SOULWAX - KING TUT'S WAH WAH, GLASGOW
Gig Played: Fri 20 Oct 2000

Soulwax Live

Talk about contrasts. In the face of adversity, they're the embodiment of elegance, wrapped up in the sharpest of suits and the shrillest of smiles. Bounding on stage with an almost effortless energy, Stephen and David Dewaele are ready for absolutely anything. Even a dysfunctional drumkit.

Diffusing the situation with an uncanny ease, vocalist Stephen makes polite introductions, before cheerfully withdrawing, encouraging his band to retreat in anticipation of the grandest of re-entrances. Success grasped from the jaws of disaster, the stage is conquered on the second attempt, with a precision that just couldn't be learnt in stage school.

Soulwax Live

Their past betrays them. Time spent as television presenters, back in their native Belgium, has clearly ingrained a sense of professionalism that many a petulant rock star could learn from. As the drumkit finally thumps its way back into life, everything falls back into place, technical difficulties overcome and quickly forgotten under the hypnotic influence of flashing
neon.

Soulwax are somewhat uniquely contained by an impenetrable air of absurdity, and it's going to take much more than faulty equipment to stop them. Treading the fine line between irresistibly and insufferably quirky, they're not so much a band as a running in-joke. Deeply rooted in Americana, the influences are worn metaphorically on their sleeves, and quite literally on the bassist's guitar strap. Three little badges, star-shaped cut-outs of the American flag, signify a debt that no one seems even remotely interested in playing down.

Soulwax Live

Why would they, when the euro-Beck strains of 'Much Against Everyone's Advice' and the slipped funk of 'Too Many DJ's' are primarily responsible for their new-found popularity. Despite the bizarrely earnest soft-rock tragedy of 'When Logics Die', Soulwax intermittently manage to combine an inherent grasp of melody with a playful postmodern edge that constantly threatens to overwhelm.

Brandishing a horrifically retro slab of eighties memorabilia, guitarist David implores us to bow down to a rather unique guitar. Enquiring "are you ready for the power of plastic", they subsequently utilise the relic while adding some 'block rockin' Casio beats' to a utterly compelling cover of Prince's 'Poplife'.

Soulwax Live

Everyone involved is taking great delight in the reinterpretation of two unreservedly disposable items of pop culture. You just wonder if anyone will ever provide the same service for Soulwax.

Aaron Scullion