“What’s a Guinness?” the moustachioed Chad Elliot smirks, knowingly. This is followed by some talk of a drinking session. As US-band-on-Irish-shores banter goes, it’s as clichéd and hackneyed as it gets. But hey, Funeral Party never claimed to be reinventing the wheel. And, in fairness to the LA boys, they do a swell job of enlivening a dull, tired Tuesday evening. Their show is the sound of a disco at a skate park – post-hardcore for people with dancing shoes. Raw, shouty and, most importantly, fun. More Mr. Brightside than Morrissey, Elliot isn’t an overly captivating or enigmatic a figure, but he plays the frontman role well. He’s endearing and engaged, with a cheeriness that’s infectious (definitely not Moz, then).
Behind him, the band do an admirable job of testing the Theory of Relativity. As in, do they sound so monstrously big and slick because they are playing a half-full, basement-like venue or do they just make the place seem relatively small? Who knows, but it may be the last time you catch them in a room like this.
Theirs is an intense wall of sound, powered by some thunderous drumming, and always heading to some new climatic moment. It can be tiresome and thrilling in equal measures. As for Elliot’s trademark rasp and yelp, you’ll either love its limitations or loathe it. If ‘disco-punk’ isn’t quite putting a finger on it, they certainly recall the music ushered in by The Rapture close to a decade ago. Though they have yet to stumble upon their ‘House Of Jealous Lovers’, tonight’s closer ‘NYC Moves To The Sound Of LA’ is great, while ‘Finale’ remains their high watermark. Let’s hope it’s not a full-stop. One girl at the front is completely and utterly lost in the music (and Elliot) and though she is alone in her fervour tonight, if they gather a few of those fans in each city Funeral Party will be here to stay. Though they may be a few golden tunes away from being ‘it’, for the moment, they certainly have something.