Alien Ant Farm

With a world-wide tragedy happening the very same day, it’s a shame to have to witness one of the world’s more noteworthy Nu-Metal acts on a day like today. After releasing an exceptional debut and currently having a heavy-rotation Michael Jackson cover on display everywhere, the hard work Alien Ant Farm are currently putting in appears to be paying dividends to say the very least.

The aforementioned explains perfectly how Alien Ant Farm have made it to the Mean Fiddler and they are at least ready and willing to put on a show tonight. And what a bizarre show it is. If you were listening to this performance via the means of radio, you could easily find yourself thinking that the Ant Farmers were worthy of every second of hype and a whole sack-load more. Sonically, Alien Ant Farm are nothing short of breath-taking. With their Incubus twinged riffs, they attack each track with all the excitement of a toddler who’s just guzzled a gallon of Red Bull, but too watch them is a whole different kettle of the proverbial fish. While the likes of ‘Courage’ and a particularly moving ‘Flesh and Bone’ are a pleasure for the ears, the eyes have the unfortunate prospect of looking at the performers onstage make complete arses out of themselves.

You see, they aren’t as much irritating as hair-pullingly infuriating. Dryden Mitchell impresses the hell out of everyone with his amazing voice before promptly buggering it all up with his stage moves (a quite frankly crap take on Monty Python’s ‘Ministry of Funny Walks’). But if Mitchell makes your blood temperature rise then bass player Tye Zamora makes your veins want to explode, leaving a blood pool that would even make Jason Vorhees blush. The man is, quite simply put, a complete twat. Pulling ‘comedy’ faces and moving across the stage like some sort of fat crab, Zamora distracts you from the outstanding songs on offer by gurning like the bastard son of Norman Wisdom. It’s just a tragic waste to see Alien Ant Farm being their own worst enemies, ruining all the good work put in by their song-writing ability in the live environment. If the band had just the ‘Smooth Criminal’ cover to fall back on then it would easily account for all the pointless gimmickery, but they write remarkable tunes as well. Even listening to the album now, the songs lose all sense of emotion through the band’s own doing.

While they incite a riot in the pit, AAF are lucky no-one can get on stage to knock some sense into them. Drop the comedy edge of the live act, you’re about as funny as Russ Abbot. Save the jokes for the bands who need them.