Its been quite a busy year for The King Blues, holed up in the studio putting together their latest album ‘Save The World, Get The Girl’ (out on Oct 20th). So far we’ve seen two opening strikes from the band in the form of ‘Let’s Hang The Landlord’ and ‘My Boulder’. The singles so far represent the more highly charged roustabout anthems that you can imagine tearing the roof off a live venue. That’s all well and good of course but a band cannot march on giant anthems alone, sometimes you need to temper such hot moments with material of a more gentile nature and I’m pleased to say this album delivers on all fronts.
Fusing a blend of ska,punk,reggae and folk with some wry and personalised lyrics this could be considered a less politicised offering than their previous material but that is possibly to its benefit in terms of accessibility, influences come from far and wide some of them are blatantly obvious but then considering that the production duties are being handled by Clive Langer its hardly surprising (he’s manned the controls for Madness, Dexy’s Midnight Runners and Elvis Costello for starters).
Shades of Joe Strummer, the above mentioned bands as well as more contemporary influences like Golgol Bordello are in evidence here but it all goes to shape a consistently entertaining set of songs that move from breakneck pogoing anthems to offerings of late night tenderness on songs like ‘Underneath The Lampost Light’ (gentle, yet still possessing a lyrical acidity).
Vocalist Jonny ‘Itch’ Fox acknowledges this release as a more personal affair and the concept of a relationship and all the associated baggage that comes with it is one of the guiding themes of this collection of songs (if that sounds a bit “concept” then dont worry, it doesn’t tread those particular boards).
In conclusion its a first rate release,well crafted songs delivered with suitably war torn vocals and cast iron musicianship which has a ragged authenticity about it. Expect great things live as well I suspect…
UK tour dates:
Sun 19 Oct 2008 Brighton Coalition
Mon 20 Oct 2008 Birmingham Barfly
Wed 22 Oct 2008 London Carling Academy Islington
Thu 23 Oct 2008 Exeter Cavern
Fri 24 Oct 2008 Kingston Fighting Cocks
Sat 25 Oct 2008 Sheffield The Plug
Sun 26 Oct 2008 Leeds The Cockpit
Mon 27 Oct 2008 Stoke Sugarmill
Wed 29 Oct 2008 Glasgow Barfly
Thu 30 Oct 2008 Aberdeen Moshulu
Sat 01 Nov 2008 Bournemouth Mr C’s
Sat 08 Nov 2008 Bristol The Croft
Sun 09 Nov 2008 Cambridge The Portland Arms
Mon 10 Nov 2008 Nottingham Rock City with Rancid