VHS Or Beta Light Your NightOn Fire

Sat 12th Mar, 2005 in Features

Mid 1980s: A young Mark Guidry plonked himself cross-legged in front of the television. Hot pink and turquoise splashed across the monitor as MTV preached to the willing, Madonna and Prince expounding their brand of lace-gloved pop. Hours passed. Dusk fell and shadows cast long over the living room. Frantic projections danced across Guidry’s face. Finally, it came. He sat up a little straighter, leaned in towards the glass. A leather-clad Michael Jackson came into view, gliding across the screen to the strains of Thriller. Guidry sighed, transfixed. He was content.

He wasn’t so content, ten years later, sitting behind a kit on a cramped stage in his hometown. Kicking around his native Louisville, Kentucky, he had formed a band with guitarists Craig Pfunder and Zeke Buck, and bassist Mark Palgy. Together they made noise rock in homage to Sonic Youth, Arab On Radar and Japanese noisecore. But as Guidry surveyed the crowd, he became wary. “We were tired of the scene and the way people acted at shows; they just nodded their heads. People weren’t there to have fun, they were there to critique.” 

The band had also just discovered Aphex Twin and Kraftwerk, alien electro performers who knew the value of a good show – they weren’t afraid to get people moving. A new band with a fresh perspective was emerging. “We were sick of the shoegazer mentality. We decided to make shows fun. We wanted people to have a good time, so we wrote songs with that feel.”

‘That feel’ turned out to be dreamy, French-infused house, breathing the same air as Daft Punk and Dimitri From Paris. With that came VHS Or Beta’s debut LP, Le Funk, where Guidry learnt the art of electronic drumming. “To reproduce the sound of a house track you can’t really use a regular drum kit. So the tone [of our sound] changed.” So did the tone of the audience. Once stoic straggly-haired indie kids, suddenly it was all broad grins and swinging hips. “It was like night and day, people really loved it.”

However, this dance authenticity proved taxing on the musical loyalty of the four boys who used to bow at the altar of Thurston Moore. ”[Playing live] was like a doing a DJ set, completely without a break. We couldn’t really engage with the audience.” They wanted their guitars back. They wanted to jump around. Hell, they wanted vocals. “We wanted to add them a while ago but we couldn’t figure out how to. So the mindset was we wanted vocals, and we made the effort to do so with the new album.”

That new album is Night On Fire, the third coming of VHS Or Beta, where the ‘80s pop gleam, early ‘90s no-wave noise and late ‘90s gurgling dance influences come together. Walls of screeching guitar jostle with synthed tapping beats, all in tight pop nuggets worthy of all the thick shoulder pads, disco ball-lit dancing and cheap glitter you can muster.

The songs were written and demoed at home before tracking the whole thing in the studio in a sharp two weeks. ”[Pfunder] would bring a vocal or lyric idea to the band and from there on it’d a democratic process.” The mantra to ‘do vocals’ reinvigorated the senses of all involved, Guidry included. “I was really excited about writing again. I liked the way we wrote Night On Fire, just all at the same time, the music and vocals together. It opened some new doors for us as songwriters.”

The steadfast manifesto to get Pfunder’s voice in there somewhere proved fruitful, as his Cure-esque intonations drift effortlessly over the crackling ‘80s pop melodies. “Craig’s a big Cure fan, you can’t deny that, so I’m sure Robert Smith has an influence somehow.” Just don’t say he’s mimicking him: “That’s just how he sings, it’s not on purpose.”

With a shiny new album to promote, Guidry and his bandmates sit in NYC’s Astralwerks offices, their swivelling chairs grinding up against one another as they shift under the interview barrage. The clock ticks over to 7:46pm; in a couple of hours they’re due on the Bowery Ballroom stage. Guidry’s fingers skim the edge of the table. He pauses, in thought.  

“Listening to the cd, it’s kind of enclosed, whereas live it’s quite a large sound.” You’d hope so, when you’ve been touring with Scissor Sisters – “It was wonderful, they’re great people” – and you’re about to embark on a seven-date stint with, of course, Duran Duran. It must be kismet. There is genuine excitement – “absolutely” – but probably more thrilling for Guidry is going on the road with a distinct setlist, not two hours of pounding house to play. 

“I’m glad to be playing songs as opposed to tracks; it’s a totally different show. We have more energy now than when we were touring Le Funk, it’s a rawer experience.” The punters have noticed the difference, too. “It translates well, live there’s more appeal.” Stone-faced indie rockers actually dancing? “Well, when people first see us it takes a while for them to understand, but by about the third song in they love it.”

It helps when the band you’re watching is there to Have Fun. VHS Or Beta is definitely a band to soundtrack glam, messy nights out slinking down bejewelled streets. Guidry knows this as he thinks about sitting in front of that television, absorbing the shimmering pop of times past, now sitting on stage as his own brand of pop shimmers around him, now enjoying himself. But not completely. “I’m the drummer and I can’t really rock out, so I just kind of bob my head.”