The Kooks - Glasgow Barfly - 8/12/05
Maybe it is the world that we currently live in but there is no longer the stigma of selling out or playing on sponsored tours. The jeans and denim marketers were one of the pioneers in using old music to promote new products and one is currently plugging their wares by tying into new bands gigging around the country.
It is to this sponsored backdrop that The Kooks arrived in Glasgow, playing second fiddle to The Editors and helping create brand awareness of some natty threads. The venue was heaving and the young band bounded on stage with hair to spare.
The first impressions of The Kooks were quite good, it was loud, the guitar was hammering away and the drumbeats were keeping on and setting a good tone. But nothing really developed from there and the set quickly settled into just another current indie show.
Bands like The Libertines and Razorlight, whilst not to everyone’s taste, stand out because they do old stuff in a new repackaged way and speak to people. Sadly, this usually means these people then go and rehash this sort of music and it leads to the sort of mid-level of bands that are currently playing up and down the country.
There is not one thing wrong with The Kooks, they play well, they move well, their songs all have the right parts in the right places but it is unlikely that the average listener would walk away from their set and be able to recall one chorus and that just wont cut it anymore.
In defence of The Kooks, they have a slightly different edge to a lot of their peers. The more American influence of Springsteen, Dylan and Young shines through in some of their brighter moments. Be it in one of the guitar breaks, which were the highlight of the set, or the mid song drum breaks, The Kooks have clearly looked further than London for their influences and should be commended for doing so.
However, when the songs are yelped over the top of by front man Luke Pritchard, there is the feeling that it could be any current indie band delivering the short, clipped vocal delivery.
Even when an acoustic guitar arrives mid-set, it fails to change much of the sound of the band and it seemed an opportunity wasted to develop their songs or create some light to the fast paced pop efforts that were filling the set.
The crowd were mostly appreciative, there was a lot of head nodding and favourable applause at the end of the songs but there was never the sense of wonder and that some people were going to go home having found their new favourite band.
For all that these points may sound highly critical, the set was of a fairly decent quality and it was consistent throughout, so if the fare offered by your average indie bands is what turns you on, then The Kooks will likely make your night out. For everyone else, its likely The Kooks will charm you for a short while but they're unlikely to make it home with you.
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