Ooh La La! It's Les Sans Culottes!

Les Sans Culottes; Tide
@ Arlene's Grocery
New York, NY - December 8, 2006

First hearing of them and seeing them last Februrary, The Without Pants (this is America dammit!) made a cute first impression but I didn't investigate further. On December 8, the anniversary of the death of the man who - lookwise - was reincarnated in the form of the lead singer of Les Sans, the band played at Arlene's Grocery - the LAST venue I had yet to see a show at since I moved back to New York several years ago. So it was a night of a few points to remember, to say the least.
Anyway, Les Sans Culottes were fantastic. And while I still don't get the idea of a John Lennon-look alike being French and singing garage rock, I like the results. The band's range of organ-based garage to X-like punk is loads of fun and the French facade for a helping of sillyness and nonsensical lyrics certainly makes the band distinct. One of the shows of the year.

Tide was the act that came on before Les Sans Culottes and while I don't care for efforts that try to wax poetic about Williamsburg (I still can't get over that many people now first associate Brooklyn with hipsters and not...you know...BROOKLYN), the band had decent pop hooks. They appear to be one of the better chill bands playing the local scene. And 5-dollar t-shirts are a good populist way to keep people interested.