n0teeth was off sick for most of last week, but as we shall see, a package from Sweden made everything better. The week before that was chock full of activity: the day after Lydia Lunch at Oslo we caught Ryoji Ikedia's magnificent audiovisual sensory assault at the Barbican, and the day after that, Joke Lanz (of Sudden Infant fame) doing his gloriously unhinged thing at Noise Corruption. I can't say for sure which of these gigs I took home a stinking cold from, but suffice it to say the following week was a mostly unpleasant and housebound one.
On Friday, however, I was delighted to find that the postie had brought me the following swag:
Militant. Cheerleaders. On the fucking move. An unassailably perfect name for a Swedish band reworking that old school EBM sound in the 21st century, perfectly encapsulating the genre's aggression, high camp and dynamism in five words.
I've wanted that t-shirt for so long I've gone up several sizes, but like the officer and gentleman that he is, former Cheerleader Pehr Heurberg was kind enough to dig out an XL for me (along with some cool patches which I must attach to a battle jacket at some point) when I got in touch.
But anyway, that name. "Militant Cheerleaders" could have just about worked on its own, but on the move feels like the most necessary unnecessary addition to a band name since a Merseyside synthpop duo felt the need to specify the lighting conditions in which their Orchestral Manoeuvres were taking place.
And does the music recorded under this glorious moniker live up to it, as I was gratified to find Chrome Corpse does? Yes, oh yes my friends, MilCom don't disappoint: their sound is whiplash arpeggios agogo and iron pumping rhythms til Tuesday. I first became aware of the Cheerleaders through their utterly savage "Freaks" single, which commands the listener to "get down, get ready" - EBM ain't got time for your shit and as a genre tends to address you in the imperative. B-side "Work is Violence" continues this tradition with an exhortion to "give your body to freedom".
As an aside, have you ever clocked how many of those 2000s old school EBM revival acts (e.g. Spetsnaz and Container 90) were Swedish? Meanwhile Combichrist, the unfortunately but inarguably biggest EBM act of the decade, hailed from Norway. Makes you think, or maybe it doesn't, I dunno.
The Militant Cheerleaders' sole album, Strike One, proved they weren't just masters of one particular limited sound and had tunes to spare, from the opening salvo of "Neuropa" and "Absolute", to the ominous techno-influenced "Mask". There is a lot more going on here than straightforward DAF/Nitzer worship.
No longer on the move as of the late 2000s, one half of the duo - the aforementioned Pehr Herb - is still making music in the band Haul. Since MCOTM's all-too-brief disruption of the era of CombiMania, EBM has definitely taken a turn for the better by expanding its horizons and fusing with other styles such as techno or Italo disco. Strike One doesn't venture too far into other genres, and remains a highly enjoyable and inventive example of how to reshape DAF's tried and tested electro-punk formula for your own ends. Turn it up full blast and work that body!