MINDLESS SELF INDULGENCE/ Deathspells - Irving Plaza, NYC

Mindless Self Indulgence has taken to the road again in support of their latest effort, “How I Learned to Stop Giving a Shit and Love Mindless Self Indulgence” (their first since “If” dropped in 2008,) playing a favored venue for both the band and myself, Irving Plaza (some of the nicest security in the world.)

With MSI having formed right here in the Big Apple and openers DeathSpells being based out on the East Coast as well, this one felt very much like a home show.

The onstage setup was pretty hilarious – MSI had a sizable backdrop accompanied by banners over each amp, a full drumkit, a guitar, a bass, several mics, while DeathSpells’ setup consisted of a conference room-sized portable screen, a keyboard on a stand, two laptops and two mics taking up about a three by seven square directly behind the main Irving screen, which serves as a curtain.

DeathSpells is a new project founded by Get Up Kids / Reggie and The Full Effect’s James DeWees and Frank Iero of My Chemical Romance. The bulk of their set was reminiscent of the thirty-fifth birthday party of one of my dearest friends, finding us surrounded by puking twenty-somethings in a version of Webster Hall I usually don’t see, drunkenly shaking our butts as twin DJs mixed it up onstage. Both men are screamers, but the vocals were more or less unintelligible over the jams emanating from the laptops and keys as the screen behind the two flashed horror movie images.

The last cut was an interesting mood shift; a floaty indie rock number which I found rather hypnotizing. I think the bulk of the crowd was confused, which was probably the goal.

Why MSI needed a half hour to come out after it took all of five minutes for DeathSpells to dismantle was evidenced by their spectacular getups, grand entrance and frenetic show pacing. Little Jimmy Urine was a vision in blonde and white, hopping all over the stage in his usual ribald manner, Kitty looked killer in spiky blue, Steve has his mountain man look down pat, and Lynz was the perfect sexy schoolgirl.

It is also worth noting that this band does not stand still for a second (although Jimmy was nice enough to strike a few poses for the photogs) and they speak to the crowd throughout, which is nice. As the band ripped through well-loved jams such as “Stupid Motherfucker,” “Shut Me Up” and “Bitches,” tossing in a few killer new tunes like “Fuck Machine” and "You're No Fun Anymore Mark Trezona" and opening up several decently sized circle pits, the place was literally rocking on its foundations. Security actually had to bolster the barricade several times to prevent it from collapsing like a house of cards.

The encore was only one song long, but that was fine, because there had actually been several interludes along the way, with the band actually leaving the stage a few times as Jimmy worked the crowd and then returning to chants (in one instance, names of classical musicians brought each member back out from backstage.)


MSI Fans

Jimmy also came right back out in a manner of minutes, still shirtless and sweaty, to sign and take photos with every fan in the venue – something which the band has always done and which is a very classy move by them. It is my understanding that Frank Iero was doing the same for his fans on the opposite end of the club, something that he generally does as well. Very cool aesthetic. I had wanted to mention to Jimmy that I would be the one interviewing the band in a day or so, but I just wound up taking a goofy photo with him – that was fine too.


Mindless does give those dropping cash on their shows their money’s worth (this album and tour was actually crowdfunded, and the band well exceeded their goal – demonstrating just how devoted their odd fanbase actually is. The entire pit showed its solidarity with various colored bandannas over their mouths, face paint, pigtails and deep red lipstick and wigs. It’s fun when fans get involved with the activity, rather than simply being spectators.) If the band is coming to your town, I strongly suggest that you attend – you will definitely have a blast. For tour information, or to check out the new album go here.