Never Mind The Pollocks Here's The Histrionics by The Histrionics published on 2013-02-14T12:36:50Z The Histrionics are a “Concept-Art-(Heritage)-Rock-Cover-Band”. The central premise of The Histrionics’ project is the synthesis of the attributes of rock music culture with the concerns of visual art discourse. Rock/pop classics are re-interpreted by means of novel lyrics that re-contextualise each song within the history, discourse, theory and controversy surrounding the visual art-world. The Histrionics use the ubiquitous Australian trope of “the cover band” as the framework for the collision of rock’n’roll, performance art, pedagogy and humour. The Histrionics perform the difficult balancing act between homage and parody, between art and entertainment, between conceptual art and outright fun. The re-interpreted songs, or “appropriations” exaggerate the dislocation between visual art narrative and original source. For example, Devo’s Whip It becomes Drip It, an analysis of the Abstract Expressionist phenomenon of drip painting identified with Jackson Pollock: Now Drip It Concentrate Prime it up Create Flick Forward Add some red Try to perfect it It’s in the Tate So drip it Drip it good These cover versions, with their colloquialised text, effect a critique of world art hegemony as well as celebrating the Australian phenomenon of “pub-rock”. On their previous tour, the band wore paint splattered suits that resembled Pollock paintings. New costumes are currently in production. The band projects the lyrics of each song as they are being performed to ensure not only communicability, but also reinforce the pedagogical and even didactic aspects of the project. The Histrionics’ albums and single are also presented in the form of music videos which encapsulate the project by conjoining text, image and music. Genre Rock Contains tracks Hip To Paint Squares by The Histrionics published on 2013-02-14T12:36:50Z Name June Paik by The Histrionics published on 2013-02-14T12:36:50Z Me And My Third Hand by The Histrionics published on 2013-02-14T12:36:50Z The Gridder by The Histrionics published on 2013-02-14T12:36:50Z Video Art by The Histrionics published on 2013-02-14T12:36:50Z