thE EDInBuRGH DuNGEoNS - 'Evil Face'

 16th August 2005

The Martians play Edinburgh Festival – 'Evil Face' The Dungeons

A stupendously fast-paced and entertaining show – outlandish, energetic, scary and absorbing!!
But mostly just very very funny. The guys have so much fun doing their show, and certainly their madness and music is very infectious!!

Evil Face is a very funny take on Scottish history and the seeds of Scottish evil!? This is a spontaneous and naturally funny show! I haven’t laughed so much for years! Watching the crowd when they are busking in the Royal Mile, its obvious how much they enjoy their set. They are a contrasting trio - John’s so cool new image with the longer hair and entertaining personality, he's very much centre stage! Gerry with the throw-away smile, tousled hair; Houston with cute smile and surprised eyes! They really know how to work a crowd!

The Martians perform songs either at the start of the show or at the end, it just depends how the 'mood' takes them. A few covers, including The Boxer, Hit me Baby and Brown Eyed Girl, plus some of their own original songs. (the Martains have a new cd out)

The Dungeons - The dungeons are a very scary place. Very dark and small and creating the perfect atmosphere for such a terrifying show! About how evil will spread. The beat of the drum that will beckon Scots back to Scotland again. ‘goes deeper underground, and you’re too busy listening to notice we've got guns!’

And the every centre of this evil is in Scotland. There is the mysteries under Rosslyn church - what’s under there? nobody knows, nobody knows.’
'Is it the embalmed head of Jesus Christ? The Holy Grail? Nobody knows.’
'Torture was introduced to Scotland a full 100 years after the rest of the world considered it barbaric, but we soon made up for it! torturing people for a full 200 glorious years. '

The show moves at a fast pace, with hysterical ad-libs and several well-crafted ‘ historical characters!!’
The Pict in the Cave scene, with the ‘soft’ Romans unable to cope - one of the funniest scenes - ‘This is the bum of a free man!'
John’s Irish sword waving, Columba –  ‘Don’t be frightened now, I’m ONLY waving my sword!’

The tree in agony – horrific squeals of anguish!
‘The Lost are not forever lost and the saved are not forever saved’
Songs Include - 'You’re All Dead','Torture', 'Heaven'
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On Wednesday night the small venue was packed with around 40! John was rushing around to find extra chairs. I saw the Martians performing last year and have to say they have moved on loads in my opinion since then - with a more professional show (and the guys looking very cool too)  PS I saw several shows this year and they are a bit mixed up in my head!!......recovering Pauline