NYLON - March 2008 - (Page 153) PALM OFF You could Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, but here’s our recommendation: Cut Off Your Hands instead. By Rosie Swash. Photographed by Rob Meyers The first time I came across habitually black-clad New Zealand indierock quartet Cut Off Your Hands was just before a Les Savy Fav show last October. They were stumbling around backstage, having been spotted lurking in the audience by Les Savy Fav’s bassist and offered an impromptu support slot. The London crowd, always ready to be unimpressed, looked on in prickly silence as guitarist Ricky Ramirez, singer Nick Johnston, bassist Phil Hadfield, and drummer Brent Harris got on with the business of performing one of their typically exuberant sets, apparently unperturbed by the crowd’s initial reaction, or by the fact that Les Savy Fav’s guitarist insisted on referring to them as “Cut Your Hands Off.” By the end of their set, however, it was clear they had won over everyone in the room. Indeed, Johnston now says the show remains a highlight on COYH’s calendar, which is quite a feat for a band who play nearly every night. Contrary to their aforementioned austere wardrobes, the band are fairly stereotypical antipodeans: totally down-to-earth and incapable of taking themselves, or their music, too seriously. “We grew up in Auckland, where there are 1.4 million people, but there was no ‘scene’ as such. Most of the things we were into were happening elsewhere in the world,” says Hadfield. Johnston rattles off a range of influences, but Cut Off Your Hands, who formed in 2003, are predominantly a classic post-punk quartet, which means plenty of staccato threechord riffs, vocals tinged with New Wave disaffection, and lyrics about hapless romantic endeavors. Johnston references a belated discovery of grunge and Washington D.C hardcore as the watershed moment COYH stopped being surrounded by whatever “radio rock bullshit” was on Auckland’s airwaves and started being interested in bands like Fugazi and Minor Threat. Hadfield is more forthcoming about the band’s potential chart appeal: when discussing what ex-Suede member Bernard Butler added to their music as a producer, he says, “Bernard brought out our pop sensibilities.” Johnston’s succinct summary of Butler’s contribution is that he “took out the shit bits and made the good bits better.” As for those pop sensibilities, there is something intrinsically cute about songs such as “Expectations” and “Still Fond,” which manage to tread the line between twee and angsty without ever tipping the balance too far either way. While their Shaky Hands EP (a title taken from the band’s original name before a Portland band called Shaky Hands became litigious) is racking up considerable admiration, thanks in large part to those prolific and emphatically performed live shows, and with a debut full-length on the horizon, reaction to the band will no doubt be something like that of the audience at the Les Savy Fav gig. Some will likely mimic the respectful nods and occasional pogo-er, for this is music that isn’t hard to appreciate even the first time round, but we suspect far more people will respond just like the girl who squealed: “Oh my God, it’s Cut Off Your Hands! I love them, they are so cute!”
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.