Kicking Television at BBC Introducing
So having hardly been to BBC Introducing I find myself going two weeks in a row. This week I made my way down in a bitterly cold wind to watch Kicking Television, a band formed in 2012 from the dying embers of Johnny Arrow and the Cheap Day Returns, rising like a Phoenix as it were. They released the excellent big twanging riff of a pop song ’41 Miles Due West’ in May, replete with noisy guitars and the sort of catchy hook that snags in your ear.
Tonight they kick off with that very same track and it strikes me immediately what good musicians they all are, it’s easy when you play noisy pop to fall into the trap of not worrying to much about musicianship, but there’s none if that here. The guitar chimes, the bass and drums thump and the vocals tie it all together in a joyously riffing tune, I even find myself singing along with the ooohhh oh oh ooohhh oh oh chorus line. Lead vocalist and guitarist Jonathan Amphlett has a quintessentially English pop voice and a style that harks back to the sixties but also puts me in mind of a lot of bands from the end of the eighties and early 90’s such as the Revolver or Anna and even US bands Goo Goo Dolls and The Posies.
After a blistering start the tunes keep rolling, with Alex Bowen fiercely glued to his bass beating out bass lines of intensity and Simon Amphlett on drums playing with a look of effortless ease, we’ve soon passed through Old Vince, Concerts for King and Very Trying before you know it. All the bands songs are beautifully constructed and they manage that rare thing with a 3 piece to have a full on sound, dropping in and out in just he right places, I keep trying to think what they could add to there sound and I can’t think of anything that wouldn’t just be added for the sake of it.
As we head toward the end of the set they play a song close to their hearts and the inspiration for their band name Kicking Television by Wilco a rip roaring shambolic song, noisey greatness if ever there was. Finally they round off the set with Confluence during which they pull off a great false ending which includes frozen mannequin poses held just long enough for you to think maybe the wind has changed direction and they are stuck there…. bang they’re back and the set is over to great applause.
If you want to hear more then go get this tune ‘41 Miles Due West’ you won’t be disappointed.
More info on the band here
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