| SPANKBOY /KENISIA & BUCKET Café Mamba, Taunton I've got a headache. Not for the obvious post-Thursday night reasons either. Instead, the  ringing
in my ears bears witness to the musical assault of the 25th Sounds of
the Underground. Atmospheres can be created in many ways and penning up
100 people in close quarters is one way that's sure to get them bonding,
if nothing else. By the time the sound checks were fully checked and band
#1 took to the Premier stage, the crowd were baying for musical blood.
With evidence that Bucket were surviving on a massive Greenday transfusion
they opened with a set that could have headlined a gig in other parts
of town. A four track set got the ball rolling but they were never gonna
be the stars of the show. Rarely would an opening track like Quirky Little
Girl Sells Millions have got such a good response without the relief of
now having space to swing the smallest of kittens. Such relief was short
lived. To follow with Big Fish, Little Fish was much of the same but the
crowd lapped it like a saucer of warm milk. Ending their days trading
with No STDs in Ibiza did not produce surprises but it did prevent me
from casting them off as a Bucket of the proverbial. I'm not even sure
how to pronounce Kenisia so attempting a put down based on their name
is impossible. More to the point, it's unnecessary. Combining a sharp
brass sound with big bass and intelligent lyrics, this was a fine advert
for their current EPs. Dress Like a Pimp was an exceptional example of
their own material and while denigrating audience members is always a
dubious way of establishing stage presence, it led seamlessly into I Don't
Like You. More to the point, they played the A Team theme. A guaranteed
pleaser with children of the Eighties. Their UK tour took in Birmingham
on the 16th, Ipswich on the 19th and Cambridge the following night, so
this stop off in Somerset's capital was quite a coup. On the subject of
coups, almost 10 years to the day since Pulp played Taunton, Spankboy
really is as good as it gets now. Hotly tipped to be supporting OPM (of
Heaven is a Halfpipe fame) on their UK tour, they blew the opposition
out of the water. While combining the look of Madness with the sound of
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, they established their own, impressive style
proving that brass is not just for the majorettes. They made first track,
Easy, look it and the promise that Sweat would get 'everyone hot and sweaty'
had been inadvertently delivered early. The danger in playing other people's
material is that it can show up the holes in their own. Not so here. The
climax of 'one you'll know and one you'll love' served up The Final Countdown
(Europe, I ask you) and their own Like You which had the crowd wanting
more but knowing that they were all moshed out. They were the Big Fish
of the night, Kenisia the Little Fish, and Bucket, get right back into
your angst ridden cardboard box. TEXT: CHORLS |