A big departure from their indie punk sound, this summer disco pop track from Kenickie was released 20 years ago this week back in August 1998. It reached number 43 in the UK charts and was to be their final single.
I consider Kenickie to be a wasted opportunity for the music industry. Formed in 1994, the Sunderland four piece attracted lots of record company interest in their early days, and signed with the EMI subsidiary label EMIDisc. Their debut album 'At The Club' was released in 1997, reaching number 9 and spawning three Top 40 singles. But against the male-dominated guitar scene, the mostly female band were treated as a novelty by the press and others. A shame, because they were a refreshing band whose punky attitude combined with some great songs. Their second album 'Get In' was a more downbeat affair, with more of an emphasis on their pop side. 'Stay In The Sun' does indeed sound like the result of a young band being pressured into making a pop hit, and at the time, a lot of industry people were trying to drop indie bands from labels or mould them into more commercial acts. I can recall seeing the group lip syncing to the song on breakfast TV show GMTV and thinking how sad it looked. It is however a fine song, and the change in style may have just been a natural one. This and the other tracks from 'Get In' often bring to mind London indie pop trio St Etienne, which makes sense when you learn that EMIDisc was run by two of the aforementioned group. The B side to this single featured their weary melancholic take on Brotherhood Of Man's 'Save All Your Kisses For Me', the highlight of a special edition of Channel 4 show Eurotrash where bands would play covers of classic Eurovision songs.
If 'Stay In The Sun' was their bid for a big pop hit, then it didn't go according to plan: the song missed out on the Top 40, reaching number 43. Under huge pressure from their label, the band were threatened with the drop if the album wasn't a success. 'Get In' scraped into the album charts at number 32. Kenickie would split up a couple of months later, ending their career with a gig in London where singer Lauren Laverne closed the "shambolic" show by announcing "we were Kenickie, a bunch of fuckwits", later blaming "music industry scumbags" for their demise. Laverne provided vocals on the Mint Royale single 'Don't Falter' and released a couple of solo tracks before turning her hand to TV presenting. She is now regularly seen on the box and is one of BBC 6Music's most popular DJs. Drummer Johnny X (Pete Gofton) later ended up in Frankie And The Heartstrings, while guitarist Marie du Santiago and bassist Emmy-Kate Montrose formed the short-lived group Rosita. Santiago (real name Marie Nixon) went on to work for music management company Hall Or Nothing, and is now the head of the Students Union at Sunderland University, while still being involved in music as part of folk group The Cornshed Sisters. Meanwhile, Montrose (aka Emma Jackson) became a leading sociologist and editor of The Sociological Review.
If 'Stay In The Sun' was their bid for a big pop hit, then it didn't go according to plan: the song missed out on the Top 40, reaching number 43. Under huge pressure from their label, the band were threatened with the drop if the album wasn't a success. 'Get In' scraped into the album charts at number 32. Kenickie would split up a couple of months later, ending their career with a gig in London where singer Lauren Laverne closed the "shambolic" show by announcing "we were Kenickie, a bunch of fuckwits", later blaming "music industry scumbags" for their demise. Laverne provided vocals on the Mint Royale single 'Don't Falter' and released a couple of solo tracks before turning her hand to TV presenting. She is now regularly seen on the box and is one of BBC 6Music's most popular DJs. Drummer Johnny X (Pete Gofton) later ended up in Frankie And The Heartstrings, while guitarist Marie du Santiago and bassist Emmy-Kate Montrose formed the short-lived group Rosita. Santiago (real name Marie Nixon) went on to work for music management company Hall Or Nothing, and is now the head of the Students Union at Sunderland University, while still being involved in music as part of folk group The Cornshed Sisters. Meanwhile, Montrose (aka Emma Jackson) became a leading sociologist and editor of The Sociological Review.
Comments
Post a Comment