Zeche, Bochum, Germany11th February 2015
The Subways & Kill It Kid
Very happy-go-lucky, THE SUBWAYS present garage rock in its best. After the album ‘Young for Eternity’ and several more albums, the band lately released their self-titled fourth studio album. Being always impressed by their powerful live shows I did not question at all of I should attend one of their current shows promoting the new album. And so I found myself at the Zeche Bochum on 11th February, waiting for THE SUBWAYS and their support act KILL IT KID.
Kill It Kid
KILL IT KID are originating from Bath at West-English Somerset. The city is famous for their antique Roman baths, but now, it might become also famous for down-to-earth Blues Rock since the quartet KILL IT KID are playing a great mélange of Delta, Rock and Grunge… and a lot of Blues. The band has already released three albums by now, their first two albums with London indie label, One Little Indian Records, whose roster includes BJÖRK, PAUL MCCARTNEY and SKUNK ANANSIE. They signed a publishing deal with EMI in September 2011. In late 2012 the band signed a contract with Sire Records. Spring 2013 saw the band working on their third studio Album 'You Owe Nothing', released in autumn 2014. Additionally, the band released the ‘Abbey Road’ tour CD-R in 2014. KILL IT KID is Marc Jones (drums), Chris Turpin (vocals and guitar), Stephanie Ward (vocals and piano) and Dom Kozubik (bass). http://www.killitkid.com / https://www.facebook.com/killitkid
Music & Performance
KILL IT KID, who are definitely celebrating a revival of British Blues Rock, were entering the stage at eight and found a young, but thankful audience. When listening to the voice of Chris Turpin, you would expect a much older, and probably a black Blues singer. But Chris proves that he can keep up with big Blues voices. Compared to his voice, the one of Stephanie is softer, but also has the blues. Both voices are especially convincing when singing together. They perfectly complete each other. As for the music, the band of course presented, besides some older songs, several pieces from the latest album. Common for all songs are the dirty and caustic guitar riffs, distorted licks and harmonic piano parts, all combined with a powerful drum play. And besides that all, the band was really likeable. But the band also hat some minor technical issues.
Stephanie explained in her broken German, that she first had problems with her keyboard and after turning it off and on again, it worked like a charm. Well… electronic devices… later in the set, a sting of Chris’ guitar was broken… not keeping him from maltreating his guitar like a berserk. Really a nice opener and close to the fans since the band would meet up with them later at the merch for some beer.
Setlist
01. High Class
02. Pray On Me
03. Tired Of The Way
04. Cheap Revival
05. Blood Stop & Run
06. Caroline
07. Black It Out
08. I'll Be The First
Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 8
Sound: 7
Light: 6
Total: 7 / 10
The Subways
All the band members grew up together and already started playing at an early age. Before they changed the name to THE SUBWAYS, they had names such as MUSTARDSEES and PLATPYRUS. One day the band sent off a CD to promoter Michael Eavis, who ran an unsigned band competition; and what they didn’t expect happened they won and played a gig in Glastonbury. From there on it only got better. The band signed to City Pavement & Infectious Records in late 2004 and released their first album ‘Young for Eternity’ in July 2005. The debut single reached number 25 in the UK music chart. They songs meanwhile have appeared in TV series and movies and they not only toured in Europe but also through North America. The sophomore album ‘All or Nothing’ was released in June 2008 and presents a much heavier sound than their debut. In the same year, before the album was released, Billy and Charlotte, who were a couple before, split up. But this had no influence on working together as a band. The third album ‘Money and Celebrity’ was out in 2011. It too four more years until the newest output, the self-titled fourth studio album, hit the stores. Now the band is on the road again to bring its fresh music onto the club stages of the world and to promote their newest released, out on 6th February. THE SUBWAYS are Billy Lunn (guitar, vocals), Charlotte Cooper (bass, vocals) and Josh Morgan (drums). http://www.thesubways.net / https://www.facebook.com/thesubways
Music & Performance
It took around forty minutes until the main act of the evening was finally entering the stage. KILL IT KID had already warmed up the audience pretty well, but now, you had real power and energy on stage. It became total madness when the British threesome entered a brightly illuminated stage with constantly flickering lights, as fast, as the movements on stage were. Perfect match! All three lads freaked out from the very beginning. And you did not recognize that they all were sick. Especially Billy was suffering from the cold and his vocal chords were affected. But as he said, “cancelling a show is for wankers” and he’s not Pete Doherty. You might think the energy on stage would decrease during the show because of the health issues, but no way! And as mad as the band was performing on stage with a lot of jumping, swirling around and shaking head, as mad went the audience, jumping madly in a pogo and screaming loudly, singing along, clapping or just reaching out the hands towards the stage. During ‘I Want To Hear What You've Got To Say’, fans even sang the refrain all alone, without any instruments playing. Amazing!
During the whole show, you could not stand still for a second. You just had to move along old gems like ‘Oh Yeah’, ‘Shake, Shake’ or to the biggest hit of the band ‘Rock & Roll Queen’, being presented in the middle of the set and including a German version of its refrain. But also the new songs were not standing back and people already sang along to each song. The Zeche was not sold out, but the intimacy of the club made you sense the tension, on a smaller stage and a great light show and, most important, with much closer contact to the fans, it was simply amazing. As I already said, there was so much energy on stage. The artists were bathing in sweat soon. No wonder since Charlotte and Billy were constantly jumping across the stage and especially Billy was jumping from the bass drum more than once. But also Josh on his much too tiny drum set was constantly on the move. About an hour was passed when the band left the stage, just to return for four more songs.
The impressive highlight came with the closer ‘It’s a party’ when Billy took a running jump into the audience – from the balcony!!! – and was carried back to stage. Great show and a very welcome stress reliever after a hard day at the office! Bochum was really amazing and not only the band thought that way!
Setlist
01. We Don't Need Money To Have A Good Time
02. I'm In Love and It's Burning In My Soul
03. Shake! Shake!
04. Good Times
05. We Get Around
06. Mary
07. Alright
08. Dirty Muddy Paws
09. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
10. My Heart Is Pumping to a Brand New Beat
11. I Want To Hear What You've Got To Say
12. Rock & Roll Queen
13. Taking All the Blame
14. Girls & Boys
15. Celebrity
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16. With You
17. Oh Yeah
18. Just Like Jude
19. It's a Party
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 9
Sound: 7
Light: 8
Total: 8 / 10
All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)
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