The Fair Sex

review by Travis Baumann

I have been a fan of the Fair Sex for a long time now. My first encounter with them was an old used copy of "The House of Unkinds" we purchased. This CD had stuff dating back from the early to mid-eighties showing these guys have paid their dues. I enjoyed the Van Richter release "Machine Bites" which is rather a "best of" but it was their full-length cyber-opera "Labyrinth" that really put them over the top for me. After listening to this disc over and over I was anxiously awaiting a time when I could see them live.

The Fair Sex were part of the "Electro-fest" at Werk II. They set up stage and had a large imposing riser in the back draped with their five-fingered symbol printed onto a black banner. Behind this riser the first member appeared and began playing keyboards or whatever electronic gear that was behind the drape. The guitarist on the right (Blonder?) was next out followed by a really tall guy with a shaved head (Rascal?). This guy immediately started moving around and getting everybody pumped up.

Finally Myk appeared, dressed in a black leather trench coat. They opened with the song with the chorus, "Fine We Are Alive" which was much better here in person than it ever sounded before. (Actually it was amazing how much better everything sounded than a live recording, they sounded perfect on this day).

The big guy with the shaved head alternated from playing bass, singing backup vocals, and pumping up the crowd with his hyper activity. Myk was a total veteran and pro and put on a great show, making each song more intense and enjoyable than listening on disc.

The group played a number of my favorite songs off of Labyrinth which was really cool to hear live. I wish I could have seen them perform at the time the album was actually released to hear the whole work in its cohesive storyline but it was really cool hearing just the isolated songs intermixed with favorites from all their other albums.

I am really looking forward to a new full-length release sometime in the near future. I have been listening to Nice Gods Bleed quite a bit as it is the newest material from Myk that I have heard, and even that was actually written some time ago and finally released a year or two ago.

These guys were a blast to see after all these years and made listening to the older works alot of fun again.

Click on the logo above to see more coverage of

The Fair Sex