Wet Leg

One Liner: Excellent indie rock ladies with some danceable jams

Wikipedia Genre: Indie rock, post-punk, indie pop, Britpop

Home: Isle of Wight

Poster Position: 12
Weekend One Only.  Friday.

Thoughts:  This band, more than any other on the poster, has me sad that I won't be doing the entire second weekend.  You would think with a majorly buzzy band like this they'd get them hooked up for both weekends, but I guess the cosmos hates me.  Their touring schedule shows that they will be playing the Pacific Northwest during weekend one, so I guess we just have to take what we can get.

A "wet leg" is slang for a self-pitying person.  I am a wet leg right now because I just got back from two weeks of vacation and work is lame and my typing skills have deteriorated significantly since I last sat at this desk.  Ugh.  These ladies formed the band in 2019 and their first single racked up millions of streams and a ton of buzz right away.  Their first and only album is 2022's Wet Leg, which debuted at number one in UK, Australia, and Ireland.  Wikipedia lists two different stories for the provenance of the band's name: (1) the band chose this name by playing a game picking different emoji combinations, and when they landed on wet leg, it stuck; and (2) their name came from a regional epithet from the Isle of Wight to describe non-islanders on the island, because those who had crossed the Solent to enter the isle were said to have a wet leg from getting off the boat.

More importantly than all of that, the music freaking rules.  Several songs on the album are straight jams.  "Chaise Lounge" is the hit, but "Wet Dream" rules (with, like, a cheerleader party sort of vibe), and if not for the long scream in the middle, "Ur Mum" would also be a top song on the disc.  "Supermarket" has a great sing-along bit of her singing that she got "too high-e-i-e-i-e-i-e-igh."  These ladies were the belles of SXSW this year, and you can definitely tell why.  They're kinda funny, have sweet jams, and just sound like today.  For example, the lyrics to "Chaise Lounge" allow some good old fashioned double-entendre where she sings about telling her parents to look at her because she went to college and got the "Big D."  Which is both a degree and the peen.  Then they go into a bit about buttered muffins and getting horizontal on the chaise lounge.  It's silly and funny and absolutely danceable as hell.  You know its the hit as well, so here it is with 27.9 million streams.

Absolutely more funny hearing those words come out of the mouth of a girl who looks 15.  And the Strokes-ian guitars are great too.  When you watch their mouth, as they sing the words "chaise lounge" it looks like they don't even say the "nge" at the end.  That is weird. Love the kicks when the chorus kicks off.  Great fun.  That's what I'd say about the whole thing - its great fun.  Feels like these girls are here to goof around and kick out jams.  I'll also give you "Wet Dream," which is right behind that one for the stream crown at 27.6 million spins.

Lobster claw party!  Seems very dangerous to drive while wearing those.  I had never heard of Buffalo 66, which is mentioned in there as being a DVD that she owns.  Stars Christina Ricci, Vincent Gallo, Mickey Rourke, Anjelica Huston - all sorts of folks!  Never heard of it!  Gonna need to check it out now!

If I happened to be there for this show, I'd absolutely go watch.  These tunes are good stuff.