Buffalo 66 [DVD]

Product Information

According to the band, they formed at the top of a ferris wheel, drunk, after a 2019 Idles festival set.

I Don’t Want to Go Out drips with trademark Teasdale snark, accessorised here and there by a spacey, theremin-like keyboard line. It’s in the offhand way Teasdale delivers non-sequiturs and the stop-start pacing and fuzzy crescendos of their songs.One organ pronounced Chaise Longue one of the most exciting debut singles since Arctic Monkeys’ I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor. Billy Brown has just been released from prison and he arranges to visit his parents who he hasnt told of his stint at the pleasure of the state. If Wet Leg’s signature move is a kind of sarcastic innuendo (“I’ve got Buffalo 66 on DVD” is one of Teasdale’s come hithers), they perform it while looking thoroughly wholesome.

Chambers and Teasdale might have named themselves after a loss of bladder control – there is a wicked ick factor to a lot of their lyrics – but “wet leg” could equally describe the ejaculatory critical response to them. I give it a positive rating on account of the talent displayed in the acting and the directing and also on account of the risks it took. Later, Teasdale sings about checking her phone on another off-kilter track that has an unexpectedly heavy, near-psychedelic payoff. Ill openly admit on here to having an unhealthy fixation with Christina Ricci (something that ill deny in a court of law though) and this is probably responsible for the problem that I had with this film. It transpires that Billy is a very mixed up individual in all likelihood due to a combination of deeply unsuitable parents and severe emotional issues with the opposite sex that goes back to school and a disturbing crush on a classmate at school (see my earlier references to Ricci).

Their bassist and a third guitarist rock out either side, the latter often hunched over a small keyboard. And although it is still very early days – an album is mooted for some time next year – the band Wet Leg probably most resemble tonight is Pavement, a mainstay of the Domino label in the 90s. But a few more minutes in and the film begins to reveal an edgy, dark humor and bitter honesty that is somewhat reminiscent of Coen Brothers and Jarmusch films.

In the midst of a British post-punk revival in which declamatory sing-talkers front bands full of wiry guitars, Wet Leg have added absurdist one-liners and a reckless commitment to fun. A few hours before this headline show, they tweet wryly: “Big thank you to everyone that’s bought a ticket after having only heard two songs. My problem throughout was that whilst I understood Billys issues, other than an arguably a nice bum he had no redeeming features whatsoever. It doesn't care at all if we are going to hate his character, and despite being a bit uneven, especially close to the end when its protagonist's motivations feel weirdly out of character, this is an always absorbing film that manages to make us empathize with such a detestable person.Maybe thats the point, in that process of love is not rational and we are destined to fall for the first mentalist that kidnaps us and takes us against our will? There are multiple opportunities throughout for her to escape but for some unfathomable reason she doesnt? Convict Billy Brown (Vincent Gallo) dreads going home so much upon his release from prison that he tries to get back inside. The parents are just not interested in him and Mum is more interested in the Buffalo Bills footie team (hence the title) and the Dad is more interested in Laylas breasts and spends the entire drooling over them and using every opportunity to touch her in an entirely inappropriate way. He is only human after all and I understand these feelings entirely and this is possibly influenced the fact that Layla wears a dress throughout with (very obviously) no underwear that leaves very little to the imagination?

It’s a squeeze for all five touring members of the band, centred on old music college friends Hester Chambers and Rhian Teasdale.

The band’s videos featured the pair dressed as folksy “cottage-core” milkmaids – homespun frauleins who nonetheless sometimes sport lobster claws. On paper, the duo have had just a pair of tracks out and support from 6 Music, but somehow a US tour in December is now sold out, likewise every UK date they have announced for 2022. In the films defence, towards the end the film does take a turn for the better and you do end up caring a little more for the both of them but not enough to rescue it from its muddled beginnings.