We can all ignore emails from Nigerian Princes, Russian women in your area who want to date you, and miracle growth products for hair and penis, but what you cannot ignore is a cease and desist letter telling you that the name of your band has infringed a company’s copyright and you must, well, cease and desist from using it. This is how The Wife Guys of Reddit became The Foot & Leg Clinic. Most bands have to change their name due to another band having the same name in a different territory (Suede and The Beat in the UK become London Suede and The English Beat in the US) and who could forget that Spinal Tap began as The Originals but there was already a band called The Originals so they became The New Originals (something I was reminded of, ironically enough, on a Reddit thread).
But I can categorically say that since I reviewed The Wife Guys Walk Into Oncoming Traffic EP in 2022 the name may have changed but the music is still as compelling and I still say they ‘come out swinging like a super-confident 9-year old in a playground fight’. Sit Down for Rock and Roll is a fabulous tumble through music that’s rooted in their modern take on rock but also diversifies into angular indie and lightly psychedelic folk. So, you get all the raw energy of Iggy and the Stooges combined with the lo-fi warmth of Jonathan Richmond and the trippy folk of Syd Barret.
The track ‘Hot Air’ switches from pastoral folk-pop with jaunty acoustic guitar and lilting tune then, towards the end, the entire track stomps on the distortion pedal to rock out before returning a gentle cool down. ‘Dear Bongo’ was inspired by Captain Beefheart’s infamous response to a collab request from U2’s Bono, and it has the propulsion of a Jonathan Richmond track with all the crisp guitar play of Television (plus some subtle bongos in the background). It’s obvious that since the name change they have lost none of their sense of humour.
If you want rock’n’roll for the hear-and-now then The Foot & Leg Clinic are happy to oblige, but we also get the playful syncopation of ‘Worms 2’* and the Stereolab-sounding waltz of ‘Music for Baby Fairy’ and it’s 4/4 twin ‘The Mariposal Antidote’. ‘Simon Kitchen’s Drystone Miracle’ is crunchy and punch drunky. ‘..Halcyon’ highlights the delight of acoustic guitar and bass working parallel octaves with the glorious high-low combination of male and female voices in unison all punctuated by fuzzed-up riffs and solos such as you get here and on ‘Where did all the fruit go?’. The Foot & Leg Clinic move from acoustic to electric and fun to frenzy with ease. They know how to pick out the tastiest morsels at a buffet.
Through a change in their approach to writing, Niamh catching a virus on tour from which she’s never fully recovered or dealing with bereavement I am pleased to say that, unlike the legal action around their original name, they have neither ceased nor desisted from making damn fine music. The clinic is open and I want to be first in the queue.
The band are: Niamh R MacPhail (lyrics, vocals, bass, percussion, harp, production, strings arrangement), Arion Xenos (lyrics, engineer, piano, synth, guitar, vocals, saxophone, percussion), Angus Fernie (piano, electric piano, synth, artwork) & Elise Atkinson (drums)
The Foot and Leg Clinic: Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram | YouTube
Sit Down For Rock And Roll Was funded in part by Creative Scotland
* ‘Worms 2’ also gave me a happy flashback to 1981 and the spiky-wonk of ‘Bricks’ by the Diagram Brothers.
Review by Paul F Cook
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