Dresden Dolls preview

The Dresden Dolls
Metro, Chicago
Friday, April 7, 2006

And you thought Nickelback was out of place on Roadrunner Records?

On a label known for ultra-heavy bands like Slipknot, Sepultura, and Type O Negative, Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione, the two musicians who make up The Dresden Dolls, don’t fit in. Then again, we don’t know too many labels where this Boston-based duo wouldn’t raise a few eyebrows.

A swirling mishmash of rock and jazz, punk and burlesque, Marlene Dietrich and Tori Amos, A Clockwork Orange and The Blue Angel, The Dresden Dolls will likely be outsiders wherever they go. Therefore, maybe it’s not so unusual to sign with a label like Roadrunner (after all, metal has long been a safe haven for rejects) or tour with Nine Inch Nails (Trent Reznor reportedly hand-picked the group after seeing their homemade video for “Girl Anachronism”) –what have they got to lose?

The group’s second full length (in stores April 18th) and Roadrunner debut, Yes Virginia (a reference to a 1897 New York Sun letter to the editor from an 8-year-old girl who asks if Santa Claus truly exists) is a celebration of The Dolls’ oddness. Viglione is a dazzling drummer who learned his instrument by playing along with Skid Row and Kiss records but is also heavily influenced by jazz greats like Elvin Jones and Tony Williams. Palmer’s, the Dolls’ songwriter, piano playing varies from manic (“Necessary Evil”) to delicate (“Me & The Minibar”), making her come across as a demented, twisted Amos. She’s also a crafty lyricist who doesn’t rely on the abstract to be clever with topics like taboo on “Sex Changes” (“The boys’ll murder for it/but what will the neighbors say”), back-alley abortions during “Mandy Goes To Med School” (“The lights are staying out but no sweat I’ve got aim like a Mack truck”), and dating with “Shores Of California” (“All across the nation/the girls are crying and the boys are masterbating”).

We won’t even try labeling The Dresden Dolls sound. Instead we’ll cheat and tear a tag line straight from their Web site: “Brechtian Punk Cabaret” (Bertolt Brecht was an influential German dramatist in the 20th century). Pretty straightforward, eh?

Reverend Glasseye opens.

— Trevor Fisher

Click here to download The Dresden Dolls’ “Dirty Business.”

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly