Kinesis - London Barfly @ Monarch - 17/10/01
4/5
By: Toby L
Set-List: 'Black Holes', '...And They Obey', 'Decay', 'So We Fly', 'Comfort & Feeling', 'The Flowers Are Dead', 'Throwaway Youth'.
The wonderful London audiences; mmm, so enriching. Any new UK band looking to crack it on the circuit have gotta play at least one of the smaller pub venues at some point in their career. Although having played the Dublin Castle and a support-slot at the Highbury Garage, there's a scent in the air which is saying that tonight's performance in the Capital for the currently unsigned, Bolton four-piece Kinesis will be something extra special.
The industry-types are out in their droves too - all fully aware that this group have got what it takes to make it to stage two of their development and beyond. But isn't riding under such a wave of pressure to triumph in a half-full room too much for anyone to succeed in? Well, evidently not, judging by the standard of the band's set this evening.
When they blast into a muso-y intrumental at the start, you slap your sweaty forehead before exclaiming, 'Oh god, they're going all arty on us!' However - before the initial impact dissolves - they kick into action with the frantic opener, 'Black Holes', which moves lead-singer Michael Bromley to screaming every vocal before it all grinds to a grisly and well-orchestrated halt. The cheers let up and some wolf-whistles are blared out, but there's little time to show your affection, for Tom on the bass has just thumped out the intro to '...And They Obey' - with which it all goes a bit heavy and intense again.
Seeing a band like this live is like watching a group free of bullshit about who they think they are and what they think they should be: Kinesis are confident in their abilities and are finding their sound surprisingly swiftly for a group that have been together for little over a year. Aside from this, there's little doubt that when viewing them live in any given circumstance - be it in a smaller venue or when they reach the dizzy heights of headlining a festival - you're gonna be guaranteed a striking effort from all members.
Despite the youthful appearance, Conor is possibly one of the most promising new guitarists to surface from an up and coming group for quite some time, whilst his subconscious poses and pouts simply scream a 'star'... Well, either that or an arrogant git (nah, not really). In a similar respect, drummer Neil Chow holds the often intricate and sometimes overblown noise to a satisfactory firmness, keeping each player in tact with one another.
Particularly impressive are 'Decay', with its sweeping hook in the chorus, as well as the merging of 'Comfort & Feeling' into 'The Flowers Are Dead', which is sung with the same sort of passion from Bromley that you'll see from the Yorkes and Bellamys of our time.
By the closure of their seven-song show - void of any in-between banter - your ears are still ringing from what you've heard; yeah, it may be loud, but on the realisation that you've just witnessed one of the first important guitar bands of the 21st Century, you feel the privilege of having seen them just before the furore around them all kicks off.
Artists in this article: Kinesis
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