SUMMER FESTIVALS SUMMER FESTIVALS RO C K N E S S
FEST TIPS
## #4The lyrics are actually: ‘Hairy, hairy, hairy funky gnomes.’
DEATH BECOMES HIM
Richard Fearless is bringing his band Death in Vegas back out onto the festival circuit. Is he daunted? Course not, as Malcolm Jack fi nds out 36 THE LIST 24 May–21 Jun 2012
A s British music fi nally dragged itself out of a post-Britpop s British music fi nally dragged hangover around the turn of the c hangover around the turn of the century, Death in Vegas were among the most quintessential of festival bands. 1999’s The Contino Sessions and 2002’s Scorpio Rising were staples of any discerning record collection, their after-hours collusion of dark electronica, drony rock swagger and narcotic menace providing the perfect soundtrack to any lost weekend done right – both the bullet-proof euphoria of the up and the paranoid delirium of the comedown.
But then, in 2005, the band’s fulcrum Richard Fearless quit London for
New York, leaving their future unclear.
RockNess will be Death in Vegas’ fi rst major British festival in seven years, and the fi rst of a busy summer that presents a daunting challenge: convincing people that they remain one of the meanest and most unmissable bands on any festival bill, even if electronic music has moved on in their absence.