LadyFuzz have been let down by the Test Icicles. Lead singer Liz Neumayr has been compared to No Doubt’s Gwen Stefani and don’t mention Bloc Party…I had the chance to catch up with them before the release of their debut album ‘Kerfuffle’ on March 13th 2006.
“It’s a bit annoying being compared to the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s. It’s just because we are a three piece. The music press obviously haven’t listened to our music at all,” says LadyFuzz’s lead singer, the very blonde Liz Neumayr.
Liz has a point. Their debut album ‘Kerfuffle’ is sharp-angled punk pop with elements of The Slits, Wire or Gang of Four. Vocally, she is more Siousie Sioux than Karen O, but surprisingly by some she has been compared to No Doubt’s Gwen Stefani which doesn’t impress her much.“I constantly get Gwen Stefani comparisons. I downloaded ‘Just A Girl’ – like my voice sounds like hers! I don’t look like her either. But I get people shouting at me in the street: ‘Gwen, I love all your albums!’ ”.
“I was heavily influenced by David Bowie, the film Ziggy Stardust got me listening to pop”, Liz adds defiantly: “My favourite Bowie song is ‘Quicksand’.
LadyFuzz formed almost two years ago in March 2004 when drummer Ben Esser responded to a Le Tigre referencing ad in the NME. Whilst guitarist Matt Lord was enthusiastic about playing bass as well guitar, otherwise Liz and Ben would have hired a separate bass player. Ben says: “We were glad we found Matt as a lot of guitarists who answered the ad were into Steve Vai,”.
The musical bond was further secured when Liz, Ben and Matt discovered that they all shared the same birthdays albeit on the 13th of different months. This fixation for the number 13 seems to pervade the band’s every move. Matt says: “The number 13 keeps popping up everywhere.” Drummer Ben has the numbers ‘1’ and ‘3’ tattooed on each thumb knuckle.
After being signed by TobyL and Tim Dellow (formerly of Trash Aesthetics) to Transgressive Records, the band released their debut single last January ‘Oh Marie’, with it’s catchy “Uh Ah Uh Ah, Uh Ah Oh” hook. Other singles followed including ‘Monster’ which has been remixed by Mowgli. Their next single ‘Bouncy Ball’ is out in mid-February and narrowly missed being remixed by those peskey Test Icicles.
LadyFuzz are currently on a massive tour which includes an appearance at the lovely SouthbySouthWest festival in Austin, Texas. So with a MySpace.com site; a huge fan-base in Inverness – Scotland apparently; past gig performances with Bloc Party (Liz once worked with lead singer Kele at the Curzon cinema in Soho, he was also an early member of the band), The Bravery, The Subways, Ash and Forward!Russia, will they rise to the challenge in 2006? Or has that slot already been filled by the Arctic Monkeys or Shane from the X Factor – who knows?
“We are like Kate Bush and Marmite. You either love us or hate us,” says Liz. Now that is something to ponder…Kate Bush and Marmite.
For more information about LadyFuzz go to www.myspace.com/ladyfuzz.
Band members
Liz Neumayr – vocals
Matt Lord – bass/guitar
Ben Esser – drums