“A band to get you through the end times with a message of hope and salvation.” That’s
Explode The TV describing themselves.
ETTV were formed by frontman Bentley Browning and guitarist Corsh, who formerly played in rock-pop band
Zerostar, supporting the likes of Wendy James/
Transvision Vamp and Steve Diggle of
The Buzzcocks. The band’s first single ‘Rockstar’ achieved heavy rotation on Cool FM Ireland and scored repeated airplay on XFM.
The other two members of ETTV are Andi Skipsey on bass and Chris Witherall on drums (who had formerly played with
Osiris).
All four bonded over their Christian faith, so it’s a tad ironic that frontman Bentley also used to be a drummer at one point… in a rap-metal band called
US-UK who supported
Faith No More.
Faith or no faith, Explode The TV are out on a mission to expose the media's agenda of dumbing down the nation until we are robotic morons sleepwalking into a totalitarian state. That and a love of Banksy-inspired artwork as well as a simple desire to conquer the universe with uplifting anthems is what makes the band tick.
Colin Evans spotted ETTV and offered the lads an audition for ‘Louis Spence's Showbusiness’ on SKY1. They got through and the whole shebang was filmed for the band’s Dublin Castle show (for which everyone’s favourite tabloid fodder
Amy Winehouse turned up). However, upon seeing footage of the band’s television set being trashed onstage and a 10-minute anti-TV rant about the Murdoch Empire, it was deemed unsuitable for broadcast... but people soon started to talk about the band and more gig dates followed.
Indeed, the band trashed yet another TV-set (albeit not a real one) during their recent slot at the 12 Bar. Kicking off at the incredibly early time of 7.30pm (guys, call that rock n roll?!), thankfully the venue was crowded with venue regulars and what seemed to be young tourists from Japan, Brazil and Spain. Obviously they all were out for having a rocking good time.
They got it with Explode The TV, whose first song was ‘Did we land on the moon’. Well no, the 12 Bar actually, but with its strange graffiti paintings on the wall and fluorescent lightshow, the tiny stage might well have been another planet.
Sporting identical b/w T-shirts (to emphasize band unity), Bentley Browning let rip with a powerful voice that perfectly complimented the fast-paced, slightly punk-rocky composition of the number.
Next songs were ‘Love is dangerous’ and ‘Doubt the doubts’ – equally powerful but more classic rock in arrangement. Bentley did his best to throw an impressive physical performance to go with his vocals, but due to the restricted space he succeeded mainly just from the waist up. In between chorus, he even banged away on a miniature bongo drum clamped between his legs, while long-suffering roadie Nick grabbed the mic and held it in front of the instrument. Bentley referred to him as “the human microphone”…
The other band members didn’t bother with any stage antics, they simply stood, played and delivered. ‘Don’t do it’ was another catchy number in the vein of classic rock and yes, they did it: Bentley kicked a fake TV-set (albeit with a real perspex screen). Personally, I can’t wait for the day they get a real one from a skip and trash that one to pieces! Last song ‘Pure water’ had a more sharp and edgy feel to it again and while it created a real party vibe amongst the crowd, it was a downer that the short set had already come to an abrupt end.
However, more gigs are on the way (an album, too). So watch out for TV-news on the band’s site www.explodethetv.com and check out their FAKE MESSIAHS OFFICIAL PROMO on YouTube.
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