ZapTown

Slick Idiot
Radio Radio
July 2, 2010

Radio Radio is normally undeniably a “Bring Your Favorite Black Shirt” type of establishment. Slick Idiot and their brand of electronic rock debauchery brought a different type of clientele and their prominent spectrums of independent fashion sense with them on Friday’s musky evening. Ranging from; Guy in studded leather jacket with insanely tall Mohawk, three people who desperately wished to be Trent Reznor in “Closer” with bug eye goggles on in an already dark bar, man in a nice button down shirt with camouflage shorts (Ok, not overly weird but just…awkward), and an overweight heavily bearded man who thought it was a good idea to wear a wrinkly skirt, wobbly tunic and a sling back purse pressing between man cleavage.

I had to recheck the sign on the door and even checked the status online of start time. Doors open at 8 PM, show starts at 9 PM but here I am at 10:30 PM wondering what the hell is going on. We had a DJ keeping us in the head bobbing mood with remixed renditions of Rammstein, Front Line Assembly, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, VNV Nation, etc. Even by 10 PM, the freaky faithful were looking around annoyed. Finally, at 10:40 PM, Slick Idiot approaches the stage. Nobody ran to the front of the stage in a hurry because even they thought, “Seriously? This is finally happening!?”

I was a huge fan of vocalist En Esch and guitarist Günter Schulz’ (founding members of Slick Idiot) former industrial band KMFDM as a teenager. I only heard Slick Idiot’s first album DickNity so this concept was far from new to me. Over the years, after discovering new influences and bands, I forgot about my love affair for these bands and industrial music.

I couldn’t help but relive that teenage excitement after seeing my former idols take the stage. Singer En Esch introduced the band to Radio Radio with his deep German accent. Slick Idiot wastes no more time and barrages in the nimble electronic beats of “Hallelujah” (Devil’s Got a Hold of Me) and followed just as quickly into the band’s treble filled title track “Idiot.” En Esch surprisingly sounds exactly like he did in KMFDM with his brute decipherable growls. Günter Schulz’ style is still just as solid. Shultz has always been power riff happy but was never overly complicated; simple yet effective. Electronic mischief is ignored on “I.I.W.I.I.” (It Is What It Is), a song off the new album Sucksess, to achieve a monster sound with Shultz taking center stage in his octave intertwining charge throughout the song. The crowd was surprisingly tame. Not like I expected fist hurling mosh pits from the unique bunch, but I was just surprised they were content with simply head banging.

The translucent techno rock vibe was fleetly ignored once special guest singer Mona Mur was introduced. I didn’t know who she was at the time and her association with Slick Idiot. After some research, Mur and En Esch have a side project together, resulting in the cooperative album 120 Tage: The Fine Art of Beauty and Violence. The name of the album is fitting, especially to the methodical cabaret madness of “Visions & Lies.” Mona Mur had a down beaten afflicted voice that gave a gloomy gloss to their music. As it was different, I wasn’t confident it was appreciated as it was an adjacent and sudden turn from Slick Idiot in mood and spirit.

“Xcess” reclaimed the audience from the ashes with its frantic beats and jumpy ambience and “I Feel Fine” provided an energetic assist. The crowd took a collective internal grown when Mona Mur hopped back on stage. En Esch jumped on dueling guitar with Shultz on the side project’s calculatingly serious “The Thin Red Line.” Mur and En Esch also performed “Candycane” which equally contributed to the mood suicide. Even Günter looked bored of the languish pace, as this is contradicting of him normally blazingly supplying note after note. As each song complimented Mona’s voice, I don’t think it complimented Slick Idiot and its fans.

Everyone looked at each other in amazement when they heard the kinetic chime introduction of KMFDM’s “Leid and Elend” off the 1997 album Symbols. If that wasn’t enough, they quickly advanced to another KMFDM retro hit “A Drug Against War.” Finally, Günter and En Esch embrace their past and give the crowd what they secretly wanted. As there looks to never be an original member KMFDM reunion, this is as close as it will get. Everyone was pumped, singing along to the songs and ricocheting off each other in elation. It didn’t faze anyone when they went back to the Slick Idiot “Make Me Believe” as it was bouncy thrash that is the transcendent core of these bands. Slick Idiot did a mock disappearance to garner approval from the fans for the expected encore. They did not disappoint with the mammoth KMFDM “Godlike” that sent everyone in a jubilated frenzy.

It was either an enormous hit or a depressingly miss set from Slick Idiot. When they stuck with their original and cover material, En Esch, Shultz and company were unstoppable. It really brought me back to another time, a time I missed more than I could have ever imagined. The show at Radio Radio was a definite success considering the circumstances. I’m listening to Slick Idiot’s new album Sucksess as I wrote this. Isn’t that proof enough?