The Go! Team

Smoosh

The Grates

El Rey - October 20, 2005

Live Review by Daniel Brody

Do you miss your childhood?  When The Grates, Smoosh, and the Go! Team frolicked around the El Rey, a ‘No Grown-Ups’ sign must have been posted backstage, at least psychologically.  The Grates, a bassless Australian three-piece, kicked things off with cutesy stage moves and rudimentary songs straight out of a Beat Happening pajama party.  Lead singer Patience Hodgson, dressed like a Grandma and flailing around the stage, seemed to be eighteen going on five.  It was catchy and inoffensive enough, and they managed to not be as annoying as they might seem on paper.

Next up were the actual kids in Smoosh.  Thirteen year old Aysa handles the keyboards and vocals, and her eleven year old sister Chloe bangs the drums.  That's right, in the time you were still picking your nose and eating it, Aysa and Chloe formed a band and released an album (She Like Electric) that received rapturous reviews from the hipster press.  It took Smoosh a while to get warmed up, but once Aysa began rapping on the upbeat “Rad,” they seemed to show real chops; it is easy to see Aysa growing into a Fiona-esque chanteuse someday.  For now, though, they are still kids, and it will be neat to see what kind of tricks they can come up with when the novelty of their youth wears off.

Then came the Go! Team, who blew all children and their imitators off the stage with their high-energy, totally eighties bombast.  Led by cheerleader-dressed MC Ninja, the band swapped instruments, copped aerobic exercise moves, tooted melodicas, and struck strange percussion instruments.  Three red jumpsuit-wearing backup singers shrieked and did splits over music that seemed ripped from a combination of gritty police drama theme songs and old school rap beats.  It sounded like the old adage about memory being a funhouse mirror that amplifies the good times and sends the bad times receding to the background.  The Go! Team recycle all of your best childhood television memories and synthesize them into a sing-along fondly recalled.  The band's big smiles and manic energy totally infected the crowd, making for a show more fun than clowns, pizza, and a video arcade all at the same party.