Vive l’anarchie à Paris! Tonight Elysium is putting on a rare show by French electro-punks Metal Urbain!
Metal Urbain formed in Paris in 1976. Influenced by the usual suspects (The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned), Metal Urbain took punk’s three-chords aesthetics to brand new heights by chucking out the bass guitar and drums and replacing them with a synthesizer and a drum machine. A decade or two later it wouldn’t have been such a big deal (ask Big Black or Brainiac), but at the time it was a radical move, even for punk.
Their first single, “Panik!,” is Metal Urbain’s “Anarchy in the U.K.” or “Blitzkrieg Bop.” It’s a perfect two-minute raucous anthem. Other tracks like “Lady Coca Cola,” “Ultra Violence,” and “Paris Marquis” ooze with urban decay. The heavily distorted guitar and treated synths wouldn’t sound out of place in a low-budget sci-fi film, while lead singer (and Austin resident!) Éric Débris’ vocals sounds like a Parisian Lemmy running and barking through a battle zone.
Also on the bill are Austin bands The Hormones and Amnesia Babies. The Hormones, led by the notorious Tim “Napalm” Stegall, will make any fan of The Ramones and The Dead Boys smile with their snotty brand of punk rock – that is if the Amnesia Babies don’t make you sweat to death first. You can’t help but shake everything you got while they’re on stage.
Elysium is located at 705 Red River St. Doors open at 9 p.m. 18+ welcome. Admission is $10. Visit the Facebook event page here.
Metal Urbain
The Hormones
Amnesia Babies
