March 2008 - Black Kids

Wikipedia will have you believe that this Floridian five-piece are of the Indie Rock persuasion. That description would be selling them short.

Truth is, it’s hard to define Black Kids. Hailing from Jacksonville in American’s sunshine state, they’re a brother/sister combo with a twist - vocalists Reggie and Ali Youngblood are joined by bassist Owen Holmes, drummer Kevin Snow and keyboardist Dawn Watley.

Cranking out their unbelievably upbeat and unique brand of pop – a crazy mishmash of the Go! Team, The Cure and Motion City Soundtrack – they’ve caught the attention from media and pop royalty on both sides of the Atlantic.

We caught up with Black Kids before their show with Kate Nash at Lincoln’s Engine Shed to find out what it’s like being the ‘new girls in school…’

Being on the road with Kate Nash must be pretty hectic; how’s your day been so far?
Reggie: “It’s been a pretty mundane day, to be honest. We’ve just been travelling; we only got into Lincoln about three o’clock this afternoon. We stayed in Carlisle after [the show in] Glasgow last night. So yeah, we’ve just been travelling.”
Owen: “Last night’s show was really good, though. A lot of fun.”

How do you think you’ve been received over here?
Reggie: “Because of our, erm… unusual circumstances [Laughs] we’ve had pretty good shows. I guess at the few headliners we’ve had they’ve been at smaller venues, but they’ve been really packed out.”
Owen: “We’ve pretty much just fallen on this tour with Kate [Nash] which is amazing. We’re getting to play some pretty big venues to some new audiences, which is… amazing.”

How did the opportunity to support on the Kate Nash tour come about?
Reggie: “She covered one of our songs on French radio, and she contacted us and said ‘Hey, I covered your song on the radio, hope you don’t mind!’  So I dunno, I guess we’ve been on her radar for quite a while now, so when her tour came along she called us up and asked us along. And we said yes, obviously.”

Find the full interview over at Bandidge.