Rock music from the darker edges of space: DJ Scotch Egg’s new musical project combines duel drumming with cosmic soundscapes
As the near-empty room awaits the arrival of tonight’s show from Drum Eyes – one of the most eclectically constructed bands to form for some time – Sublime Frequencies DJ's treat us to an interesting Syrian/world-infused soundtrack. Smoke fills the room for about ten minutes before Shigeru Ishihara, a.k.a. DJ Scotch Egg appears on stage sporting a pink hat bearing the face of a pig, supported not only by two drummers but also a guitarist and violinist surrounded by controllers, samplers and FX units.
Beginning with 'War of the Worlds' synths, the drum-duelling band quickly burst into their experimentations of noise-kraut, and I think there must be more than a little irony about the pork-based-snack-named DJ wearing a pig hat, and the music they purvey. Playing bass, Scotch Egg clearly loves every minute as he plays to the crowd in between kicking a hybrid of pedals and shifting the synths bellowing from overhead.
It’s the darker edged sections that are the most powerful, and as the guitar/bass duo bring in elements of prog and metal the crowd that had been milling around in the bar awaiting the appearance of Omar Souleyman – the artist this performance is played in support of – quickly make their way in to see what all the noise is about. It doesn’t take them long to give a rapturous response to the end of the quintet's second track, and even members of Souleyman’s entourage can be seen back-stage with puzzled looks on their faces.
Loud and unruly with their frenetic beats, Drum Eyes are a testament to what great music can be found out there, if you just search hard enough. The band look and sound just the part for a dark night at Minehead’s Butlins holiday camp when the ATP party rolls into town. By this point one of Souleyman’s posse has got a camera and is filming every minute for proof, as smoke continues to billow overhead, all amidst a track that echoes like the greatest soundtrack to a Wes Craven movie never made.
I mused that perhaps Drum Eyes were perhaps a band it was hip to be into but not much more – being made up of E-Da of Boredoms drumming fame and the aforementioned Load Records-signed DJ – but how wrong can you be? Offsetting the at-times tacky game-boy stabs so familiar with DJ Scotch Egg's solo work with the feel of a kraut-infused Fuck Buttons pre-‘Tarot Sport’, the band portray something really quite rare. Now all they need is a crowd of adoring fans to match the intensity on stage with an atmosphere off it.
Drum Eyes plays Peckham Palais on Friday 21st May before playing on day two of the Brainlove Festival at Brixton Windmill on Sunday 30th May.
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