Kubichek! / The Heights / Episode

Watching Episode is like realising you’ve left your digestive biscuit sitting in your cup of tea for too long, and it’s all gone a bit soggy. If you’re a big fan of digestives you’ll eat it up regardless. However, if you only really wanted the biscuit to accompany your cup of tea, you’re likely to be just a little disappointed. Likewise, if you’re really into your bland indie mum-rock you’ll probably love Episode regardless, but if you were after something pretty decent to accompany a rather good headline act, then you’ll probably find tonight’s support a bit of a let down.

Episode are fronted by the bastard son of Patrick Swayze, who couldn’t keep his eyes open long enough to notice the crowd standing in front of him. His vocals are good, but not particularly distinctive. Hints of John Power and Neil Finn can be heard, but he doesn’t quite sound as good as either.

One of the main faults behind the band is that they seem to struggle to come up with ideas for their music. It seems bland and uninventive and limps along like a cross between a tiresome Crowded House demo and a worryingly serious attempt at a Matchbox Twenty cover. ‘Dark Clouds’ is particularly guilty of this, and ends up coming across a bit like a weak Cast album track.



On the flip side there is nothing generally wrong with Episode, their performance is fairly tight, and their guitarist carries the whole energy of the group. They are just far too unoriginal to set the world alight. They close with a cover of The Knack’s ‘My Sharona’, after a brief argument where the singer tried to get his band to shut up. It’s a good cover – infact probably a little bit too good, close your eyes and you can actually imagine watching The Knack themselves. Ever thought of becoming a cover band fellas?

The Heights have some competition – according to the internet there are no less than fourteen different bands sharing this same name. This is the Welsh version, not the Cumbrian Punks, not the Scottish schoolboys, not the scary Californian Christian band and definitely not the mentally challenged Georgian rap band that sung the painful ‘Bazooka Bumblegum’. Now we’ve got that out the way, and told fans of the above to bugger off, we can get on with explaining just how awesome The Heights actually are.

It’s old school rock n’roll, ripped straight from a time when leather jacket + electric guitar = great rock music. The Heights are drugged up to their eyeballs with beefy riffs and the first thing that you notice is that the volume’s gone up a fair bit since Episode vacated the stage. Not that most of the crowd are around to notice, and even lead singer Owain Ginsberg’s attempts to draw the King Tuts ensemble away from the bar seemed to go in vain.

Listen to The Heights on record and you’ll probably skip through each track thinking “So what?...heard it all before”, but this is not music that you put on in the background when you invite your parents over for Sunday lunch. This is music to shove on the jukebox of your local just before you clear the pool table and win the jackpot on the fruit machine. It’s rock and roll good times.


Think Led Zep, think Sabbath, think The Stones, ok maybe you’re thinking a bit too big, but you get the idea. Like The Black Velvets, The Height’s steal every trick in the book that predates the 70’s and regurgitate it for a new generation.

‘Jamaica Beer Eyes’ kicks off with a riff similar to Bloc Party’s ‘helicopter’, but experimental art-rock isn’t something The Heights particularly indulge in and Ginsberg’s raspy vocals places the band a good few decades back.

I didn’t catch the title of the last track, and I’m kicking myself for this as the bass line and guitar solo were both fantastic; the perfect ending to a well-balanced set. One of the grittiest bands I’ve seen at king Tut’s for some time.

It was a hard act to follow and I wasn’t expecting Kubichek! to be up to the challenge, but as soon as the Geordie four-piece took to the stage, the platform before us became a swirling mess of action and frenzied dancing. Kubichek! like to dance, they like it when their audience dance too, hell isn’t everything much better when everyone just dances?



The movement on stage immediately breeds new life into the venue and the King Tut’s crowd had all moved forwards in unison to watch this band. There is a particular vibrancy and grounded confidence to Kubichek!’s performance, it’s neither over confidence nor arrogance, just an honest belief in their own ability as a band.

They remind me of bands like Sunshine Underground, Test Icicles, The Rapture and maybe a tad of We are Scientists. Basically they are one of those groups that excel at writing punchy little rock/dance numbers, with mechanical drum beats and melodious guitar hooks. It’s hard not to ignore the influences from their hometown either and a few similarities to Maximo Park can certainly be picked up on.

‘Nightjoy’ is the type of guitar pop masterpiece to have radio dj’s reaching for their decks and rewriting their a-lists. ‘Outwards’ is another classic in the making, held together by a simple bass line and lead by the fantastic lead guitar that runs up and down the scale, mimicking the dancing of their lead singer. The key to their brilliance as a live act is the sheer amount of movement on stage that’s characterised not only visually, but in their music as well.

Kubichek! still have pretty much a full tour left to go, so if you fancy a night of guitar based indie dance that’ll have you grooving from the offset then head down to your local venue and check them out.

Check back soon for an exclusive interview with Kubichek!

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.