In a corner of a dilapidated southeast London bar, two members of Dublin’s Fight Like Apes sit on a low sofa with their legs pressed primly together. She is a Siouxsie Sioux acolyte, all goth hair and Elvira cheekbones, while he is the archetypal geek: lank haired, unshaven, and full of arcane B-movie references.
“In the flesh, we are pretty ordinary, I’m afraid,” synth player Jamie Fox admits in his strong accent, “but we come alive in our music. I wouldn’t like to say alcohol helps…”
“But it helps a lot,” singer MayKay Geraghty adds. “We like to be drunk.”
Fox, 24, and Geraghty, 22, met seven years ago on vacation in Spain and instantly bonded. She introduced him to cheesy TV shows like Beverly Hills, 90210; he played her his cherished Pavement albums. Six years later in Dublin, they recruited bassist Tom Ryan, 24, and drummer Adrian Mullan, 29, and formed Fight Like Apes, a deliriously combustible post-punk outfit Courtney Love may well wish to adopt. On their debut U.S. EP, You Filled His Head With Fluff y Clouds and Jolly Ranchers, What Did You Think Was Going to Happen? (Model Citizen), Geraghty yelps about everything from The Nanny‘s Fran Drescher to fish and chips, but mainly focuses on relationships gone wrong. “I fucking hate it when men get all needy,” she says. “Why do they do that?”
One of their more arresting songs is “Tie Me Up With Jackets,” a paean to S&M that the singer claims is “our most romantic song.” The band members also like to get physical onstage — by hitting, kicking, and pushing each other over amps. “There is something extremely liberating about throwing punches at each other and not giving a shit whether we end up in hospital afterwards,” says Geraghty brightly.
“It’s just brother-and-sister wrestling, is all,” Fox explains.
And does it ever get sexual?
Fox splutters. “Christ, no! I find her as attractive as a chair.”
Geraghty glowers. Foolish man.
