The Cosmic Dead did not disappoint their acclaimed title by Resident as 'Gig of the Week!' The quinet thrived on creating an open and enjoyable atmosphere from their ABBA acompanied stage setup to the break out bread of chaos to finishing the gig off with a bang. Armed with their instruments, a warm up to Mamma Mia and a bottle of Buckfast to share The Cosmic Dead were more than ready.
With Tommy on drums, Russel on synths and James (guitar) facing Omar (bass), as if a duel was about to commence, the instrumental music from Psych is Dead vibrated the low roofed basement floor, making it seem as though the audience, band and stagecrew were trapped in an aircraft, preparring to takeoff. James took this opportunity to release the Buckfast bottle to the crowd, after taking his last swig, gracefully unbutton his shirt and periodically strum his guitar, making it seem as though light-years were passing with each powerful strum.
For those who have seen That 70s Show or Freaks and Geeks, The Cosmic Dead bring to mindare an extension of the fictional characters Leo, played by Tommy Chong and guidance counsilor Jeff Rosso played by Dave Allen. If these two character's joined forces (and multiplied), you'd have The Cosmic Dead; four lovable guys, able to rock hard and send positive vibes to those who cross their path.
The bands music is a combination of lengthy instrumental sections and wild screams into the microphone, making all listeners thrash their heads towards the band in unison and let their limbs go as they fall under the spell of the mighty tunes conjoured up by The Cosmic Dead.
Although The Cosmic Dead played four songs in their hour long set, with each song lasting roughly ten minutes, the intricate riffs on the guitar and synth created a whirlpool of mind-altering music, causing the audience to fall deeper into the bands spell. At one point of the evening an impowering speech revolving around the subject of seagulls (yes, us Brighton-folk can't stop talking about seagulls), by James as the band accompanied him, eventually lead to a segway on the subject of being nailed to a cross by your father, proved to be a surprising higlight of the evening.
However, this was soon overturned by the grand finale. The band moved the barriers, seperating the audience and band, to the side of the raised stage, audience members revealled their bare chests and lastly, Russle, Omar and James jumped off the stage to rock out among the audience. With organisers looking horrified, considering health and safety violations, it resulted to be a pleasant way to celebrate The Cosmic Dead's return to Brighton. A microphone was passed round from band memeber to audience memeber, each individual taking their turn to scream down the mic. For those that were lucky enough to attend, it was an evening which will be hard to forget.
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