Gus Gus: The Schnitzel on the Highway Tour

Raise your hand if you can name a musical group or musician that hails from Iceland. Not so fast – one that doesn’t include Björk. Anyone… anyone? Well, consider yourselves part of the elite group of individuals who can now name TWO groups from Iceland – Björk and Gus Gus (pronounced ‘Goose Goose’).

The whole genre of ‘techno-soul’ is quite new to me. Actually, I’d never even heard of it until my roommate Marlene told me about it and some of the leading bands in it (like Gus Gus) when I first arrived. Techno-soul isn’t soul in the Aretha Franklin sense of the word – more like contemporary R&B/Soul, more akin to Angie Stone (if you’re familiar with her) put to a techno beat. It’s upbeat, good for dancing, and quintessential Europop.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start at the very beginning (a very good place to start), with the venue where the concert was held. Flex is frequently called the best music venue/club in Vienna, and it offers an utterly unique location – right on the banks of the Danube River, with the club itself actually underground. For those of you from the Bay Area, it’s like a less-classy version of 12 Galaxies, made more atmospheric by the thick haze of cigarette smoke. Oh, and the restrooms are wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling mirrors, including the inside and outside of the stall doors…meaning you get to watch yourself pee. Very strange. Apart from the smoke and mirrors (damn, I didn’t even try for that one), I like the venue.

From the start it proved to be a very Nordic sort of evening, starting with the opening act Khan of Finland, a three-member dance group who were a little Scissor Sisters, a little Run DMC, and a little Cher. On the whole they were really talented, which you definitely don’t expect of most opening acts. Their percussionist was also a beat boxer, and honestly I don’t know if I have ever heard someone better. It took three songs for me to realize that there was no drum and bass line – just him. The lead singer’s flair for the dramatic (involving several wigs and costume changes) should have given me a better sense of what to expect from Gus Gus, but I just thought to myself, “Hey, this must be what they do in Finland.”

As the title mentioned, Gus Gus is currently on their “Schnitzel on the Highway” European Tour. Don’t ask me why they chose Vienna’s signature meat dish as roadkill for the tour name – a happy coincidence is all I can guess. And as the cliché phrase goes, Gus Gus is very big in Europe, particularly in the dance scene. When I told several people who I was seeing, they were quite familiar with them – and astonished that they weren’t big in the US. “Maybe they are,” I said, “but admittedly I don’t roll in the techno-soul circles back home.”

Seeing Gus Gus perform makes me very curious about Iceland on the whole. I personally know only one person who has very been to Iceland (that’s you Brent), but the stories I have heard (and truthfully the outfits I’ve seen) make me wonder if there is a little something extra in Icelandic water. That, or Björk has set the standard so high for utterly ridiculous outfits (her appearance at Coachella was another fashion classic) that every performer in Iceland feels the need to step it up a notch and compete. But honestly, after the swan dress at the Oscars (egg included), why even try?

Gus Gus is comprised of five members, three of whom alternate lead vocals, and two women performing backup vocals. The two men in the group wore the more mundane outfits, the one being outfitted in head-to-toe black, while the other smeared black war paint around his eyes and must have decided that on Tuesdays he’ll only wear a towel. Not to be outdone, the backup singers brandished their faces with glittery blue war paint, done in the fashion of masks, and wore only ruffled petticoats (hiked up to their chest), making them look like a cross between a Wild West prostitute and a warn-torn smurf. But the real icing on the cake came from their female lead singer, who I am convinced assembled her wardrobe from leftovers off the set of Xanadu – with a little ‘70s Cher thrown in for extra measure. The resulting product was a pink, yellow, and orange neon tie-dye, skin-tight jumpsuit with large, wire-enforced black ruffles wrapping from the shoulder all the way down to the ankle. She opted for the classier, more subdued silver war paint on her face, which complemented her perfectly coiffed Farrah Fawcett hairdo nicely. Björk would be very, very proud.

But at the end of the day, Gus Gus really is talented, and their music is great to dance to. For an example, check out their song “David” (www.myspace.com/gusgus). However, it did strike me a little odd that more people weren’t dancing at the concert – you got more of the head bobbing, shoulder shake-thing than actual dancing – but I guess that’s how people in techno-soul roll in Vienna.

Actually, that’s not entirely true. There was one girl in front of me who was embracing the beat and bobbing up and down to the music. She had a unique dance style that involved moving her elbows back and forth, and unfortunately for me her right elbow constantly found refuge in my left breast. I know I’m not big busted, but honestly, how could she not feel that her elbow was hitting someone’s boob? Not knowing how to say, “Please stop impaling my breast” in German, I resorted to bringing my left arm up to cross and cover my chest, so that at least I’d have a chance at breast feeding my children in the future. After that she managed to keep her elbows more or less to herself, and I was able to enjoy the music and the one-of-a-kind experience that is Gus Gus, Flex, and the world of European techno-soul. Cheers for now everyone, and thank you again for the comments and e-mails. Love and miss you all!