On the Road Again
Live Reviews:

The Beta Band
June 18, 1999
Aro Space, Seattle, Washington

Suitably decked out in glow in the dark rain suits, The Beta Band played their last of a short, four-stop U.S. showcase tour to promote their latest self titled album with fervor. The studiously-trippy Scottish four-piece of Robin Jones (synth/percussion), John McLean (synth/keyboards), Richard Greentree (bass) and Steve Mason (vocals/ guitars/drums) — were occasionally joined on stage by a rapping DJ and a horn-player as NASA footage and strobe lights back-dropped their playfully brooding stage antics.

Blending everything from turntable scratching with country twang to screaming-synth and chirping cuckoo-birds, The Beta Band manages to play genre-addled melodies without showing off or sounding contrived. If anything, the outfit seemed somewhat awkward on stage; stewing up rhythms from Zulu to hip-hop — they play with an earnest mission to conquer their own boredom and to confound (major) labels and journalists. Mason's soothing, murky vocals steered the band through a 90-minute set compiled from The Three EP's — a collection of their first three impossible to track down UK singles — and their latest eponymous release.

Playing an unrecognizable rendition of Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart", The Beta Band meandered through folk ("Dogs Got A Bone"), house ("The House Song") and progressive 70's wackiness; they proved to be equally fascinated by a contrived 80's pop-song as they are by African bongo-beats.

Later that evening, long after the show was over, the Beta-brothers took the party upstairs in the Aro Space and proceeded to spin a few of their favorite tunes to some thirty-odd party stragglers who refused to go home to Canada. They spun everything from The Band and Public Enemy to the Beatles — perhaps a little indication of where this band might be coming from — which would be everywhere.