Last night was my first show of 2012, and the first review of any form of music for THE KIDS WANT WHAT THE KIDS WANT blog in 2012.
I decided from all the options presented to me in my local London rag to head down to see a gig. Venue: MONTO WATER RATS and step up JUNKSTAR who by all accounts are an up and coming act, one of THOSE bands to keep watching in 2012.
They took to the stage at 9pm to a very busy room and after a brief technical hiatus proceeded to deliver a polished performance, trading in six sledgehammer pop songs. Off the top of my head, I cannot recall seeing any band that has impressed me this much in a long time.
The energy levels of the band were very good from the off and it makes a nice change watching a new act enjoying themselves and engaging with the audience. The singer was very good with his patter. Limited, funny and charismatic. His hair was even more interesting - kind of La Roux meets Jedward. But if Jedward were not themselves. And, well just not shit.
The opening song was a fast number and put me in mind of a hybrid bastard child of The Strokes & Lady Ga-Ga - and that’s the kind of area Junkstar felt comfortable staying in for most of the night. Brash, catchy and never dull. Something that sadly cannot be said of the band that were onstage afterwards who were atrocious. I did make a promise in my end of year podcast to refrain from negativity. Resolution broken.
Sleek hi-energy guitar pop is hard to do, but Junkstar do it so well. After their recent single which had people moving and singing and contained their most annoyingly catchy chorus KICKING K the band actually managed to move into more expansive and softer stylings with new songs invisible and nothing left to lose. If I was a gambling man I would wager invisible and kicking k could be hit songs off their debut album, which according to their website is due for release sometime in 2012.
The singer has a good voice and I really liked the way he manipulated the style of vocals, changing it to suit the songs mood. He was spitting out the words in the opening song (by this point have you worked out that I don’t know the name of the song? Any help would be appreciated.) changing up to the kind of big choruses that come so easily to Chris Martin. Junkstar were tight, looked the part and the interaction made it interesting to watch. The rhythm section were solid and never flashy which I tend to hate as it always goes wrong. The female synth player delivered some great vocals throughout and the guitar player really lent some expression to every one song Junkstar performed. I was very impressed and it was money well spent. This years blog reviews can only go downhill from here.
High point: (There’s 2)
1) The band stopping their last song and re-starting it due to a fuck up - thank god they did as the result was brilliant. My personal favourite from a great set.
2) The whole room stood still for nothing left to lose. Spookily brilliant.
Low point: (There’s 2)
1) The keyboard player felt slightly isolated. I couldn’t work out if that was due to their stage set up or she was just a moody muso.
2) The bass was too quiet.
I will definitely be downloading the bands material now, and following them - I suggest you do too - they really were something special.
Matt Sweeny.
www.junkstar.com
www.facebook.com/junkstarband
www.twitter.com/junkstarband
