SCROOBIUS PIP delivers the words to make you think and Dan Le Sac provides music that is infectious, catchy, and street-wise, creating an an irresistible combination for mind and feet.
Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip, the brilliant English hip hop duo, make a welcome return to Galway to play upstairs in Kelly’s on Sunday November 7 at 8pm.
Scroobius Pip (born David Meads ) began writing poetry in 2005, taking his stage name from Edward Lear’s poem, The Scroobious Pip. In 2006, he teamed up with DJ Dan Le Sac after Le Sac had booked him to do a gig in Reading. By the end of the year they had written the song that is now (one of ) their anthem(s ): ‘Thou Shalt Always Kill’.
‘Thou Shalt Always Kill’ is an invigorating critique of modern popular culture and attitudes (“Thou shalt give equal worth to tragedies that occur in non-English speaking countries as to those that occur in English speaking countries” ) and a withering attack on people’s tendency and need for idols: “The Beatles? Were just a band/Led Zeppelin? Just a band/The Beach Boys? Just a band/The Sex Pistols? Just a band/The Clash? Just a band.”
Early 2008 saw the duo release their debut album Angles, which contained ‘Thou Shalt Always Kill’ and other killer tracks like the impossible to stay still to ‘The Beat That My Heart Skipped’ and ‘Letter From God To Man’.
‘Letter From God To Man’ is a powerful inversion of the critique of religion from people like Richard Dawkins, drawing attention to the fact that war, hatred, prejudice, and terrorism stem, not from any supernatural force or faith, but from within humanity itself - a fact that is much more uncomfortable to acknowledge:
“It was you that invented bombs and the fear that comes with them/it was you that invented money, and the corrupt economic systems/You invented terms like ‘Just war’ and terms like ‘Friendly Fire’,/...It was you that used my teachings for your own personal gain/it was you that committed such tragedies, even if they were in my name.”
This year saw Dan and Pip release their second album, the excellent The Logic Of Chance and a number of its tracks have quickly become concert staples such as the beguiling and compassionate ‘Get Better’ and the powerful ‘Stake A Claim’.
‘Stake A Claim’ chimes well with the mood of the times and is arguably the finest protest song to emerge from Britain in the last few years. Irish audiences can certainly relate to it as we ponder how the current Government squandered the boom and mortgaged the State to pay off the debts of dead and delinquent banks:
“In this democracy I as a citizen am not accountable to the government/In this democracy the government is accountable to us, the people/In this democracy the government is elected by us, the people/To represent us, the people/In our best interests, on a national and international scale/And if they’re not doing so, In this democracy,/I as a citizen reserve the right/To raise up.”
Don’t miss them. Tickets are €15.
