Suburban Nietzsche Freak by Fuck Dress

God is dead so I listen to Radiohead
God is dead so I listen to Radiohead
I live with my mum in a chalet bunglalow
And I've read half of Ecce Homo
God is dead so I listen to Radiohead
God is dead so I listen to Radiohead
I've got a will to power that's why I don't shower
I've got a will to power that's why I don't shower

File into the system
Two copies purchased of everything
One to use, one to save
Double entry recording system
Clear plastic folder for all copies
One copy used, one copy saved

God is dead so I listen to Radiohead
God is dead so I listen to Radiohead
I listen to Jet on my Dansette
I listen to Jet on my Dansette

Time wasted now
Time saved later
Time saved now
Time wasted later

God is dead so I listen to Radiohead
God is dead so I listen to Radiohead
I know what time the buses run
I know where to go to find my fun
I know which way the cycle lanes run
I know where to go to find my fun
God is dead so I listen to Radiohead
God is dead so I listen to Radiohead

All Music TV (Italy)

Rob Da Bank, Radio 1 (UK)

Queens of Noize, 6 Music (UK)
Tom Robinson, BBC 6 Music (UK)

Disco Grande, Radio 3, Single of the month (Spain)

From
The Devil Has The Best Tuna
August 2008

Now this is why I started the blog to bring tracks like the outstanding 'Suburban Nietszche Freak' by Norwich's Fuck Dress to the attention of a wider audience. It's one of the best tracks I've heard this year, and one of the few (along with The Lovely Eggs 'I Like Birds But I Like Other Animals Too' and Eux Autres 'When I'm Up') that has been on constant repeat. It's a serious contender for the Devil's top 10 of 2008 and it's only August.

With it's angular guitar, metronomic drums and alienated male and female vocals it harks back to a time when indie actually meant something, a time when indie was a badge of honour for bands who stood outside the mainstream not a day pass to the 'C' list, a time when intelligence and experimentation meant more than a diploma from the Brits School. Add in the annoyingly catchy chorus 'God Is Dead So I Listen To Radiohead' which buries itself in your brain and refuses to leave, and you have a cast iron indie classic.

The video, with it's dancing cardinals, ecclesiastical grunt mags, Benny Hill pastiches and Radiohead video spoofs looks as good as the single sounds, and it reveals how Thom did that singing in water thing without drowning.

'Suburban Nietszche Freak' by Fuck Dress is out now on Norwich's NRONE Records so why are you reading this get over there and part with the cash.

From
Norman Records Newsletter (UK)
August 2008

"God is dead, so I listen to Radiohead" That is fucking genius and forms part of the nihilist baiting verse on Fuck Dress's 'Suburban Nietzsche Freak' which is kinda like Prolapse pissing all over These New Puritans' bookshelf. It's a monotone, scratchy sarcastic indiefest & I bloody love it. It's even on grey vinyl for added monochrome frown action. Phil thinks it's good but the lyrics are "a bit naff", this from a man who runs out of the door on a Friday teatime brandishing German elevator muzak compilations laughing like a lunatic in drag. Strange chap but I do love him! The flip is like A House full of pissed off Nightingales and I'd like to think every song they do sounds the same AND THEY'LL NEVER MAKE AN ALBUM BECAUSE IT'S POINTLESS.....NROne records do the do...

Hipersónica (Spain)
July 2008

Do you remember the saga of 'Rainbows' by Radiohead? It took a while coming and by the end of it all I was bit fed up.
What if we laugh at Radiohead? Fuck Dress have dared to - uniting God and Radiohead in their song 'Suburban Nietzsche Freak. They've created both the chorus and the revelation of the year: God is dead so I listen to Radiohead.
The video clip is the funniest I've seen lately, along the lines so something by
Weezer. And I can't get that chorus out of my head!
Is this the song of the summer already? Guess what I'm going to to put in our top records next week?

¿Estás hasta los rainbows de los Radiohead? Pues sí, todos nos dejamos llevar el pasado año con el fenomeno que arrastró la salida de su último trabajo y al final tanto hablar de ellos, yo al menos, acabé un poco saturado. ¿Que tal si nos reímos de ellos? Pero de buen rollo, ¿eh?, el que tienen Fuck Dress atreviéndose a unir a Dios con Radiohead en su canción 'Suburban Nietzsche Freak' y regalándonos...

From
Les Inrockuptibles
July 2008

Ever since The Fall the English have always been good at scumbag philosophy - I'm thinking in particular about Art Brut. Fuck Dress are especially good at this variety of knowing banter with balls. Their single has the pretty title of "Suburban Nietzshe Freak" and a vociferous chorus : "God is dead so I listen to Radiohead". Unfortunately, to listen to it, is like getting hit by a saw in the head: it's then impossible to get rid of that mesmerizing chorus - one stays human, too human. 

C'est un art de la déglingue joyeuse et de l'érudition branleuse dans laquelle excellent les Anglais depuis The Fall - on pense notamment à Art Brut. Mais à ce jeu de la gouaille hautaine et de l'électricité en pelote, Fuck Dress (www.myspace.com/fuckdress) fait particulièrement fort, avec un single, le joliment titré Suburban Nietzsche Freak, dont le refrain vocifère : "Dieu est mort alors j'écoute Radiohead". L'écouter, malheureusement, c'est se prendre une scie en pleine tête : impossible de se débarrasser ensuite de ce refrain obsédant - on reste humain, trop humain.

The Mag (UK)
August 2008

9/10
"God is dead so I listen to Radiohead". "God is dead so I listen to Radiohead". There is no need to remember this simple lyric, because once you have listened to the single 'Suburban Nietzshe Freak' it will stay in your head for days. If The Streets (Mike Skinner) decided to use guitars and drums instead of turntables, this is what they would sound like. For a band from Norwich, Fuck Dress certainly know how to grab your attention.
The quirky band have created such a hit on the underground scene they are beginning to gain radio air-time already with their much more PC friendly name Bonk Frock, and I am not surprised in the slightest. Madden's tales of the "concerns of a middle aged man living in a provincial town" are a joy to listen to, with his voice reminding me of early Joy Division demos. The rhythm is spot on, and the intertwined male/female vocals fit perfectly into this superb single. It really does have the feel of a summer indie anthem.
'Sunshine Corporation' is again a top tune, although not as catching as its predecessor. The words of wisdom from Madden again fitting perfectly over a neat and catchy beat. The band fits together perfectly in their rant over an imperfect world.
Having reviewed quite a lot of records in the last 12 months, Fuck Dress are up their with the best of them, and is quite an achievement in me saying this is one of the most enjoyable singles I have heard in a very long time.
Fuck Dress is the type of band Britain has been looking for.

Massive Crush (UK)
June 2008

"God is dead, so I listen to Radiohead."

Quite so. How refreshing once in a while to find an utter throwback of
a tune like this. Here we are with a slice of indie back from when that
degraded word ever meant anything. This has surely wormed its way
through a rent in the fabric of time from 1985. (Perhaps Radiohead were
actually named after this lyric then?) The label of the day is In Tape
Records. The Fall are going through one of their periodic spells when
they are fashionable and it's cool to acknowledge their manifest
influence on all music (these moments are interspersed with long spells
where everyone forgets about The Fall, but they keep working
regardless). Yeah Yeah Noh are putting the fun back into being
pretentious. The Membranes are the next big thing. The June Brides are
surely going to change the world. And all records sound like this: thin
guitar, robotically thudding drums, and two singers, a deep-voiced male
and an accompanying female, apparently stood too far away from the
microphone. Things are recorded in sheds, and sound like it. The lyrics
are alienated, knowing and not afraid of wearing their smartness on
their sleeves.
Yep, I like this, like it a lot, and I'm going to listen to it 27 times
and then file it away for the next 10 years before rediscovering and
being confused by it. It currently exists only in non-physical form but
is due a real release from NROne records - no idea of the
capitalisation there, it's a guess - sometime next month, and you can
pre-order it (not an expression I have ever understood) there. Nrone
has become one of those quietly good labels which most of the time gets
it right. Inevitably there's a Myspace site, which rather shatters the
illusion that it's 1985, when we were all using ZX Spectrums, and there
are other tunes knocking around the internet, none of which,
inevitably, are as great as this.
Yet another fuck band, by the way, in what's getting to be quite a
collection, but it's becoming a bit boring to keep pointing this out,
isn't it?


R*E*P*E*A*T (UK)
July 2008

Occasionally I put bands on. Occasionally they're half decent. And very occasionally they blow me away.
Fuck dress were one such occasion. People ran from the venue with ears bleeding as the band held the rest of us in their steam hammered grip, captivated by the camel crushing mix of melody, noise, energy and attitude pouring from the stage. But what the fuck (dress) were they on about?
This single begins to explain things. Suburban Nietzsche Freak is a ranting commentary full of Fallesque mannerisms, with freaky neat rhythms and rhymes underpinning the streams of semi-spoken ejaculate. Underpinned by insistent boy/girl vocal trading and interjection, abrasive guitar action and prim..mostly) stand up drumming, the track seems to attempt to subvert post modern pomposities, complacent consumerist wet dreams and slogans for quietism "God is dead so I listen to Radiohead … I know what time the buses run, I know where to go to find my fun…"
If anything, the B side 'Sunshine Corporation (Palo Alto)' is even more lyrically unusual and unsettling, seemingly a cut'n'paste aural pastiche of bland phrases from a self help manual "You need to develop self confidence … Decide what you want to be and strive towards it … Keep a journal for joy … Leave the road to solitude and join the family way … develop new leadership skills… and influence people with the way that you speak in public…stop worrying and love yourself."
If all this sounds a bit unlike a rock'n'roll record, fear not. Both tracks are held together by insistently nagging riffs, head pounding drums and a very special combination of male and female voices that linger in the brain long after the ringing in the ears has ebbed away.
OK so the CD isn't quite up to the aural assault of the Fuck Dress live experience, and their radio friendly alto ego of 'Bonk Frock' might actually be a better name than their sweary proper title, but what the hell? This is one fuck (dress) of a record.
I can thoroughly recommend this band, and thoroughly recommend this CD
Single of the month, no question.


Calle 20 (Spain)
July 2008

A simple song that has the feel of a summer indie anthem. Adam & Anne from Fiel Garvie feature in this Norwich group debuting with a furious, barbed song. There's also a hilarious video that "debates with the church".


The Greater London Radio (UK)
June 2008

Good shit.
Thought i'd post up a few bands/ tracks that are making my ears happy
at the moment so...
FUCK DRESS are a norwich- born band who make the kind of half- spoken
knowingly odd yet still strangely catchy kind of post-punk racket
that's like a hybrid of art brut and half man half biscuit sung over
really tight guitars. Yeah its good.


Inkoma (IT)
June 2008

We don't know what went wrong between Radiohead and Fuck Dress, btw the
dancing clerical parody of 'Just' will make you smile for sure.
These three tracks are from Their debut 7" single Suburban Nietzsche
Freak (released by NROne records), and since its title bears an
intellectualoid attitude, nicely and ironically deviated.
From Norwich, UK, They shot three mad bullets swinging between new-wave
and noise Music, with declamatory vocals à la Mark E. Smith that
use images as slogan (You cannot ignore a non-sense pearl as 'God is
dead so I listen to Radiohead', title track's chorus) as well the harsh
and martial guitars, never falling from grace. Coordinates not far from
Pixies (especially about the female backing vocals), Chameleons and, as
mentioned, The Fall, - anyway Their inspiration and vocation is
genuine, and that's what keeps this brief three pieces set truly
enjoyable. [by Michele Pollice]


Beat Surrender (UK)
August 2008

NR One Records continue to deliver the goods, making a mockery of the preconception me and others previously had about music in this area of England, suddenly Anglia and uffolk looks like the breeding ground for all future rock legends!
The latest release is a very limited (250 only) 7" single from the wonderfully anti-radio-friendly Fuck Dress, a group which comprises three members of hotly tipped band Passing Clouds, who the Melody Maker were waxing lyrical about at the time.
That band and the magazine have both met their maker since, however Fuck Dress seem to have come back with a renewed sense of purpose, Suburban Nietzsche Freak is a really good lopsided Fall-esque track. The vocals are well delivered from Grant Madden and on the back of this i'd really like to catch them live.

From: Burning World
June 2008

This is just awesome. It's been on my ipod all weekend. Fuck Dress come
from Norwich and are completely new. I love it when a brand new band
step up and produce something like this that smacks you right on the
nose end. They have loads of gigs coming up which are all unfortunately
in the south of England. I say unfortunately but I suppose if you live
in the south it's quite handy really.