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Around Town

Bondage Fairies stir it up

By Fiona Gaze
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
September 19th, 2007 issue

Dubbed “the most exciting thing happening on the Czech music scene” by TV music station Óčko’s Pavel Kučera, the recent string of Recyclit branded parties at Klub Bordo has attracted those with a thirst for new music as strong as their thirst for beer.

So, the evening of Sept. 11, while songster celebs such as Lucie Bílá showed up to be seen at the opening of crooner Karel Gott’s subtly titled restaurant on Spálená, Gott Gallery Restaurant, I was at Bordo. Wedged somewhere between the ironic Celebrity Café and gay hotspot Valentino’s on Vinohradská, the club was hosting the Bondage Fairies, a crazy-drunk Swedish band in Japanimation masks with a sound like a cross between New Order and The Pixies.
The Bondage Fairies — whose name comes from an erotic Japanese manga — have also been hailed as “probably the only Nintendo-death-punk band that the cold country of Sweden has squeezed out from its fleshy womb.” But they were anything but cold.
They loved Prague. This was clear in their consumptive abilities — they chatted up the crowd and the crowd flirted back unabashedly; they raved about the beauty of the city, how great the audience was and the wonder that is Czech beer.
More than once they called out a summons for a cold one, and enthusiastic fans rushed the bar. The singer turned his back while quaffing — he had to lift his mask to take a sip, and no amount of alcohol, it seemed, could cause a slipup to unwittingly reveal their true identities.
Bordo can fit a few hundred flailers and yet is small enough to feel you’re one-on-one with the band while still within fueling distance of the bar. And when enough people are crammed into the venue, submitting happily to the whim of a masked duo playing eight-bit electro punk, it feels like the beginnings of “a scene.” (Disclaimer: I am slightly biased on this, as I’m close to the promoters, but bear with me please.) It shows the reach of things like MySpace, through which Recyclit is based, in that these bands get almost zero radio play in Prague but people still know them.
Slovak “zombie” duo The 15 Kč primed the crowd with their absurdist lyrics and organ synth in a mad quest to combine the sounds of Nick Cave and Kraftwerk, with the aid of a buzzing 100 Kč mic. So when the Fairies came on and played such hits as “Heman” (with lyrics like “I want a sword like Heman, and a mullet hockey haircut”) giving way to Russian ballad “Miss Volkova” that had everyone bouncing in rhythm, the hard-rocking infusion of “Levenus Supremus” almost pushed the ravers over their limit.
It’s refreshing to go somewhere and see everyone smiling, and not for the cameras. The Fairies’ song “Disco Fever” summed it up with “We were dancing with the people” repeated. And they really felt that way — after the event had wrapped up, the duo (and their manager) hugged the promoters and said it was their favorite concert of the current tour.
At the end of the night, it was clear where the real carnival was to be had.
Bias aside, this Saturday there’s another Recyclit party at Bordo (featuring French experimental electro synth-pop legends DAT Politics). I know where I’ll be. And it won’t be dining at the Gott Gallery.

Fiona Gaze can be reached at fgaze@praguepost.com


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