Down in the Lab in OUTSIDELEFT

There's something about those bands that do way more than just show up with an marshall stack, a fancy guitar and and attitude and expect you to enjoy it. That sound recently reached its nadir for me on a night out in Moseley, where upon arrival I was entertained, I suppose, by a couple of male victims. They didn't have the marshall stacks and they lacked everything besides, specifically spine, as they simpered in song, over and over about the injustices womenkind visited upon them. No wonder, I think the entire aghast audience agreed. Just then, I needed an antidote, I needed some noise and I found it in the Dead Happy Band.

Channeling a healthy aural concoction that could easily be Sparks meeting the Insane Clown Posse, down in the lab. The Dead Happy Band make what they call Freaky Disco Metal music and they create it first, down deep in a West Midlands dungeon and then unleash it nationwide since the are prodigals in their home towns.

Their live show is maybe a way more metallic Man, Or Astroman? Or a Less aquatic Aquabats, you know that kind of thing where the fun is not limited to or bound by the stage... Whatever way you look at it it's a weird world, and happily for us the Dead Happy Band are all too happy to talk about it.

OUTSIDELEFT: How did you guys get together, how long have you been together, you seem to have built up quite a fan base?
DEAD HAPPY BAND: I was working in the lab late one night, when my eyes beheld an eerie sight, for my monster from his slab began to rise, and suddenly to my surprise, he was able to play guitar so that worked out well. As for the bassist he used to be a businessman, but we filled him with bass juice and now he plays bass. as for the fan base they're pretty cool, only problem is they come to all our shows dressed as empty chairs for some reason.

OL: Can you mention who is in the band. What their names are and what they do?
DHB: Well there’s me - Professor Partorius – who attempts the vocals and programming. Christopher Rave supplies guitar/keys and Sprucie Bonus hammers the bass.

OL: You have a sort of Insane Clown Posse meets Sparks vibe, you call it Freaky Disco Metal, how did that sound develop?
DHB: Oddly enough I used to be in both Sparks and the ICP at the same time, however I got kicked out when both acts became aware of this and thus that I wasn't 100% faithful to their respective projects. I took what I'd been doing in each and created Dead Happy.

OL: And your wild live show... I'd love to see you play in Bearwood?
DHB: Unfortunately, we have been banned from playing in Bearwood after the "Blackrock" incident, I'm afraid you'll have to travel to one of our out of town shows dressed as a chair like everyone else.

OL: What about your EP can you talk about making that, the newest video?
DHB: It was based around my friend’s time in the army, he got stuck behind enemy lines deep in the black forest where he stumbled across a tribe that up until then had not been touched by modern society and was yet to experience high speed broadband. They seemed to function on dial up alone - they'd stay up all night and only see about 3 girls. Curious to know more he stayed with them and was taught about the Banana God, a being that had existed since the dawn of time, or at least before EastEnders began. When he got home he came to me first to tell me of this incredible immortal entity and that we should go track it down, naturally I assumed he'd lost it and told him to take my younger brother instead but when at least one of them returned (I forget which one made it now) they had fantastic stories and we wrote the Banana God EP that night.

OL: Do you have a favourite show you can recall?
DHB: We last played the Bearded Theory Festival on the Convoy Cabaret stage which was fun! So much so that after we'd played we wanted more! Robert Plant was playing the main stage so with our artist passes we blagged our way there. Half way through the song "Going to California" we rushed the stage and started playing our own song "You Can't Bring It On". It turns out however that Mr Plant actually has a bloody good right hook on him, I didn't bother to duck as I thought his fist would simply crumble on contact but it's still very much in decent shape. I stacked it into the drum kit, Sprucie scaled the rigging and Christopher burrowed into the drum riser like a tick! It took a good half an hour and 12 members of staff to remove us in the end.

OL: You're obviously an act that must been seen live... can you remember a moment when you thought, oh wow this is all coming together now?
DHB: Back to Bearded Theory Festival, during our set the stage manager told us we could play for longer if we wanted. Well we didn't have enough material rehearsed at the time so to fill the space I climbed onto one of the dancing stages where they had some dancers and had a bit of a boogie before full on jumping off and returning to the main stage to carry out the rest of our set, I'm sure the fall would have killed a lesser man.

OL:You've got some summer shows at festivals coming up, can you talk about them and how they came about...
DHB: Probably the most exciting one is the Boomtown Festival with bands like Gorilliaz, Die Antwoord and Limp Bizkit, which we managed to get off the back of the Bearded Theory Festival slot. Basically, the person who booked a stage at Boomtown was there and saw us, they liked us a lot and asked us if we would play. We've got other festivals, like Green Gathering which is a totally Green festival, all solar powered and what not, also Festival 8 that boasts flushing toilets for all and a spa! So we'll be in that for the weekend. The spa that is not the toilets.