VHS or Beta
Not Too Hip To Eat A Schnitzel


Channeling the Cure and forcing hipsters to dance, Louisville's VHS or Beta is helping to bring the 1980s back with a vengeance. Or, at least, that's what all the rock rags say.

Over schnitzels and sauerkraut at the Bohemian Café in Omaha, the Beta boys, in fitted motorcycle jackets and worn, black boots, insist that although the decade's fashion may have slipped into seclusion temporarily, the 1980s never really went away.

Cutting into a thick Polish sausage, guitarist and vocalist Craig Pfunder says, "The 80s are back, but they've always been there." He considers much Reagan-era synth rock to be timeless music, comparable to that of the Beatles and Led Zeppelin, which has never stopped influencing the rock scene.

For whatever reason, that influence is being felt more directly right now. Long a musical anomaly in its hometown, VHS or Beta is part of a growing pack of retro dance rockers, including The Faint, Franz Ferdinand and The Killers.

The eight-year-old band considers the emergence of a national scene comforting.

"As a band, musically, it's neat to have things to relate to," Pfunder says.

On the grinding Astralwerks release, Night On Fire, VHS or Beta's synth beats tend to be less acidic than The Faint's, with the mood of the music falling somewhere between Franz and The Killers.

Except for a brief synthesizer breakdown, the live performance matches the grit of the record tone for tone at Sokol Underground on a cold night in early December. The band burns slowly into the sizzling "No Cabaret."

In an eerily Robert Smith-like yowl, Pfunder commands the shy concertgoers to "shake, shake, shake."

A modest groove gets going down front when members of opener The New Roman Times infiltrate the crowd. "We were warned by The Faint that Omaha might not dance," Pfunder announces.

Despite the lukewarm reception, VHS or Beta presses on furiously. Zeke Buck exhibits the physical showmanship of a power pop guitarist, jumping and shaking; bassist Mark Palgy, his Misfits belt buckle catching the light, noodles away intensely.

Slender Pfunder plays so hard that he breaks not one but two guitar strings, forcing a premature end to the show, which closes with the sweaty title track "Night On Fire."