THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, May 20, 1996 TAG: 9605190276
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: MUSIC REVIEW
SOURCE: BY SUE VanHECKE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 46 lines
Spacehog are four whip-thin lads from Leeds, England, who shamelessly - gleefully - pilfer from the glam-rock style bin with such cheeky charisma they're downright irresistible. The band utterly charmed a packed house at the Oceanfront's Abyss Saturday night, prompting shouts of ``Hail to the Hog!'' by show's end.
The flamboyant Hogs - whose Mott the Hoople-ish single ``In The Meantime'' has landed them on the pop charts - seem to have sampled their fair share of '70s-era glitter rock; bold strokes of T. Rex, David Bowie, Sweet and even the Bay City Rollers tint the band's look and sound.
Strutting vocalist and bassist Royston Langdon sings in a theatrical Bowie-meets-Axl Rose manner. Accessorized this night with oversized rose-tinted sunglasses, he dressed up songs from the group's debut LP, ``Resident Alien,'' with stylish bass-to-falsetto affectations.
His brother, the sashaying guitarist Antony Langdon - playing on sparkle-finished and flying-V-styled axes of yesterday's arena rock stars, wearing a whimsically outdated Iron Maiden baseball jersey and sporting a spiky '70s shag hairstyle - coughed up huge, swirling riffs and spacey, echoing chords.
He took over vocal duties on the gender-bending ``Space Is The Place,'' a punky ode that proved the Hogs know their Sex Pistols.
Songs that seem overly long on the album were infused with a grand energy in performance, thanks largely to the jubilantly assertive licks of lead guitarist Richard Steel, a man unafraid of the showy guitar solo, and the exuberant drumming of the plaid-trousered Jonny Cragg.
Indeed, it was the band's sheer joy in performance - a rare thing in these angst-weighted, post-grunge days - that rendered Spacehog so darned endearing. ILLUSTRATION: MUSIC REVIEW
Spacehog
Saturday at the Abyss in Virginia Beach
by CNB