When I see them on stage, it has been a little over a year since they played the Athens pop festival, thier fist gig outside of their hometown in Jacksonville, Florida. Things have been skyrocketing up and up for Black Kids, and already it’s business as usual.
After the Pop Festival, Black Kids have been all the rage. Pretty much every music mag in the business was singing the praises of their EP, Wizard of Ahhhs, which they released for free on Myspace. Reggie Youngblood, lead vox and guitar, doesn’t chalk it all up to the ‘net though.
“Uuh, yeah… I think the Internet’s overrated,” Youngblood sighs, as if he’s been swatting away questions like this all day. “We had songs on the Internet before Athens [pop festival], so we had to physically go places. The Internet is a tool, but still people are the most important thing.”
But enough of this! Networking schmetworking, I’m curious about the music. All these indie bands sound the same today, as if they were trying to be Talking Heads if Talking Heads were a really bad and generic pop band. Overdone synths, airy and warped vocals, etc.. I ask Yongblood, what is up with this?
“Could be because most of us grew up in the 80’s, and we were cognizant of the music,” he says. But he’s not sure: “That might be it, that kind of feel… most of us never thought that indie equates to ‘good’ and mainstream equates to ‘bad’… we’re not really averse to most pop music.”
The show itself is disappointing. I asked Youngblood why he thought Black Kids were getting to be so popular- was it just luck that their generic 80’s-style indie pop was in vogue at the moment and people were catching on, or did they bring something special to the show?
Youngblood mumbled something about how “we do a fun show,” but I’m not buying it. Youngblood sung the praises of good indie to me, extolling the virtues of that raw sound making people get up and dance- how “people love watching four to five dudes on stage making it happen.”
Well, Black Kids didn’t make it happen. Youngblood, to his credit, at least seemed to try, jumping around a little, sometimes almost getting into the groove. Aside from that, nobody else up there even came close. Dawn Watley (vox and keys) was trying to do the whole Tina Weymouth kinda-cute-but-rockin’-awkward-bassist thing, but she ended up looking like an uncoordinated poseur who couldn’t hit the right notes most of the time. (No wonder her and Ali Youngblood – backup vox and keys – were turned way down…)
As the set went on, song after song and people still weren’t going wild, Youngblood kept imploring the masses “can we please have a party here? It’s Sunday night!” I caught more than a hint of sarcasm in his voice when he mumbeled “I think we’ve been here five times this year. It gets better every time.”
Who cares if Rolling Stone says they’re a band to watch? How much of a big deal is it that we have another Talking Heads cum 80’s indie pop wannabe on our hands who’s getting a little radio play from the internet they seem to think is overrated? Well, as I stand in the back of ABC, I notice that the largely unresponsive crowd are taking more photos of the disco ball than they are of Black Kids.
