Gen-XX and Cripple Mr Onion

Setting up for the suspension

Went to see Gen-xx (a stripped-down version of the Genitorturers) at the Transmission Room in Auckland last night. Hell of a show.

Let me clear this up from the onset: I am not a “festish-y” type girl. I don’t like wearing latex or PVC, I’ve never been a big fan of industrial music as something to listen to. I am not exactly … vanilla. More like strawberry ripple, or orange chocolate chip. But I’m definitely not triple dark chocolate with mascapone cherry ganache, sprinkles, and assorted nuts, if you know what I mean. I’ve only been to a couple of these kind of gigs before, and I mostly like going because the crowd are so interesting, and the music is great to dance to.

In between sets, Skindependent put on a couple of suspension shows. Now, for those uninitiated, suspension is where a person with extreme body piercings all over their body has those piercings attached to giant hooks, and they are then hoisted up into the air on a pulley, where they hang by their skin for a little while, before being winched down to earth again. Don’t ask me why you would want to do this – I don’t even have my ears pierced, so I couldn’t tell you. But I watch this guy do one, and it was both fascinating and profoundly disgusting at the same time. Props to him though, for hanging there while everyone watched.

Skindependent suspension

We missed the opening band, but caught NZ industrial doom metallers Cripple Mr Onion’s set. If you asked me to name my favorite NZ band, metal or otherwise, Cripple would be it. Not only do they have a wicked name (which they have Terry Pratchett’s permission to use) they have a unique, dark sound – quite unusual for the NZ metal scene, which is dominated by BROOTAL black metal, and Pantera and Lamb of God sound-a-likes. They’re also the nicest bunch of guys, which goes a long way in my books.

Listen to Cripple Mr. Onion on their myspace page, or wait for this week’s Metal Mixtape …

After Cripple we had to wait around for a long time for Gen XX to start. This wouldn’t be so bad if the Transmission Room had a place for people to sit and hang out, but it doesn’t. After an hour of waiting over half the room was sitting on the concrete floor, and a couple of guys were yelling at the DJ to get the band up.

But when Gen started, boy did she start. Surrounded by beautiful dancers (three local lasses who put on an AMAZING show – Hannah, Leila and Eva, you guys were total stars), Gen ripped through a furious set of older Genitorturers stuff, and songs from her new album and upcoming solo project. I was really bummed about the serious lack of grunty guitar, but the show was so visually enjoyable, raunchy, and fun, it didn’t matter. There’s a few seriously dodgy photos of me and Gen’s 10 inch strap-on floating around on the internet. It’s a good thing I never intended this website to be PG :)

For the finale, the gorgeous Hannah regaled us all with a dance with her fire fans. This girl is seriously talented (I’ve done fire Poi once and kept smacking myself in the arm. I couldn’t imagine swinging these things around AND looking so sexy at the same time!)

A great night out, and I’d recommend the Genitorturers / Gen XX to anyone wanting a fun night out, who doesn’t mind a lot of foul language and having a strap-on penis waved in your face.

Yours, with a 10 inch \m/