Fight Like Apes and
The Mystery of the Golden Medallion
Angela Macari O’Looney
Recorded with uber-producer John Goodmanson, this crazy but fantastic repertoire by the best Irish Punk band around, was laid down in spring ’08 in Seattle!
Fight like Apes are MayKay – Vocals/ Keyboards, Pockets – Vocals/ Keyboards, Tom – Bass/ Vocals and Adrian – Drums/ Vocals.
Previous recordings include debut E.P. How I am supposed to kill you if you have all the guns and four tracker David Carradine is A One Armed Bounty Hunter Whose Robotic Arm Hates your Crotch. Whew!
Exciting from start to finish and packed with quirky keyboards, digital distortion and quaking Alanis Morrisette meets Gwen Steffani lead vocals, this debut album is a perfect passport to Planet FlApe. Have a nice trip!
Something Global
After a slow intro of sustained chords dramatically played on keyboards with plenty of sound effects added, this number picks up speed to become an action packed piece of music. A manic beat takes you into the verse with a one noter riff framing the cheeky melody line!
The chorus is brilliant with a stream of lyrics poured out profusely by MayKay. Backing vocals are exciting and there’s general mayhem going on all around.
Jake Summers
Bassy intro, followed by a vibey keyboard riff then building up to a choppy beat! MayKay’s voice is tres sweet in the verse. But for the chorus she lets loose with alarming screeches, playfully rapped lyrics expressed passionately, with backing vocals coming back with a big ‘Hey’!
Witty and musically sensational, this number has so much going on in it, from slapped out baselines, rhythmic guitar chords and magical sampling and a never ending stream of effects that wake you up, it’s unforgettable!
Tie me up with Jackets
Beginning with a simple riff, this has a melodic verse which is sweetly sung. Then it becomes more bashing and dramatic, with things gradually building up and the chorus of ‘Lovely Noise’ belted out with male voices doing a refrain which is very catchy.
A lot of sound sampling, weird scratching sound effects and unidentifiable instruments in this number, create quite a ‘Lovely Noise’!
Digifucker
The title is a play of words and is explained in the chorus which has a pointed accusation in it ‘Did you fuck her?’
Now that the unpleasantness is out of the way, this number is very different to the first three, in that it involves distortion in the instrumentals that is absolutely magical, with a delicious electronic riff framing the chorus.
The intro has that same sweet quality as seems to be the general style of all Fight Like Apes songs. The space age sound effects are exciting, the vocals riveting and the number is explosive, seeming to quieten down at times only to take off into even louder, more vibrant directions!
Lend me your face
This is blasted out from the get go!
Memorable and totally magical with wonderful riffs throughout, it is one of my favourite Fight Like Apes numbers. I particularly love when MayKay goes into a falsetto ‘Do do do’ in the middle eight. However the beat is everything in this number, thundering and fast!
Big bashing chord breaks between the verses continue the dynamics. This is Punk that takes no prisoners!
Battlestations
This song is slower but still has a vibrant bassy beat throughout. It’s very powerful and involves some serious screaming in parts from MayKay. Chorus is pretty memorable with a catchy melody, but it’s not my favourite. Too much confusion going on in it!
Then again, I guess war IS bloody and messy!
Do you Karate
This begins with a bustling beat intro and a gorgeous electronic style keyboard riff. Definitely one amazing number, with fabulous instrumentals in it!
Shocking lyrics are spat out by MayKay. The chorus is easy to remember; ‘I like Karate and you like Karate’ repeated over and over! The riff from the beginning frames this.
They include a certain profound refrain that I heard in an earlier E.P. which is ‘Shit, shit, shit, bang, bang’!
It’s like a signature they’ve decided to inject into this song, just for kicks.
Megameanie
This isn’t a song. It’s an exclamation that will make you jump out of your skin!
Eight seconds long, with one word repeated a number of times; it has become my son’s favourite ‘Fight like Apes’ number since he loves Megameanies (pickled onion flavoured snacks). If it doesn’t make you jump it will certainly make you giggle!
And hungry! But keep the rennie handy for the next track!
I’m beginning to think you prefer Beverly Hills 90210 to me
This song has a three four tempo, a bass riff intro played rhythmically and a snippet of some American voice speaking about an ‘Experimental science’ programme. This all goes into creating a sense of drama!
A perfect anthem for Public Service workers and all the poor souls being made redundant in the recession, it has hilarious lyrics seductively sung in the cynical verses and develops into an explosive chorus!
The lads shout a militant rap of ‘Simplex backbreaker’ as MayKay does the chorus. The name of this song should be changed to YOUR FIRED!
A fabulous solo is done on boards, then the last verse with some superb riffs infused, builds up to the middle eight where Tom does fast bass notes behind MayKay, as she collectively fires Mary and her little lamb, the itsy bitsy spider and even Humpty Dumpty; Ah!
They should have marched down O’Connell Street like the rest of us!
Lumpy Dough
A song with wonderful instrumentals going on throughout, this begins slowly with a simple keyboard phrase. Drums are quite special, with chops and changes from slow to choppy, then to a bashing, thrashing chorus where there seems to be a profusion of sound and dynamics bursting out, while that little keyboard phrase trickles away happily all the while!
Recyclable Ass
A catchy riff intro, with a jungle style drumbeat takes you into this song. It involves a crazy ‘woo tah’ rap with the riff coming back which for me is the only good thing about it!
Snore Bore Whore
A nice oriental type of melody is played on boards here, with MayKay performing the slow verse. Drums come in and it takes on a sleepy Anthemic quality. Then suddenly it gets choppy and you hear an explosive ‘Wake up Sleepy head’!
You are then treated to yet another recording of some American T.V. presenter waffling on; A trend that this band uses quite a lot!
This actually reminds me of the Blondie number ‘Rip her to Shreds’ in that it’s basically a Punk rant done in slow motion!
Fight Like Apes have toured extensively appearing at Oxygen, Glastonbury, Castle Palooza and many big festivals. They include Grand Pocket Orchestra, My Bloody Valentine and Siouxsie and Banshees in their influences. They have an imaginative and forceful sound and for a band with such a sense of humour, are seriously talented. But if you listen to this album, you’ll know that yourself!
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