The first time I saw Slash Need perform, they were opening for synthpop outfit Ice Cream at their FED UP album release show in 2019. That night is burned into my mind for a number of reasons, but especially because Slash Need were totally arresting in what they did— a hard thing to accomplish when both Toronto crowds and performers have a reputation for being cold and dispassionate.
A visage of exaggerated and hypersexualized femininity, vocalist Dusty Lee strutted out in leather, fishnets, a breastplate of cartoonish proportions, and was covered in ghost white face paint. A league of dancers, clad in pantyhose masks danced along the stage and amidst the crowd as Lee weaved their way through the audience. At the time, I compared the experience to a bank robbery: it felt like Lee and their dancers were swarming us, but in doing so they captured the audience’s attention and, most importantly, held it. If we just do what they say we’ll all be OK. Though an immense amount of work and practice had brought them to that point, what was remarkable about it all is how fully formed and thought out it felt then. In the years since, the group’s gone on to stake their claim as one of the most exciting acts around.