Early Kenickie Releases

Catsuit City EP, Skillex EP, PUNKA, Millionaire Sweeper

Catsuit City EP Released: 1995 on Slampt
It's been such a long time since I've heard any of this, I can't really comment. The track listing is...

Catsuit City:

Rama Lama Lama:

Private Buchowski:

Come in:

Snakebite:

My Nites Out:

SK8BDN SONG:

Perfect Plan:

Come Out 2nite: (Laverne)

There is something about Come Out 2nite that is instantly ingaging. I think it must have something to do with the unmistakable "thighslaps and handclaps" intro, or the way the rythm guitar and bass line move up and down the bass register (guitar fret-wankers, I'm not saying it's clever - it just sounds good and it shifts quite a bit of air on a decent Hi-Fi) and the breathless intensity of the lyrics. Whatever way, the first time you hear it, it all combines to result in one of the most intense two minutes of your lifetime. Some people call this Kenickie's signature tune, and I suppose it's as good a choice as any. One thing's for certain about this song - to paraphrase another tunes lyrics - it's got class and it's got style...

Scared of Spiders:

I never got to hear this one before my copy of Skillex was nicked and it's not on vinyl, so I can't discuss this track.

Acetone: (Laverne, Du Santiago)

Oh crickey, this isn't on the vinyl copy of Skillex that I've got these days, but a slightly altered version became the last track on At The Club. Acetone is a fine, fine song. In fact I couldn't name another 'Nick song that is really better (although Cowboy's at least as good). Slow and sad, tinged with a quiet note of pathos, Acetone has superb lyrics and I simply cannot listen to it without wanting to simultaneously smile and burst into floods of tears. This song moves me.

How I Was Made: (Laverne, Du Santiago)

An interesting song which I find somehow unsatisfying - that's not to say it's crap, I actually rather like it. This song later found it's way onto At The Club, wher it is identical except for being speeded up very slightly (at first I blamed the rubber in my Dad's old phono, but apparently it's exactly the same on the CD). Some say this song is loaded with Catholic angst (doubtless because of the "Good lord" lyrics and the convent school history). Don't ask me, I know plenty about angst but Catholism is right over my head.

PUNKA: (Laverne, X)

Any and Every 'Nicks fan knows this tune, indeed it is almost impossible to imagine a time when this song hasn't graced my Hi-Fi. But once, a year or two ago, PUNKA didn't even exist. Good God. This is supposed to Kenickie's reply to all the accusations of selling out levelled at them after signing to Emidisc from Fierce Panda. And what a reply! A sarkey piss-take of the underground "ethos." Lauren frankly sums it all up when she sings "If your hits all miss, you're a punka," and equally eloquently points out "we never learn to play." All that aside, however, PUNKA remains a superb grungey, noisy, glammy (if glam can go with grungey), punk-pop-rock type of thing. I love it.

Drag Race: (Laverne, Du Santiago)

I suppose the girls have got their driving licences now, but if the DVLA had heard this, life could have been very different... There seems to be a mysterious attraction to pile ups in this song - a bit like David Croenberg's Crash. This is clearly unhealthy, but any song that contains throw away references to Gordon the Gopher can't be all bad. Also, I favour that that lucky, lucky man, Chris "Spanners" Lannegan, may have got himself a mention - it's all there in the lyrics...

Walrus: (Laverne, Du Santiago, Montrose)

A cautionary tale. Never piss the 'Nicks off, cause they won't just make rude comments, oh no. They'll write a song about you and release it as a b side on one of their most famous singles. Walrus is a dinner lady they used to know. She obviously really annoyed them once too, as the chorus revolves around the line, " Oh Walrus, why are you so ugly?" There are many reasons why I'd rather not actually meet the band (including laundry bills, having a high enough blood pressure as it is and the fear of making a prat of myself, etc) but this remains the most important, the fear of upsetting them.

Cowboy: (Laverne, Du Santiago)

Oh God, how to descride this song? I really don't know, suffice to say, it is without doubt one of the best Kenickie songs I have ever heard. Certainly the best I've discussed on this page so far - and remember that includes PUNKA and Acetone - so I've really got my work cut out here. This song, more than any other in my opinion, shows the band up as songwriters extrodinaire. The melody is simple and catchy, but not annoyingly so. The song has both immediate appeal and musical depth, and the lyrics are superb. Please allow me to quote,

"and pills control her health,
she can't respect herself,
but at least it makes her interesting."

Anyone who seriously intends to claim that the 'Nicks are unable to write real or meaningful songs, please get out of my webpage NOW, and don't bother to come back.

Millionaire Sweeper: (Laverne, Du Santiago)

The second release for Emidisc, this is a moodier tune than much of the band's previous output. The song features a drum signature at the beginning allegedly plagarised from the Manic Street Preachers, some superb harmonies in the backing track and typically cunning lyrics - including one poser. does the use of the word "Amnio" refer to amniotic fluid, ie. pregancy, or am I just being to clever. Mind you, Lauren's got three better A-Levels than me, so I wouldn't pretend to be able to out-think her...

Kamikaze Annelids:

Three voices and one guitar. That's all it took to create one of the 'Nick's best tracks. Kamikaze Annelids is barely more than a minute long and every second of it is perfect. Not a lot more can be said about something that short, except that the title always makes me think of the computer game "Worms."

Perfect Plan 9t6:

The first of three tracks to escape from Catsuit City onto an EMI single, it is - frankly - not a patch on the original. The electro-punk guitars, strident shouty singing and copious anounts of lo-fi feedback and fuzz are all gone. Instead we have quietly menacing drums constantly thrumming in the background and sinuous keyboards gliding down the register. It sounds almost totally different. Really you should compare them side by side as different songs, but I can't help but think that the original is just that little bit more vital. Nonetheless, that doesn't mean that version isn't still a cracking song.

Girl's Best Friend:

This is a sweet and simple song, musically rather similar to Acetone, which would seem (I don't know for sure) to have been written by Marie about Lauren (the Ice Queen and Skinny bit is the give away). Either way, it's a very nice song, but doesn't really inspire me into plattitudes.

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