Mclusky Hit Regent Theater
Los Angeles, California [Photos]

Mclusky either gave the crowd at The Regent Theater a reason to buy their records and see them perform again, or a reason to believe that they got rooked on the 45-dollar ticket price.

(For the uninitiated, Mclusky is a British post-hardcore band whose emergence began in the late ’90s and early ’00s.)

The opener “Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues” from Mclusky Does Dallas album (2002) showed the crowd how cohesive Andrew Falkous (guitar/vocals), Damien Sayell (bass/vocals), and Jack Egglestone (drums) are as musicians. All well and good. Yet the not-too-technical punk-rock sensibilities of this band are infectious. Loud, fast, caustic songs—each with clock times of three minutes or less.

“Sometimes when I see a slide…you can’t help but be triggered by the name of Eric Clapton,” Falkous tells the crowd, holding up a bottleneck slide. “Sometimes I like to make myself feel better. When I wake up every morning and I think, ‘Well, at least Eric Clapton and Morrissey are one day closer to death…’” The audience exploded in laughter. Falkous then pressed the slide onto the neck of his Telecaster and played the Mississippi Delta Blues-styled licks to “As a Dad” from the I Sure am Getting Sick of This Bowling Alley, the band’s latest EP.

Sayell set his bass aside and took the mic for “Icarus Smicarus,” while Falkous and Egglestone laid out the pumping, funky, completely danceable groove. Funny. Rocking. Taking the piss. Great band. Great show.

Who gives a rat’s ass about the one person who didn’t think that they got their money’s worth?