Seeing Fantomas live is something you think is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Listening to the band’s albums, where songs range from 30 second bursts of excitement through to 74 minute ambient sound scapes, it seems almost impossible that such things could be reproduced in a live setting. Or that such a project could have a long life. So having been blown away by a half hour set on their 2003 tour, there was no way I was going to miss a second chance to see them, this time playing for almost an hour and a half.
A Fantomas gig is a spectacle to behold, and so incredibly difficult to describe. Largely this comes down to the music Fantomas play. With albums exploring themes like comic books, movie scores, medical books and most recently cartoons, it’s no surprise that things can seem disjointed. And it’s a testament to the abilities of each band member that they are able to follow what’s going on and play with each other through so many unexpected stops, jumps and explosions.
Fantomas is truly a band that is held together by the skills and experience of each of its members. Featuring Buzz Osborne (AKA King Buzzo) of The Melvins on guitar, Dave Lombardo of Slayer on drums and Trevor Dunn of Mr. Bungle and Trevor Dunn’s Trio Convulsant on bass, all of whom seem stretched to the extent of their abilities, yet strangely comfortable in such an environment. Of course this madness is all under the leadership of one Mike Patton (Faith No More, Mr Bungle, Tomahawk, 50 billion other things), who takes over vocal and electronic sound duties. As the composer of the music, he also takes on the role of conductor in the live setting, his physical movements providing visual cues for many of the entry and exit points.
Aside from the bobbing of Osborne’s legendary afro and Lombardo’s unrelenting drumming, Patton is the visual focus of the show too, as he jumps around from one microphone to another, and playing with the vast variety of equipment, instruments and toys in front of him. Distorted speak and spells, warped samples of nursery rhymes and a Tickle Me Elmo are amongst the sounds that emanate over the top of the music, mostly during tracks from latest release Suspended Animation. These tracks prove the highlights of the night, being the craziest stuff since Book 1, but also slightly more refined than the compositions found on that debut. Meanwhile Patton also uses his mouth to deliver a wordless performance which is amazingly still heavy on vocalisation. The faces he pulls would be entirely comical if it wasn’t for the sounds that emerge while he does them.
Opening act DJ Jaye Katz is worth mentioning only for two reasons, first because his “I know you hate me because I’m the support act, so I’m going to play up to it” routine was more boring than annoying, and second for his collaboration with the band when they returned for the encore. Bass noise poured from the speakers for over 10 minutes, so deep that when Lombardo began pounding his kick drum, it merely became muddled up in the noise.
The band finished the night with their version of Der Golem which raised a loud cheer and finally gave the crowd a chance to groove to a steady beat for longer than 15 second blasts, which left everyone on a happy note, exhausted and amazed by all we had just seen.
(Originally published on FasterLouder)
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