If the Beastie Boys and Tim Minchin were to get it on and have a love child, the Midnight Beast would be their spawn. Hailing from London, TMB (as they are known in text-speak) are the twenty-something trio of Stefan Abingdon, Dru Wakley, and Ashley Horne. With over 33 million YouTube hits and a constant bevy of screaming teenaged girls at hand, it appears that TMB have conquered the world of adolescent Web 2.0.This year, Abingdon composed the title track for Selena Gomez & the Scene’s latest album, and the band have together done parodies of Ke$ha, Katy Perry, Rebecca Black and Jay Sean. Their parody of ‘Tik Tok’ in 2009 gave them a lot of attention, and Ke$ha herself tweeted: “holy shit, this is way better than my version”.
Although TMB have clearly established themselves among pubescent females, it remains to be seen if they can flourish among the more discriminating tastes of the indie scene. However, their show at Concorde 2 exhibited their versatility and comedic prowess. Although the concert was unbearably hot and the shrieking outweighed the developing hormones flying through the air, TMB successfully broke the mould in which their fans made them. Essentially taking the piss out of everything that manufactured pop-music stands for, TMB are more than a catchy boy band, they are part musical comedy act and part hit-makers, an equation which adds up to infectiousness and hilarity. Supported by rising hip-hop artist Joe Setz, TMB’s highlights included the contagious ‘Dance Routine’, energy-inducing ‘House Party’, their parody of Katy Perry’s ‘ET’ (featuring humping Teletubbies), and comical ballad ‘Friends for Never’.
On the exterior, TMB exhibit the persona of yet another one-hit boy band. However, they are in fact a rarity in today’s music scene. Featuring Teletubbies, ninjas, gangsters, bubbles, Super Mario brothers, and bouncy balls at their show, they are adept at not taking themselves too seriously. Before seeing them, we would have described them as Britain’s next Blue. We were wrong. They are unmistakably the successor to Andy Samberg’s Lonely Island dynasty and the epitome of a modern soundtrack to today’s linked-in webolution.
THE MIDNIGHT BEAST WITH JOE SETZ
CONCORDE 2
WEDNESDAY, 3rd AUGUST
WORDS BY KATE DAVIES
