Surprisingly, last night’s gig at ‘District’ was The Kowloons’ first home town headline gig. Whereas most of their peers seem to head off all over the UK, in many cases headlining ego-flattering gigs to the same travelling crowd, The Kowloons have quietly been beavering away in their hometown, guesting for numerous passing bands, playing to different crowds whilst simultaneously honing their craft in the studio.
Formed a few years ago by Stephen and Anthony Ng, initially, it was just the two brothers before Bobby Griffiths and Mason Jones joined a couple of years ago, both of them perfectly complementing the twins’ intuitive partnership.
To date, the lads’ releases have been impeccable; each one an absolute masterclass in perfect guitar pop. The word ‘indie’ is too demeaning to be associated with The Kowloons, as it is with most of the city’s great bands.
And it was one of the city’s great bands that signalled the lad’s arrival last night as they bounded on stage to the chimes of ‘There She Goes’. A lesser band would shy away from any such association, no doubt fearful of less than complimentary comparison.
Opening with ‘James Dean’, The Kowloons led the crowd through what was essentially a forty-five-minute sing-along, such is the effortless familiarity of the band’s material.
‘What’s The Matter?’, ’Raining’, ’I Don’t Care’ and ‘Give Love’, all barely a year or so old yet already firm favourites. Frontman Stephen Ng was clearly loving the vibes from the crowd, his voice consistently perfect, harmonised perfectly by drumming brother Anthony. Bobby Griffiths’ basslines lock in perfectly with Anthony and, judging by the bouncing floor, the crowd. To Stephens’ right, lead guitarist Mason weaves around on stage. One moment he’s all understated, complimentary chiming guitars, the next minute he’s offering riffs that border on the transcendental.
The Kowloons are as spectacular live as they are on record.
‘Can We Go Faster’, is now firmly established as the band’s de facto anthem and closes the show, but not before we are treated to a superb rendition of ‘Killing Moon’. I’m not a fan of bands doing covers, but if you’re going to do them, this is how you do it. It’s faultless in its interpretation.
As I’ve written previously this year, Liverpool is standing proud at the moment. The vast wealth of the city’s current talent pool is both staggering and ever-expanding at a time when it seems for the rest of the UK, except for barely a handful of bands, the indie guitar scene that promised so much until recently appears to be floundering, or as one of its leading lights recently said to me….dying on its arse!
Perhaps it was this year’s so-called Britpop summer that made people realise that actually, most of these bands aren’t any good. Possibly, people are starting to think the last thing the world needs are more groups of privileged white boys with guitars knocking out drivel? We will never know, so let’s just all agree that we owe Liverpool a massive thank you. Whilst other towns and cities keep on churning out yet more monotonous, CBeebies indie landfill, Liverpool is doing what it always seems to do and quietly gift the world great guitar bands.
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