“That is so humorous. What are we doing right here?” Moist Leg’s Rhian Teasdale requested bemusedly final weekend (February 5). She and her bandmates have been standing on the Grammys stage, gathering their first shiny gramophone of the night time (and their careers) and reacting as in the event that they’d stepped right into a parallel universe.
At tonight’s (February 11) BRITs, the fairytale continued – one other double for Britain’s indie band of the second. Extra shell-shocked giggles soundtracked their acceptance speeches whereas Teasdale nodded to their label mates Arctic Monkeys as she recited a part of Alex Turner’s notorious “that rock’n’roll” speech from the identical awards present in 2014. The Isle Of Wight band being lauded by awards our bodies, different musicians, media and followers all over the world may be a shock to the artists themselves however, to these paying shut consideration since summer time 2021, these award wins really feel like a logical subsequent step in an unimaginable, charmed story.
When Moist Leg shaped, Teasdale and guitarist Hester Chambers determined to make enjoyable their primary objective. They’d each beforehand tried to make a go of music solely to finish up working completely different jobs – Teasdale as a stylist and Chambers at her dad and mom’ jewelry enterprise. “Making it” didn’t appear to be it was on the playing cards for them as musicians, however they nonetheless stored taking part in and writing between work.
Then, they scored a take care of Domino earlier than releasing a single tune – though they already had written most of their debut album. In July 2021, they lastly unveiled themselves to the world with their debut single ‘Chaise Longue’, nearly immediately igniting a blaze of acclaim and reward for the band that has solely burned brighter within the months and years since. Packed pageant tents, sold-out gigs on whirlwind, relentless excursions, a Quantity One album and assist slots with the likes of Harry Types adopted, and, now, loads of coveted trophies.
Whereas indie hasn’t died since Alex Turner dropped his microphone on the BRITs stage, it’s been removed from the dominant style in British music – or anyplace on this planet, for that matter – in recent times. Regardless of that, Moist Leg have impressed the sort of response bands was greeted with, reviving a mid-noughties phenomenon of guitar-wielding teams proudly owning each pageant and awards present levels, bringing giddy chaos with them.
Enjoyable is exactly why they’ve managed to elicit that response. They’re a vibrant, foolish break from the darkish, severe shit we’ve got to take care of within the different 99 per cent of our day. When their debut single ‘Chaise Longue’ heralded their arrival in 2021, it felt like a burst of brightness after the doom and gloom of pandemic lockdowns, whereas its repetitive, absurd lyrics concurrently matched the stir-crazy feeling you have been usually overwhelmed by in that interval of barely with the ability to depart the home.
Even after they’re writing and singing about sadder topics than buttering muffins, the band usually fallback on humour as a means of conserving issues from getting too heavy, be that evaluating an ex to excrement in a bathroom bowl in ‘Piece Of Shit’ or turning a former companion right into a drooling, lewd caricature on ‘Moist Dream’. “I at all times attempt to dilute severe issues with humour, I feel,” Teasdale defined in Moist Leg’s NME cowl story final yr. “It’s a really human factor.”
We may be comparatively again to “regular” now, however enjoyable is in additional dire want than ever and bands like Moist Leg simply as important. Not solely do they supply an exhilarating escape from the mundanity of on a regular basis life, additionally they function a reminder that specializing in what’s actually essential moderately than taking a calculated path to success is the important thing to truly triumphing on this life. Moist Leg have nailed it and, now, they get to reap the “magical” – as they described the Grammys – rewards for what appears to be like like a very long time to return.
