MGMT deny piss attack

Wed 29th Sep, 2010 in International News

MGMT singer-guitarist Andrew VanWyngarden has denied reports that the band was attacked at a recent show in England, telling Pitchfork that “A celebratory cup of hearty Manchester ale, NOT URINE, was hurled into the air in the direction of the stage.”

However, even if the projectile wasn’t filled with urine, the fall out from the band’s follow up to the massively successful Oracular Spectacular album continues to have repercussions for the group.

Congratulations earned a mixed response from reviewers, with FasterLouder’s revirew notng that it was “an ambitious project and its fragmented nature means that it is difficult listen, alienating all but MGMT’s most ardent fans or those looking for tunes that challenge conventional standards”.

That sort of reaction has resulted in the band’s record label refusing to give them as much freedom during the recording of the next album and the band protesting that they never intended to become a mainstream act.

VanWyngarden has explained to NME that they felt uneasy about being pigeonholed as an “electro-pop” or “dance” act telling the magazine that “it would be wrong to say that we ever had pure intentions of being a mainstream band… We began to realise that people thought of us as this electro-pop dance act. And that’s really not who we are.”

“We’ve been looking at relationships with the label during the recording process and it’s quite different this time. They’ll be more involved and not give us as much freedom.”

Despite the restrictions placed on the next recording sessions by the label, VanWyngarden claims that he’s been “getting into a lot of early, minimal Detroit techno” in recent weeks, suggesting another interesting change of direction for the group.