The Rogers Sisters

Maps Magazine- Live Review - 08/29/06

The Rogers Sisters
Album: The Invisible Deck
Live: 15.08.06 @ Barfly, Camden

Fast forward a couple of weeks from ‘The Invisible Deck’ first hitting my cd player, and I’m queuing at the bar of a crowded Camden Barfly and listening to the dying throes of Lisa Lindley Jones’ support slot, twitching with anticipation of tonight’s headliners.

It won’t be the first time I’ll have seen The Rogers Sisters onstage – their show Upstairs at the Garage a year or two back sticks in the mind as one of the most energising live experiences I’ve ever had, though a more recent outing at the comparatively cavernous Mean Fiddler
left a slight tang of disappointment.

Tonight though in the close, sweaty environs of the Barfly
they are nothing short of astonishing. Rattling through a
set that draws on all three of their albums (albeit sadly
missing personal favourite ‘Check Level’ from last
year’s ‘Three Fingers’), The Rogers Sisters whip
the front rows up into a frenzy with a barrage of
bass-driven, rabble rousing chant along anthems,
before pulling the rug out from under our feet with
the slowly writhing churn of ’(I’m a) Ballerina’ or the
wonderfully absurd ‘Fantasies Are Nice’.

All the while Miyuki out-sweats the front rows
with his frenetic stage presence, while Jennifer
flitters between implacable cool and peppy
enthusiasm across the stage from him.

After what seems like a matter of a few intoxicating
minutes, though a glance at my watch suggests
more than half an hour, they leave the stage, only
to be hollered back onto it moments later by a
crowd that had far from had their fill.

They end with two tracks culled from their first
record, the Blues Explosion jitter-punk of ‘I Dig a
Hole’ and the apocalyptic punk/funk of ‘Zero
Point’, and we dance and writhe and pogo
for all we’re worth before collapsing in a sweaty,
happy mess as they leave us for real this time.

Review & Photography by Paul Madden
Maps Magazine