Post by neilcrud on Apr 11, 2010 18:51:38 GMT
KIXXSTART KITTY
Speakers Corner, Colwyn Bay
09.04.2010
Speakers Corner, Colwyn Bay
09.04.2010
(review n pix by neil crud)
When Radio One phoned me last week looking for venues and bands to recommend for a series of warm up gigs across North Wales for their Big Weekend in Bangor next month, it was more Yikes than Yippee. Where once we were awash with talent and completely spoilt for choice, the credit crunching Musical Recession has hit the area harder than others. There's nowhere to play and no one to play to. Venue4Events is undergoing licence changes in Bleak City and is out of action; although the place did bow out with a bang thanks to the Fudged reunion. I did think of the Morville (also in Rhyl), but why give somewhere a jab in the arm when they don't support live music normally? So I popped along to Speakers Corner, one of the most unlikely venues, particularly as it used to be a shoe shop.
Had I been more observant I might have noticed bowls of pot-pourri dotted around the place, as that was the music policy; a right royal mixture of the MOR indie Wondertops, the country & western feel of Sunrise Sunset who can boast Nia Roberts' superb voice, the Junebug side-project called Red Comets, who sound just like Junebug but with a keyboard and the sleazeballs that are Kixxstart Kitty.
Now I didn't come out to review, just to observe, but what I saw compelled me to write... Let's face it, if you're not of the pure punk ilk then you've been down in the dole-drums for quite a while. Nothing to write home about, nothing to inspire you to form a band and little to drag you away from your x-Box. So while you were engrossed in Code of Honour slaying Jewish muslims on horseback you missed real entertainment, and it was quite thankful you did as you probably wouldn't have fitted into this bite-sized venue. The plus side is you're almost always guaranteed a good atmosphere!
I saw Kixxstart Kitty in a previous life last year as Freaky Peach; they were fucking awful. Untogether, making a racket that sounded like 12-year-olds at their first band practise. Kixxstart came to being, got a proper drummer and began thrusting mp3s in my direction; they were getting better, so it was worth checking them and the venue out.
Now we are talking about unashamed Marilyn Mansun clones here, as if the dark angel had wanked down the toilet and out of the sewer crawled Kixxstart Kitty, but in an area that is low on just about anything, this band have ENTERTAINMENT and SHOWMANSHIP stamped right across their skinny backsides. They are exactly what is needed AND they can play. Their songs shard across the said Mansun spectrum and splinter into New York Doll territory while dipping its cock into punk rock. And that is as punk rock as you're gonna get; there is no anarchistic idealogical socio-political message to be preached here, this is anarchy for the sake of chaos and let's get fucked and take as many, if not more drugs as a touring funk band in the process (or at least let our young flock believe this to be the case). Led by the indefatigable Zacky Storm, Kixxstart Kitty are stomping that sick kicks by shock rockers path previously populated by the likes of Mr Mansun, Motley Crew and even the Anti-Nowhere League, but the one thing original they're doing is it hasn't been done here before. They are a band who have the stage show and presence to be big. Next step is real recordings and get out of town. Look forward to not being able to get into their future gigs cos they're sold out