The
Kills
Fri 21st February 2003
The Boston Arms, Tufnell Park
The
only disappointing thing about The Kills is their name. While we admit
that it does sound pretty good, there are so many "The" bands
around at the moment, as pointed out in an unusually spot-on NME pastiche
(Bright Hopes for 2003: The Shits, The Flaps, The Wanktones - you get
the idea), that there's a danger they'll all be laughed back to the
unimaginative hole they crawled out of. After all, it's not exactly hard
to pick up a dictionary, find an oh-so-cool word, and stick a 'the' in
front of it. Just ask The Rapture.
But as we said, this really is the only criticism you can throw at this
boy/girl, London/New York cool-as-a-blizzard band, who have only had one
UK release so far but already have the music press eating out of their
hands like hungry squirrels on a frosty morning.
It's as if they've taken the best features of the best arthouse bands
of the last 40 years - starting with The Velvet Underground's repetitiveness
and ending at The Yeah Yeah Yeahs' energy, via Sonic Youth's fuzziness
- and melded them into their own brilliantly twisted vision of how a band
can sound in the year 2003. Like the White Stripes, it's all built around
the intense chemistry between the drawling, chain-smoking girl, VV (real
name Alison), and the cool as fuck boy, who calls himself Hotel (Jamie
to his mates).
If you haven't heard them yet, there's a debut album coming out on 10th
March, but in the meantime acquaint yourself with their recent Black
Rooster EP (Domino Records), get the ace new limited 7", Fuck
The People (10th Feb) and check out their website
for downloads of the new album.
The Boston Arms is right opposite Tufnell Park tube station, and the Dirty
Water Club is one of the best nights in London - doors at about 8pm, bands
9ish to 12ish then DJs until 2am. Support from The Dirty Switches
and The A-Lines,
both recommended too. Get there early as this one could be busy. It's
£6 on the door.
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