Rudolph Rocker
Date: Wednesday 15th March 2000
Location: The Duchess, Vicar Lane, Leeds
Rudolph Rocker are presently a three piece band, missing a drummer, but drum machine in tow,
the band were unperplexed. The keyboard player is a co-writer of the cult comedy series
League of Gentlemen, and this comedy mentality showed through in their music tonight.
There was an upbeat feeling to the overall set and it was `entertaining' in the authentic sense
of the word.
The band opened with Time To Say Goodbye which had a distinctly 80's electro feel to
it, which is a running theme for a lot of their material, although overall it is
un-categorisable. The singer, brother of the bass player, had a definite `New Romantic' look,
dressed in a smart suit and slicked back hair. The bass player had some extremely funky bass
lines to contribute to the universal funked up feel of their music, while the keyboards had a
twang of `music-hall organ'.
The climax of their set was the song entitled Stereo during which most of the lyrics
were whistled by the singer and bass player. The band had the theatrical echo of The Divine
Comedy; deturbed only by the singer's dry heckles at the audience. The singer introduced one
song as “very happy ... very silly” which I thought to be pretty apt.
The audience shouted for an encore in the form of Voodoo Lady the band's single which
featured in The League of Gentlemen series under the guise of Creme Brulee,
however their wishes were not answered as royalty fees were at stake.
I observed the audience reaction in order to give as objective a review as possible, and the
most heard comment was “This is quirky” which is what Rudolph Rocker are, fun and
quirky and well worth seeing!
The band have an E.P. out now named The Cellar Tapes which is available to buy from
all good record stores.
by Debbie Purdon.