| IT'S
WRITTEN as three arrows, pronounced Tsk
Tsk Tsk (click the tongue three times
against the roof of the mouth), comes
from Melbourne Australia, has appeared in
various guises all over the world and
reaches the UK for the first time this
month. TTT (for brevity and
convenience) began around 1977 as a punk
antidote to Punk, playing at gigs and
private parties with a fluctuating line
up centred around Philip Brophy and Maria
Kozic. Sometimes their set consisted
solely of covers. Other times they
all-male band that played Minimalism.
Other times an all-female band that
offered Feminalism.
Their
records, of which there have been many
and usually in very limited editions to
accompany a particular piece of stage
work, include the bizarre but riveting
'Rock, Muzak And Minimalism' LP. This is
a collection of simple tunes simply
played (and none of that 'deceptive
simplicity') which earned the label
'music in close up' or 'music about
music'.
Their
ideas and attitudes (analytical rather
than emotional) have spread into theatre,
film and performance works. Among many
weird and wonderful events they've
re-written the Bible, presented a stage
version of Andy Warhol's novel A, and
created an examination of the disco
phenomena called Asphyxiation.
One
connecting principle is the impact of
popular culture and the media on our
lives – and the impact of our lives
on popular culture and the media. Reviews
of TTT are often good, sometimes bad,
frequently heavy on the theory and prone
to mentioning Roland Barthes and
Semiology.
In 1979
the un-Barthes-like Kim Fowley said TTT
should change their name to the Chocolate
Lizards. The same year Philip Brophy said
"people are vegetables".
They
could both be right.
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