Psychedelia trips good and bad, and on debut Champagne Holocaust, the Fat White Family nails the latter. The Peckham, England, band’s warped country/folk/punk cuts bad acid with dirt. Appealing melodies collide with the band’s gutter aesthetic, leaving a fine coat of grime on what could have been flower power. “I was born to have it and you were born to take it,” Lias Saoudi casually asserts on “Is It Raining in Your Mouth?” The Stooges-like punk & roll of the band’s live shows may be absent, but there’s plenty of bad attitude to go around. “If my mind was clean, I’d be fine,” the band claims on “Borderline.” Too late. (Sun., 9:15pm, Levitation Tent)
This article appears in May 8 • 2015.
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Michael Toland started writing about music in 1988 on the Gulf Coast, moved to Austin in early 1991, and has inflicted bylines upon the corporeal and digital pages of Pop Culture Press, The Big Takeover, Blurt, Amplifier, Austin.citysearch, the Austin American Statesman, Goldmine, Sleazegrinder, Rock & Roll Globe, High Bias, FHT Music Notes, and, since 2011, The Austin Chronicle.
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