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Singer Ebony Bones, nee Ebony Thomas, and her backup singers seemed to arrive on a direct flight from Bedrock per their Flintstones-esque outfits and oversized Wilma Flinstone necklaces. They even used empty beer bottles as percussion instruments in their opening number. In fact, everything about her and her supporting cast suggested ostentatiousness and exaggeration. Her guitarist wore some type of Indian headdress and no shirt while one of the keyboard players dressed for a masquerade ball while sporting his own oversized chain. But in trying to prove herself larger than life, Bones’ music quickly became caught up in that same fictional existence, unable to relate on an emotional level and instead serving as yet another animated dance-punk beat to get down to.
Her shtick also meant playing ringmaster to her personal circus, which involved yelling, “Make some noise New York!” every two minutes and making every instructed dance move (“move to your left…right…”) seem revolutionary.
The backing band was tight, however, allowing her to control the throttle with relative ease, quickly sending the band into its next frenzy each time. Most of the songs had some sassy theme, like “I’m Your Future Ex-Wife”, “Love & Boredom”, and “Don’tFartOnMyHeart”. But with all the gimmicks added on, it still couldn’t disguise her and her backup singers’ frail and dissonant live singing.
