The Super Adventures of...

Super Adventure Club demand attention. Their music is a mixture of spiky riffs, devilish time changes and barked vocals that channel the Pixies and Pavement in equal measure. Their personal appearance varies from gig to gig, thanks to the homemade costumes they generally sport. Moreover, they are routinely joined onstage by a dancing horse, which is likely some downtrodden friend-of-the-band harangued into dressing up for the audience’s amusement.

This approach to performing can often confuse unwary observers. As this writer left Nice ‘N’ Sleazy following the band’s recent single launch, he was struck by a remonstration between two fellow gig-goers. One loudly declared the gig to be the best he’d seen in a long time, while the other was proclaiming that he completely failed to understand why a band would dress as zombies. “That’s the fucking point!” the former claimed, somewhat irritated.

“We do like a good gimmick,” admits drummer Neil Warrack. “But I think that it’s separate from the music. I don’t think us being dressed up distracts anyone from the music.”

Aren't they worried that some people might feel that the gimmicks do take away from the music? Frontman Bruce Wallace thinks that this is all part of the experience. “At the end of the day, what you want from a show is some sort of entertainment. Whatever is entertaining you more, whether it’s the visuals or the music, or a combination of the two, it doesn’t really matter.

“It’s the melodies that make the difference I think, cheeky melodies. If you make something cheeky, it takes the up-its-own-arse edge off things, and makes it more accessible. As long as there’s a strand of something you can listen to, people can get into it.”

This commitment to the art of entertainment has to be admired, given that most guitar bands' stage show consists of standing on the same spot looking as disinterested as possible. If this approach is ever questioned, clichés about ‘letting the music do the talking’ are generally wheeled out.

Super Adventure Club, however, relish playing and performing equally. They freely admit that some people don’t always understand this approach after seeing them, as Warrack explains. “It would be nice if people came up after every show and said ‘we really get it’ but I don’t think that will ever happen.” Not that this fact especially bothers them. “I do think we see the funny side of people being a bit bemused. We certainly like to joke around with the idea.”

“We’re not trying to be difficult,” adds Bruce. “It’s just what we like.”

Standing out from the legions of identikit indie bands, Super Adventure Club were noticed and talked about right from the get-go. “We got a response from people from day one,” says Warrack. “People weren’t necessarily loving it, but they found it intriguing.”

“I think people are more understanding now,” interjects bassist Mandy Clarke. “It can take a bit of work listening to our new tunes. But it’s rewarding, at least I think so.”

The band’s acclaimed debut, Chalk Horror, resulted in an invitation to support Dananananaykroyd on their UK tour. Despite the entire band being struck down by flu, they gamely managed to complete the tour without cancellations. Wallace smiles at the memory. “It was a case of sleeping and sweating for 23 hours a day, going on stage for half an hour and trying to play as tightly as possible without falling over.”

“It certainly gave us an edge,” deadpans Neil. “I’m just not sure it’s the edge that you want.”

The tour did pay some dividends, however, inspiring the writing of their new album, Avoid Zombies! With a title like that, you might imagine this was a band with a definite sense of humour. The reality is that this band are more serious than many care to imagine: they’ll let the music do the talking, anytime you want.