Now Londonist gets to see some pretty cool gigs in the name of keeping you apprised of stuff. But NME staff writers we ain’t, and quite often we can only blog and dream. Someone out there has gotta go see The King Blues supporting at this gig ‘cos we can’t and we’re real sore about it.
Londonist was racking our rather small brain trying to think of how best to describe The King Blues’ riotous, upbeat sound: it’s pretty hard as they have elements of all sorts in there. At first sampling, on top of the folksy accoustic guitar, we detected ska with a liberal sprinkling of punk, but later we found overtones of reggae mixed with a hint of gooseberries. Hey, OK, so we’re not that hot on musical genre definition. This is what their own website promises:
a heady and life-affirming concoction of soul-tinged ska, street poetry, working class/protest folk, dub bass lines and doo-wop melodies, all delivered with a punk attitude
Well, yeah, that was what we were trying to say. Anyway, have a listen:
and you’ll see why they do it for us.
The King Blues are about as cool as it gets when it comes to renegade home-baked bands, as they started off performing impromptu sets in squats and jamming for the queues outside other bands’ gigs. The original Hackney duo (Itch and Jamie Jazz: possibly not their real names) are joined by up to three other band members according to the gig. The establishment aren’t very fond of them: The King Blues join Reclaim the Future and Love Music Hate Racism events, and generally rattle a few bars. This is what Tariq Ali no less has to say about them:
“This is rough, radical music that should unsettle the rulers of this country. A new generation of musicians are challenging war- monger politicians and their courtiers (Bono, Geldof etc). I hope these songs prosper.”
Anyway, their music makes this Londonista grin from ear to ear. And that can’t be bad.
Go, and then tell us all about it below. We will be jealous, but we won’t hold it against you. And if you can’t go, their two new singles have gotta be had.
The King Blues are playing the 100 Club on Thursday 28th February. Tel: 020 7636 0933
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