Kids Can’t Fly: November tour

Posted by jamie on Nov 23, 2009

Kids Can’t Fly have posted these November tour dates:

Strength in Numbers: out TODAY

Posted by jamie on Nov 7, 2009

Kids Can’t Fly’s third EP Strength in Numbers is officially released today.  Launch party is at Joiners, Southampton.

Read my ickle review here, and/or pick a copy up here.

Kids Can’t Fly on the radio

Posted by jamie on Nov 4, 2009

Kids Can’t Fly: Strength in Numbers

Posted by jamie on Oct 7, 2009

Kids Can’t Fly

Strength in Numbers

Self-released.

Jamie -7^th October, 2009

“The final master will sound much bigger and louder”, advises Ryan, handing over three new tracks, “so crank this up for the right effect”.  Ryan plays trombone and sings in Southampton’s Kids Can’t Fly, who, in case you don’t know, play an infectious, deliciously epic form of pop-punk that definitely benefits from that extra nudge on the volume button, but, in fairness, even before mastering, scarcely needs cranking up any.

The raw energy put in to the recordings, a lot like their live show, is what really sets Kids Can’t Fly apart, and that’s here in abundance anyway – let’s face it, when a seven-piece band manage to squeeze in a three-piece horn section and get four of them on vocals the sound is always going to be big.  My personal feeling is that the volume control might not be your best mate with this one – but I shouldn’t argue with the band on that.  It’s loud anyway, mind, and that’s a great thing.

There’s much, much more to Strength in Numbers than just that, though – these three songs are wonderfully put together, epic horn riffs and big, powerful guitars meshing perfectly together to create soaraway, almost stadium choruses (in a good way), and building on that by dropping out and kicking back in in all the right places.  In its soft spots, this EP is gently, just ever so slightly emotional: it’ll make you sigh and, just maybe, sniffle a little bit.  The harmonies are perfect.  At its bombastic best, though, it takes off, launching wave after wave of soaring horn riffs and big, powerful guitars.  The vocals, too, are really impressive: distinctive, and beautifully together in harmony – at one moment in particular in She Called Shotgun the parts are reversed and sung, briefly, just over an ominously building guitar riff.  For one moment, that drops out before the whole song explodes back in to action, and that, for me, is this record in a nutshell: incredibly subtle and beautifully executed in its loud and its soft moments, which, when put together so expertly, complement each other to devastating effect.  It makes for an impossibly powerful combination – the sort of stuff it’s almost exhausting just to listen to sitting in your room on your own.  Do me a favour and remind yourself to breathe every so often. 

The two acoustic tracks, Tune In Writing Letters and (from their previous EP) are different again.  It’s mainly Robin’s vocal and an acoustic guitar, and, as well as a welcome breather from a pretty high-octane record, they’re a reminder of how good these songs actually are by themselves: arrangement, energy of performance and sheer volume notwithstanding, Kids Can’t Fly have the happy knack of writing great songs.  The acoustic Writing Letters, for the record, is the only moment on this disc to hint a little bit at ska.

Lyrically, this is a touching EP.  Like a lot of the better pop song writing around at present, the songs are about things it’s easy to relate to.  Tune In, about trying to tell a girl you like her but getting mixed signals back, is particularly resonant (not personally, but you know what I mean, I get it), though The Summer – “think the beginning scene of Grease, and then never hearing from the other person again”, says Ryan, “it’s based on a summer romance” feels more in keeping with where the record is emotionally. 

Taking a dark or an unhappy message and setting it to a great musical hook was originally what made the Buzzcocks, and, oversimplifying for a moment, lyrically, it’s what Kids Can’t Fly have done here.  The songs about wistfully remembering past relationships, about not being able to understand the signs you’re getting back, and She Called Shotgun, a warning to a spoiled girl about the shock she’s going to get from the real world when it hits her, are powerful messages to channel through a set of songs, so putting them in to these songs was always going to be pretty incendiary, I guess.

Strength in Numbers will be available very, very soon, and is the sound of one of the UK’s most honest, hardworking and approachable bands taking their music up another notch.  Touchingly, it’s been named in tribute to their loyal and supportive fanbase – many of whom are picture on the sleeve.  It’s incredible, and deserves to make them as huge as they deserve to be.  That’s not why you should go out and get it, though.  Go out and get it because it’s a party in a box.  It’s amazing.

The two acoustic tracks, and She Called Shotgun are up on the Kids Can’t Fly myspace.

Or, go here for more KCF acoustic fun.

New song: Kids Can’t Fly

Posted by jamie on Jun 4, 2009

New tune “She Called Shotgun” is demo’d on the Kids Can’t Fly myspace.