FOUR STAR MARY ­ Rock City (live) Posted by claire on Wednesday, June 27, 2001 Anyone familiar with the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer can¹t help but be familiar with Four Star Mary. Since the second series FSM have provided the music for the fictional band Dingoes Ate My Baby, and often accompany the vampire slaying carnage that peppers the show. So even if you don¹t realise it, you¹ve probably already heard several of their songs, with featured tracks on Party of Five and MTV¹s Real World on their CV, but somehow FSM have remained one of rocks best kept secrets. But before the secret can be unleashed tonight, we have Farrah onstage, a rowdy rock quartet that pump out a solid set of unashamedly loopy geek-rock. With songs like I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend and Lois Lane they wear their tongue in their cheek, and if you really need to label them, saying Wheatus wouldn¹t be a million miles off the mark. An energetic set, full of self-mocking humour and head-bobbing melodies that certainly got the front few rows warmed up and jumping about. With the blood still freshly pumping its not too long before Four Star Mary hit the stage and blast through a blistering set, heavily showcasing tracks from the new album Thrown to the Wolves. Shaven-headed Texan singer Tad prowls the stage as the band fire up and you half expect him to start belting out a screaming vocal assault a la Henry Rollins. But looks can be deceiving, as he is possessed of a powerful and emotive set of tonsils, a crooning baritone that¹s not too dissimilar to a certain mister Vedder. The hardcore fan contingent and UK Bronzers at the front go ballistic as current single Dilate burns through the speakers and the band really starts to get the crowd moving. They play a set choc full of melodic post-grunge rock that has a surprisingly heavy-duty groove for songs that are also so damn catchy. The band really seemed to enjoy the enthusiastic fan attention and joked about moving to England, with requests for people to adopt a band member (Apparently they¹re a low maintenance band and easy to feed ­ just add beer and hey presto instant rock stars). Previous single Marlene gets a thunderous reception, but this is completely drowned out when the first few notes of Pain emerge from Zu¹s guitar strings. One of their most heavily circulated tracks, mainly because it¹s featured on the Buffy album, Pain is now almost the band¹s anthem track. Mouths open and close like room full of goldfish at feeding time as most of the crowd sing along, while the odd lyrically challenged individual just nods in time to the beat. All too soon the show is drawing to a close, but with virtually all their album and EP tracks played its hard to complain. FSM are an incredibly proficient live act: musically tight as a hangman¹s noose, they¹re performers with a real presence and a sharp songwriting ability that deserves to get them much more mainstream attention than they¹ve been getting. But now you know and the secrets out. Coming at you straight out of Sunnydale and the Hellmouth, this is music to slay toŠ Adrian Jones