SXSW: Does It Offend You, Yeah?

Does It Offend You, Yeah?
Emo's
Friday, March 14

The only thing offensive about Does It Offend You, Yeah? Their name. Of course. A flagrant abuse of proper noun responsibilities, really, and the rest of us are forced to live with the inevitable consequences. Exhibit A: during their set last night at Emo's, the drunk guy in front of me yell-badgering everyone within earshot, "Are you offended?" A minute later, " So are you offended?" Three minutes later, "I'm so offended! Are you, yeah?" Ugh.

As for this horrifically named band from Reading UK, they are fun, a four-bloke piece with a frontman who doesn't actually sing. His duties are literal: he fronts. And smiles. He changed T-shirt once onstage, from a striped medley to a Mickey Mouse cartoon-print, dangled the microphone cord into the audience, and made good-natured demands from us. Like "Dance!" We did. Or "Show us your palms!" We did again.

As for the minor matter of their songs, they all sound like the breakdown in "U Got the Look," over and over and over. Occasionally, there are words and phrases, sung not by the frontman but the bass player amd mechanized through a vocoder and also repeated over and over and over, as in "LET'S MAKE OUT! LET'S MAKE OUT! LET'S MAKE OUT!" (The other refrain that stuck: "OH GOD! OH GOD! OH GOD!") Consummate GBH/Studio B act—expect them soon at the Hiro with, I dunno, Walter Meego. Not particularly challenging, but definitely not offensive.

Update: Does It Offend You, Yeah? is playing the Highline on Friday, May 16 with Yo Majesty? and the Shalitas. Ticket info here.