December 18, 1997
Back in the days when their band was still known as Sal’s Birdland, Artificial Joy Club’s resident “chick singer” Sal and guitar guru Leslie Howe used to spend their free time helping out another young singer named Alanis Morissette. Alanis, as we all know, has since exploded into the stratosphere with her debut release, JAGGED LITTLE PILL, but AJC have noisily assembled a smashing major-label debut of their own in the form of MELT, and Thursday evening at Peabody’s DownUnder, the charismatic Canadian quintet put on a display that made Morissette’s JAGGED LITTLE live show seem novice by comparison.
Playing Peabody’s nearly two years to the day since Birdland’s last Cleveland gig at the venue, AJC electrified the sparse but enthusiastic audience throughout the otherwise chilly December evening. Opening with the deliberate defiance of MELT’s “I Say,” AJC generated some serious energy from the start. The brooding “Cheeky Monkey” followed suit, as Howe and fellow six-stringer Michael Goyette honed their razor edge attack as Sal wound herself into a frenzy, prowling the stage barefoot on an oriental rug as she sang. She’s napalm with Novocain, this one. A kite in a hurricane.
The band hit an early stride early on with MELT’s opening salvo, the sarcastic-laden “Psychic Man,” which Sal playfully dedicated to soul sister Dionne Warwick. Dripping with drama and showered with shimmering guitars, “Psychic Man” was a caustic treat. “No Shame” offered a slight change of pace, a wry look at being the underdog in a bussiness full of sharks and piranhas. “This song is about not being famous in the music bussiness,” Sal quipped as the band sauntered into “No Shame.” “We can definetily relate to that.” With muscular guitars, soaring vox, and torching solo by Goyette, “No Shame” perfectly set the stage for AJC’s first single.
As bassist Tim Dupont sprang to life with a twisted, pulsing groove, Sal introduced “Sick and Beautiful” as “a song about a few of my ex-boyfriends.” The explosive energy of the dark radio hit carried over into the crowd.
Feeling plenty of love from the audience, AJC rewarded the longtime fans in attendance with several cuts from Birdland’s NUDE PHOTOS INSIDE, including “I’m so Fucking Happy,” which perfectly reflected the attitude and wit that is Artificial Joy Club. I’m so fucking happy/My life is a dream/A day at Disneyland, Sal smirked. I’m so very happy/ I just want to scream.
“Wake Up” simply cooked, raising the temerature in the previously frigid room to its boiling point. While many of the songs on MELT have a full sound replete with lush keyboards, this was an all-out, in-your-face guitar assault. Next up were a couple more vintage Birdland treats, after which the lively Goyette coaxed an assortment of squaks and screams from his guitar for “Skywriting,” the bands soaring second single.
Their momentum at its peak AJC brought the set to a rousing finish with a funky, cosmic reading of “You’re Too Good to Me.”
Begged back onstage for an encore, Artificial Joy Club dutifully obliged with a jarring cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” that matched the power and fury of its original note for note. Sal may just be a “chick singer,” as she puts it, but she went toe-to-toe with a legend and came out on top.
If you’re among the 16-or-so million people who ran out and bought JAGGED LITTLE PILL but have yet to experience Artificial Joy Club, you’re seriously missing the boat. Their junk is habitual. It’s sick and it’s beautiful.
Bottom line: there was nothing artificial about the joy experienced in the club on this night.
by: Steven Batten