Tragedy, Interview with Mo'Royce Peterson, Review of Goes To The Movies album and live review of their show at the Lexington in London
"It's very much a Concept album," Founding member, guitarist and vocalist Mo'Royce Peterson of Tragedy (the all-metal tribute to the Bee Gees and beyond) tells me in between sips of Diet Coke, a couple of hours before showtime at the Lexington, London.
"It's not a super high concept, but we're taking a lot of title tracks from movies, as well as songs that were big from soundtracks" Tragedy have provided us in their latest album ...Goes To The Movies, with a musical experience of being taken to the pictures with your favorite Disco Metal loonies.
Both album and concert started with a brutally heavy version of the 20th Century Fox fanfare, on the album you can hear other punters taking their seats in Tragedy's Cinema of the ear. In concert, we were treated to a recorder performance of said fanfare by the band's village idiot, Lance, who throughout the gig performed such acts as firing confetti canons and fondling blow-up sex dolls, and just generally being Heavy Metal's answer to Bez from The Happy Mondays. The band then kick into a riff not too dissimilar to Motley Crue's Looks That Kill, before the familiar lead guitar melody of the Musical theatre classic Fame begins to play over it as we are lead into the first of many sing-alongs of the night.
Another joyously cheesy sing-along was a nice a bouncy rendition of Dolly Parton's 9 To 5, with another guitar lick that sounded somewhat familiar, an homage if you will, to Poison's Unskinny Bop. "We call those easter eggs," Mo'ryce told me when I mentioned this "sometimes it happens spontaneously when we notice similarities in the songs, other times we think of ways to put in a reference to another song." One such reference in the live set was the band's version of The Weather Girls' It's Raining Men (or should that be Reign-ing Men) as the song begins with a pretty faithful rendition of Slayer's iconic Reign In Blood main riff, before dropping into a NWOBHM-Esq. groove. I feel these references pleased the more obvious Heavy Metal fans in the audience, of which there were less than 40% by my estimation.
"It's really a beautiful thing, (our audience) is a cross section of anybody who went to see a concert this year" Mo'ryce commented "we have teenagers bringing their parents, or parents bringing their kids. We had a 70-year-old mother who apparently had been begging her daughter to bring her to a gig for four years. We play for people from all walks of life, people who've never listened to Metal, to really hardcore Metal fans coming to see us, birthday parties, hen parties" Et cetera, et cetera. I could see several groups in attendance who fit that bill that night, lots of people in costumes, having a proper night out at Tragedy, men in drag, the odd John Travolta-White satin suit, and lots of sparkly Mum blouses. All walks of life, however, could all appreciate the truly powerful version of James Bond theme Skyfall that was placed both late in the set and on the album, an atmospheric, dark and brooding interpretation with some of the best musicianship of the night.
The show, of course, drew to a close with some classic Bee Gees jams, my favourite being How Deep Is Your Love, which had been effortlessly morphed into a Russ Ballad/Rainbow style upbeat pop-rock gem. Stayin' Alive then closed what was very much the most enjoyable gig I've been to for a long time. The album ends as the concept should, with the end credits rolling and the members of Tragedy leaving the cinema. Mo'ryce confirmed there plans to make a sequel to Goes To The Movies, followed by a prequel, making Tragedy the first band to make a prequel album. I'm looking forward to the whole franchise. Tragedy was supported by The Abba Stripes (songs by Abba in the style of The White Stripes) and Tenacious G (a Tenacious D tribute band) who both performed solid and enjoyable sets.
Tragedy at the Lexington 9/10
Tragedy Goes to the Movies 7/10
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