by RAF KATIGBAK

Exactly three years ago, on a sweltering Saturday night in July, four young lads from Louisville, Kentucky strapped on their instruments, turned their amps to the proverbial 11 and proceeded to whip the normally subdued crowd at Casa del Popolo into a frenzy of screaming, pogoing indie-disco-rock freaks. Taking their cue from French house acts like Daft Punk and Bob Sinclar, VHS or Beta charged through an hour of guitar-driven disco-techno-punk, the guitar-lick crescendos and four-on-the-floor backbeat build-ups turning the roomful of cooler than thou kids into what was essentially an indie-rock rave. Everywhere you turned, limber bodies melted into a mish-mash of corduroy, sweat, fishnets, thick-rimmed glasses and asymmetrical haircuts.

“That was one of our best memories ever,” recalls bassist Mark Palgy. “That show was so amazing! Then we came back to Montreal maybe like a year later and we were like, ‘Oh yeah, Montreal!’ It’s gonna be so great! But the promoter fucked up so bad and we played for three people and the band that opened up for us was like an acoustic thing singing, like, Britney Spears, it was like, ‘Oh my God…’ So, for us, Montreal represents the highest and lowest.”

Undaunted and armed with a laser-guided focus on rocking our collective socks off (and a new album, Night on Fire), VHS or Beta return to conquer Montreal next week. Upon hearing about fellow disco-punks LCD Soundsytem’s recent success performing in Montreal, Palgy is excited but cautious.

“It’s been a blessing and a curse at the same time. A lot of people think we’re jumping on the dance-rock bandwagon, but they don’t know that we’ve been doing dance music for six years. People used to look at us like aliens because we had electronic drums. Now everyone and their mother—even singer-songwriters—have their dance tunes. It’s really weird.”

With controller.controller at la Sala Rossa
on Tuesday, July 19, 9 p.m., $12

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