We Are Scientists @ Zouk KL, 9.8.06

Before the gig, I didn't want be to get too excited because there were chances that me and companions couldn't get in. With me were my sisters and the indie duo live down the next road, and we were all underage for the seemingly 21-above & non-muslim event. It was a longer journey than usual to get to the venue as the traffic was terribly jammed. Luckily we took that into account and we left our place early.

Once we reached Zouk, my sister quickly went to the Channel V booth to claim the two pairs of tickets that she won. Actually, we should meet some fellows at the entrance to sell them the tickets we bought in advance and use the tickets that my sister won for entry instead, but they never show up, so those tickets are now pinned up on my wall. The door opened at around 8:30pm, while we were in the line to get in, I saw everyone had their IDs checked, and a few of them were turned down for I suppose being underage. Regardless of that, we gave it a try and let them checked our IDs, amazingly we all were allowed to enter the club. My guess is the bouncers can't do math!

We sat down and were handed a bottle of free beer each for being the first 200 who showed up. First on stage was the local DJ duo Twilight Action Girl playing remixes of some familiar indie tunes. By this time, people were packing the room fast, and it was more than half full. We decided to get down to the dancefloor to get a good spot. We went straight to the left at the front as the center was already taken. Next opening act was Deserters, a local indie band which is quite a regular in local indie gig scene. It was the first time I hear the band, they were pretty cool, and the crowd seemed to love them. After their set of 5-6 songs, Twilight Action Girl took over the stage once more.

At around 10:30pm, We Are Scientists finally came on stage. The threesome looked much skinnier and taller than I thought they would be. After a brief introduction saying they were from New York, immediately the band launched into "Lousy Reputation". The crowd got hyped up when the band started to play the hit single " Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt", it was no suprise to see some sing-along as it was the only WAS song that has been getting airplay (partly due to this gig) on everyone's favourite radio station that is known for its boring-and repeated playlists. At one point, Keith almost tripped over his guitar cable while doing his signature dance move.

I was standing right in front of lead vocalist/guitarist Keith Murray, and I dare say he is the most energetic and charismatic frontman I've ever seen. Together with drummer Michael Tapper and bassist Chris Cain, the band had presented superb stage presence. Other than their signature loud, bass-heavy tunes, We Are Scientists are famous for their sense of humour. The inter-song witty banter was hilarous. Keith mentioned having KFC grease on his mouth, so I could vaguely tell that the band's had KFC for dinner. At some points, Keith and Chris were literally mocking each other, more often Chris being the object of jokes. Michael, on the other hand, didn't speak a word throughout the night. People got excited when he took a camera out of nowhere and snapped a picture of the audience.

I noticed some words on Chris's bass guitar and I have been wondering what they say. During an inter-song interval, Chris proudly raised his bass in the air, and cleared my doubt saying those word "Chris Sucks" were signed by Kim Deal from The Pixies whom they played with two weeks ago. Later on, they played a new material titled "Best Behaviour". I found it was quite similar to their old tracks, wish I could hear it again to get the hook.

The highlight of the gig would be "Be My Baby" when Keith climbed onto the huge amplifier and then jumped into the crowd. The crowd went crazy and started grabbing, touching, hugging, and even kissing him. The situation sort of went out of control until a crew came to pull him back on the stage. The climatic "The Great Escape" closed the show with a high. No encore.

As anticipated, the band did not dissappoint with a few exceptional technical glitches particularly with Keith's pedal and amplifier. However, it kinda struck me that the crowd looked rather constrained, there was very little movement, no jumping or pushing except for the very last two songs. The majority of the audience seemed to be not very familiar with We Are Scientists's tunes, other than a few hit singles. They responded mildly to the lesser-known tracks from With Love & Squalor, let alone the b-sides played. Well, what bothered me the most would be the groupie-wannabes at the far left of the stage. They were yelling and dancing like whores throughout the whole show, the audience was somehow distracted by them at certain points.


Setlist:

Don't you just love his hair?

Was hoping them to play this,
We Are Scientists - Hoppípolla (Sigur Rós Cover)