Hyperdoomed
Tuesday, June 17th, 2008This vid looks to have been up on their site for months now, but I only just noticed it after I found myself thinking a lot of Morgan Tsvangirai and the terrible challenges he and the MDC are facing over the next days, and humming through this namechecking song about bravery and devotion, so I went to check it out again.
By way of background – Back in the mists of the last decade, the greatest pop combo to play some of Oxford’s grottiest venues were the Holy Roman Empire. A formidable pop songwriting talent hitched to universally derided musical skills, but with a punky enough attitude not to care and the charisma to get them forgiven for a lot, HRE were lefty, internationalist, life-affirming, funny, and too clever by half. Many years on and Ste Fleming from HRE seems as though he may be on the verge of coming back (as Le Emu Tavern), with a new sound like the missing link between Morrissey and Phil Oakey that you never knew you needed. That would be a good thing. I’m only hoping this tribute vid to Morgan Tsvangirai doesn’t end up relevant in the same sad way as that of HRE’s old single Benazir Bhutto.
