Pop Music Reviews : Brit-Pop Quartet Shows Right Stuff, Bad Attitude

The Wonder Stuff’s debut album is called “The Eight Legged Groove Machine.” Saturday night at the Club With No Name (Hollywood branch), it was more like the One Man Hostility King. Malcolm Treece, the English quartet’s singer, played the prototypal angry young Limey, deriding the audience as “Rick Astley fans” and hurtling expletive-filled condemnations of his host country. Question: Does he complain as righteously about the American money he’s collecting?

Despite this attitude problem, the band did work wonders: bright, cheery harmonies and crashing melodies that deftly incorporated a whole history of smart, psychedelic Brit-pop, from the acid halls of Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd to the chain-saw pop of the Buzzcocks to the manic thrill-ride of That Petrol Emotion. With possibly the catchiest smart-aleck single of the year (“It’s Yer Money I’m After Baby”) under their belts, this is the right Stuff. They’ll also be at the Whisky tonight.