Tempting Kate
Live at Fenton on Friday, 4th May 2001
Before we get stuck into the review I feel it's necessary to have a whinge. Stealthman were supposed to be playing tonight but unfortunately the landlord decided to be a prick and ban them from the venue due to them being under-age, after they had lugged all their gear in and sound checked. Completely unnecessary behaviour, which ruined the night for these young lads and their fans/mates who had made the trip to see the gig.
Acacia Avenue opened up proceedings playing to the proverbial 8 men and a dog. The singing bass player was wearing a smart WWF t-shirt, which always goes down well with this reviewer and the songs epitomised the WWF Attitude. As with all the bands tonight, Acacia Avenue are a 3-piece punk-rock outfit who all sing a bit. In true journalistic style, I can't remember any of the song titles but they were all powerful, aggressive, standard punk fare. Pretty cool though.
Jon Does are up next and despite the low crowd numbers they turn in a quality set. Riko, Andy and Tappa are tight as a tight monkey with a tight ass, and churn out a set of quick fire chirpy punk-pop. Some splendid audience interaction augments their happy-go-lucky vibe and they finish in fine style with a 200mph romp through 80's classics 99 Red Balloons and Happy Hour. Jon Does provide marvellous entertainment, go and see 'em.
I've heard a lot about Tempting Kate recently, predominantly good stuff as well so it was unsurprising that they were, in fact, ace. The sound had been scrappy all night but these kids got the best out of the PA and had a sound worthy of a much better venue than this shit hole. Tempting Kate are less punk than the other bands on the bill tonight, pretty standard pop/rock I suppose, but they do it with an ease and confidence that is striking. The chick on the bass is fantastic and her co-vocals fit in nicely with singer bloke's melody lines. They sound like a hybrid of Teenage Fanclub, Weezer, The Wannadies and a whole host of other indie-schmindie bands but they rock like beasts while still cleverly maintaining all pop sensibilities.
I gather Tempting Kate are playing at Joseph's Well in July. Hopefully they'll get a bigger crowd next time to do justice to a quality band.