WHETHER or not his move to New York and his decision to pull together this new band signals the end for Richard Fearless' collaboration with Tim Holmes as Death in Vegas, he's certainly not getting any softer in his older age. Black Acid are a greasy
, squalling commotion of an outfit, a further homage to Fearless' long view of the rock'n'roll life.
Unlike his other group, it should be noted, Black Acid are resolutely rock. There's precious little in the way of electronic elaboration – just an advancing slew of distorted guitars played by young men with long hair and formless hooded sweaters. Fearless is quite nondescript as a vocalist, and certainly doesn't exude the charisma you might expect from someone who has collaborated with archetypal rockers such as Liam Gallagher and Iggy Pop. Yet his taciturn, just-woke-up-on-the-tour-bus delivery is perfectly suited to the music.
At Nice 'N' Sleazy, songs such as I Hate You, Savage Love and Flatlining swirled around the room like the previously unimaginable missing link between Hawkwind, Spectrum and My Bloody Valentine. A furious urgency and a touch of space-rock theatrics were dying to be expressed here, but it was all couched in a bed of noisy distortion which was doubtless intended to signal Black Acid as ragged, laid-back sonic adventurers rather than thoughtful rock classicists.
However much of a pose Black Acid is intended to be, though, it's a good one. As with all the classic Detroit bands of the late 1960s to whom Fearless probably lives his life in homage, this show felt like a night out on the wrong side of town.
The full article contains 286 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
