Tonight, I went to check out an indie rock group at Sneaky Dees that came all the way from Australia. They are called Rudely Interrupted. They’re kind of a special band, made up of special people. They’re actually on tour thanks to the United Nations who allowed them to come play at the International Day for Persons living with a Disability. All of the bands members, save for one, is a person with a disability (Blindness, Deafness, Aspergers, Autism, Down Syndrome or a combination thereof), e.g., lead singer, Rory Burnside, who was born without eyes and has Aspergers. This is really quite a feat, and brought back memories of the old cartoon, Quads, where each character had his own sort of disability/superpower.
They come together amazingly well, and pull off a poppy Joy Division sound, with Rory, perched on a stool with his guitar and twitchy Ian Curtis mannerisms. Don’t Break My Heart really sums up the sound quite well, I cant get enough of the haunting chorus [Don’t break my heart, don’t break my heart (malfunction, malfunction)] and throbbing guitars. Other songs get a bit sillier than Joy Division though (e.g. My Zits), while their cover of Modern English’s ‘Melt For You’ couldn’t have been any better. The on stage banter got pretty cheeseball with some jokes thrown in like, “Knock, knock, who’s there? Madam. Madam who? Ma damn foot is stuck in the door!” I groaned inwardly but, cheered still. You really can’t knock these guys for trying. I know that activists for people with disabilities might think, “Oh no, we can’t have them be paraded and toured around like some kind of twee freak show,” but they were nothing of the sort.
These guys rock out and swill their beer like anyone else. I can’t see how this group is about anything other than self-empowerment. Their chemistry was also like any other band I have seen before, guitarists chatting with each other mid song on stage, the banter, the stage acts and goofing around. Major points go to Connie Kirkpatrick, affectionately known as Connie the ‘human metronome’ who is legally blind and has Down Syndrome. Her ability to grab rhythms with her impeccable timing has enabled Connie to play and record multiple instruments; she rocked the stage harder than anyone. Do check them out their myspace or their site linked above.
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Comments ( 2 )
I think I would cry at the end of a concert, it’s just so touching.
Jonathan added these pithy words on
Dec 14 08 at
11:41 pm
Stumbled onto this awesome aussie band!! Hope they come back..
Pete added these pithy words on
May 18 09 at
7:01 am
