Of course I knew Dope Body was going to be brutal and loud. But whoa!!I said it in my preview: Over the past few years, I have been missing bands like Karp or Helmet to shake up the scene. Dope Body have changed this. Signed to Drag City, a label I somehow associate with tamer acts, the band are causing a stir with bringing back brutal noise yet adding rhythmic elements that allow for a dance-hungry crowd to get its fix.
And that is what happened the other night when the quartet from Baltimore played legendary West Germany - a perfect fit. After Novo Line had played his monotonous dance music set with positive reception from concert attendees, Dope Body took over the room with their madness. While the musicians played the songs with precision onstage, singer Andrew Laumann spent the entire set among the audience, dancing wildly with people. And everyone joined in, some even pogo dancing. Though the gig was not sold out, it was attended enough to get a really good atmosphere going with a lot of dancing, smiling and general happiness. Even technical microphone issues could not stop us having fun.
Musically, the band's metal and punk influences were more apparent live than on record. And that was fine. You want it to sound more raw live, you want to feel that energy.
When it was all over, the floor was soaked from sweat, a look into people's faces spelled exhaustion and I felt a contention and ease that only comes from getting all your energy out at a good noise gig. We hung around a bit, chatting to friends about the experience we had just had and listening to some old rock records. A successful night all around.
