Club NME @ KoKo
31/03/06
If you like The Strokes, Editors and Interpol then youll love these guys…Kill the Young are 3 brothers from Manchester in their early 20s, they formed the band 7 years ago and so far have played over 350 gigs. They played at In The City last year and were signed off the back of that performance to French label Discograph who released their debut single ‘Origins of Illness’ and self titled album in France in 2005 and this year they have plans to conquer home turf..I caught them midway through their UK tour when they played Club NME.
I’ve been waiting to catch these guys for a while now and when I heard they were playing Koko I couldn’t refuse. The venue’s great, perhaps its all the red velvet trim and the huge glitter ball, but gigs in there always go down well. I got there just in time to catch the first track, the venue was almost full and there were a few hardcore fans down the front ready and waiting. The stage was so full of smoke that you could barely make out Olly behind on drums but he definitely made his presence known as did Dylan, the jack in the box bass player, who bounded happily around the vast koko stage. Tom showed off his catchy guitar rifts and lead vocals whilst hiding shyly behind his long hair and slender frame.
They play their new single ‘Addiction‘ fairly early on which caught the crowds attention, and followed with ‘Change The Record’ a catchy indie pop number and from then on they had the audience hooked. They managed to squeeze a few absorbing guitar solos into their set and keep interest with the stage dynamics between Tom and Dylan, the band gel well together onstage and clearly enjoy themselves up there. By the time they played their last single ‘Origins of Illness’ and the grohl-inspired ‘Sail Away‘, which kicked off the mosh pit, the lower level of koko was rockin!
Considering it was a club night, the band played out a quality 7-8 song set and after falling in lust with their album (produced by Dimitri Tikovoi and mixed by Flood) it was great to finally see the live version which if anything has made me hungry for more.
Unfortunately no UK festivals have been confirmed yet so ill just have to make do with the Buffalo Bar on 19th April! New single ‘Addiction‘ is out on 10th April, check out their myspace site for streamed tracks and the new video.
FYI – The name Kill The Young is reference to the current state of modern Western society and the pressure being applied to young people to grow up too quickly. By eating into the time spent being carefree and young, society is effectively killing youth and snuffing out any possibility of rebellion or counter-culture.
Nicky Ibbitson