by CHRIS BARRY

They may not be the first band to claim their music comes directly from God, they being nothing more than the vehicle through which He chooses to communicate His word. But Montreal's very own Launie Anderssohn are probably the first troupe of nutty minstrels to clearly articulate God's heretofore unspoken obsessions with the mentally challenged, Chuck Berry's sexual peccadilloes, and, most likely, His interest in the joys of making sweet love to a freshly dug-up corpse.

"People have accused us of being insensitive, or of lacking discretion," says Launie's resident geetar stud, Gunter LeCourvoiser, "but we just pick up on God's word whistling through the wind and incorporate that into our music with as little filtering as possible. If people want to take issue with our lyrical content, well, they're barking up the wrong tree. Tell them to take it up with Him. Don't shoot the messenger, you know?"

Formed three years ago in the badass 'burb of Côte St-Luc and profoundly inspired by the sounds of the Stranglers, 2 Live Crew and the recent musical endeavours of former Life Goes On star Chris Burke, the four wacky cats who make up the meat of Launie Anderssohn claim they'd never even heard of the busty '70s icon with whom they share a name until earlier this month, but are now considering taking legal action forcing her to pick up a new handle.

Partially in order to help cover the legal costs of said bold endeavour, the Anderssohns have just released their second CD Dark Bleuge. It follows hard on the heels of their 2001 mega-smash Launie Anderssohn Plays Music for God, and they'll be doing a series of local dates to help spread "the word" and stimulate CD sales - which have been steady but could always be better.

"Most prophets," whines a whimsical LeCourvoiser, "are generally not understood in their own time. Everyone kind of thinks you're crazy. But hey, look at Jesus Christ. Years later everybody started going, ‘You know what, that guy was right!' And then they started a religion based on what the guy said. I think Launie Anderssohn just needs to be patient."

With les Guichets Automatiques at Barfly
on Friday, November 28, 10pm, $5

>> Music Listings