Legs Akimbo is made up of the above brilliant twosome Amy and Ben. They create some of the funnest nights out in London town and are headlining The Wheelbarrow at Camden Rocks this weekend with their Oh My God! show. You should go to this and absolve your sins, so you can sin again later that night. Josh Jones had a quick chat with them.
Hello hello, how on earth are you two?
Ben: Hello! You should be asking how in heaven are we Mr Jones! But yes we are very good thanks.
Amy: Heaven is a place on earth though. Belinda Carlisle says so.
So then Amy, so then Ben, please tell us all about Legs Akimbo.
Amy: Legs Akimbo is an interactive performance-theatre company that started when Ben and I became lovers. That’s right, I said it. LOVERS. (Sorry ladies) And that was just over two years ago now, and counting.
Ben: Both of us are very silly independently, but when put together we act as a silly catalyst for each other and we started to create these weird and wonderful characters…
Amy: And then we started to kind of become the characters…
Ben: And then people started to pay us to perform as the characters!
Amy: And then a festival flew us out to Australia to have us host their stages as the characters!
Ben: Nowadays I’m just generally confused, who am I?
Amy: You’re Barry, an ex serviceman turned bouncer. You’re Klaus, a German shot-put gold medallist from the early 80s. You’re Homos, a homosexual Bulgarian Sex God. But this weekend in Camden, you’re the Right Rev. Michael Alabama Jackson.
Ben: Amen!
So what’s going on in Camden this weekend then?
Ben: Well there’s this festival called ‘Camden Rocks‘, which is something like 200 bands in 8 venues over 12 hours. Everything from punk to metal to indie – lots of guitars and topless drummers (male unfortunately). Basically sex, drugs and rock n roll are gonna be hitting every street in Camden this Saturday…
Amy: And Legs Akimbo’s new show ‘The Church’ will be headlining the festival to save their black skinny jean clad asses from damnation!
Ben: That’s right our all new interactive stage show is an all singing, all dancing party church service where you can sin, be saved and sin all over again. We’ll be baptising people in the holy spirit that we call absinthe, holding shotgun weddings and even exorcising the demons from some of you mother fuckers. And it’s brimming with the best blasphemous hymns this side of the Mississippi! Celibacy- I don’t think so! Abstinence- get outta town!
Amy: Hang on a min, is this Ben talking now or have you channelled the Right Rev. Michael Alabama Jackson to promote the show?
Ben: That’s right sinners. Prepare to have your sins washed away by the craziest madman the clergy has to offer!
Amy: And Josh, you have first hand experience of this remember? We managed to wash some of your sins away at our last event – there almost wasn’t enough absinthe to cleanse your soul!
Just enough. Only just enough.. Have you ever thought about touring your ‘Oh My God!’ stage show across America’s bible belt? I think some of those folks might need baptising in absinthe…
Ben: Jesus H Christ that’s a good question!
Amy: I’d actually love to go out there and do some performance research. “Dear Arts Council, please fund my Legs Akimbo trip to the Deep South. I need to go and visit some Pentecostal churches so I can complete the screenplay for Sister Act 3. That is my dream after all..”
Ben: Yeah Ames, Whoopi’s just on the phone now…
*Amy excitedly checks phone*
Is it true you both want to live on a pirate ship?
Amy: In my mind we already live on a Pirate ship. We actually live in a Warehouse and we have an ‘adventure bed’ that you have to climb up long ladders to get into. There’s a pirate flag up there and some lanterns. And when Ben has been a good cabin boy we can make the bed rock about a bit. It’s just like being on a real boat only more salty.
Ben: I’ve got dreadlocks so that makes me a pirate automatically therefore my house is my ship. But yes we are looking to buy our own real ship. If any readers out there do have a ship, please do invite us on board. However, be aware that we will commandeer it sooner or later.
Amy: Yarrrrrrrr
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Photo: Tom Medwell
