on a message via W13, thanking us for not dropping his arse!

Of course not, bro, we wantcha back with your ass-kickin’ rock ‘bitches’!

Tour dates:
(with Papa Roach)

02 Nov - SECC, Glasgow
03 Nov - Apollo, Manchester
04 Nov - The Point, Dublin
06 Nov - Academy, Birmingham
07 Nov - Brixton Academy, London