Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Shorter, Faster, Louder... It's Kid Dynamite-tee-ee





One of these bands is very, very good. A four piece who's blisteringly fast style and biting lyrics won them a legion of dedicated fans. I'll give you a clue - that band has never played a stadium or troubled the top ten

So we'll leave Fall Out Boy alone and talk about the mighty, mighty Kid Dynamite. Forming from the ashes of seminal Philadephia punk thrashers Lifetime, KD put out only two albums in their three year career, before disbanding due to the strain they were putting on voice of the gravelly singing/shouting Jay Shevchuk . It was an emotional split and the band did not part on particularly good terms. Shevchuk concentrated on his film editing career, as well as forming Non More Black, whilst guitarist Dan Yemin suffered a stroke, before forming Paint It Black.

Great acts thought Paint It Black and Non More Black may be, they have never really lived up to the raw punk energy of Kid Dynamite. Their self titled debut, released on Jade Tree records in 1998, weighs in at 29 minutes and boasts 19 tracks. Metallica could learn a thing or too from these guys. No space is given to solos of any kind - instead each song is a short, sharp blast of noise with vitriolic lyrics barked over the top. Yet despite all the bluster, there lurks a creamy pop centre. There are neat little shout along choruses and fist in the air battle crys. Stand out tracks include K05-0564, I Never Met The Gouch and Bookworm. The follow up, Shorter, Faster, Louder, summed up their manifesto perfectly, and although it doesn't quite live up to the greatness of the first album, it's still pretty damn good. In 2003, Jade Tree put out a compilation Cheap Shots and Youth Anthems consisting of rare, unreleased material, some of which is rawer than blue steak.

If you like Fallout Boy, you probably won't be a fan of Kid Dynamite. Just how they would have wanted it


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