Sister Machine Gun – with Die Krupps at Axis – Review

Sister Machine Gun

with Die Krupps at Axis
by Elissa Dennis

I totally forget the first band because I was ever the unprepared little journalist and forgot to take notes. All I remember is that they made way too much use of a fog machine. I suppose everyone has to have a gimmick. They made me cough.

Then Die Krupps‘ singer gave the audience instruction on how to pronounce their German name, but, alas, he did not enlighten us as to what it meant. He had a penchant for doing “the stadium intro” (where he yells the name of the upcoming song hoping for applause of recognition) but nobody got into it. I felt sorta bad that they came all this way for such a lukewarm reception, but it didn’t make me like them any better.

Sister Machine Gun is one of those one-man brainchildren (as in NIN), but frontman Chris found a few touring musicians to help bring his industrial music to the masses. And I am eternally grateful. For a band whose current claim to fame is a track on the Mortal Kombat soundtrack, Sister Machine Gun is a surprisingly powerful live band. “Burn,” the single, is industrial with a trip hop vibe. Some of the other songs make you want to dance, others make you want to pummel the nearest animate object. And then there were a few songs that gave me thoughts that unfortunately were not acted upon. But there is always the next show.