Tuesday, May 24, 2005
A Kute Hearing
While Cookie may be cracking up under the pressure of being second on the bill to Girls Aloud, their other support band Kute seem to be coping a bit better and actually look like they'll finish the tour with the same line-up as when they started. This might be because of the fact that they're sisters and, as such, have the stronger bond of familial ties, but it's more likely down to the fact that they have slightly less stress and pressure to deal with, what with most of the audience still being in the bar when they get on stage.Still, what the missing audience members gain in alcohol content, they lose in entertainment value as Kute are, quite frankly, fantastic. They only do three songs, and the first two aren't overly special, though they're pretty good in a "We don't mind as we'll be seeing Girls Aloud in half an hour or so" kinda way, but it's their final song which really pushes them into the "deserving of your attention spotlight". It's called, we assume from their largely unhelpful website, Prove Me Wrong and is based around a sample of Rainbow's Since You've Been Gone. Let's just pause a while and let that information sink in.
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That's right! A sample of Rainbow's Since You've Been Gone! It's one of those pop moments which is just so perfect you wonder why no-one's thought of doing it before. Well, other than Rainbow themselves, of course. As the girls fold their arms and respond to the original's chorus lyrics with bored "Uh-huh"s and "Oh yeah?"s, you can almost see a parade of chart angels floating above them, ready to take the song and carry it to it's rightful place in the number one slot. Or that might just have been the spotlights, it was hard to tell. Of course, we reckoned that Siobhan Donaghy's Twist of Fate had number one written all over it and that didn't even make the top 40, so you may not want to take our opinion as gospel, but please, trust us, it really is something amazing.
So who are Kute? The official website tells us that Tammy Jay and Kally, neither of whom are in our spellcheck, are "two sisters from South Wales who have been singing and experimenting with different styles of music all their lives. In May 2004 they decided to get serious about their love of music and it wasn't long before Kute was formed.". But while Kute might be a rubbish name, it could well be worse, as a quick bit of googling reveals that they were originally called Eye 2 Eye - which shows that their cavalier attitude towards the whole concept of spelling words correctly isn't just a one off. This did lead us to briefly worry that they might just be a rebranded version of Sister 2 Sister, but it seems they were discovered by The Pop Factory, a Welsh TV studio and production facility that takes a perverse pride in the fact that The Darkness, Blue and T4's Steve Jones all received their television debut there.
Some of you may be somewhat wary of the band given their Welsh connections, and we can understand that. After all, this is the country that's given us The Stereophonics, Shirley Bassey and Shakin' Fucking Stevens, but it's worth bearing in mind that, despite the brownish shadow that these acts cast upon the musical landscape, Wales has also given us Catatonia, Jem, The Super Furry Animals and Helen Love, so there's a lot of pop magic out there. It's generally kept slightly secret because once Tom Jones finds out you exist, you're legally bound to allow him to bellow all over one of your tracks in what he calls a 'duet'.
We really hope that they succeed and become the stars that we know in our heart of hearts they deserve to be. The release date for Prove Me Wrong is ominously vague, just given as "This Summer", so presumably it's down to the response they get at these gigs whether it comes out or not. A video has been shot, which bodes well, but it is for an entirely different track, which doesn't, and, judging by the stills on the website, seems mainly to consist of them singing the song whilst wearing nice tops. No doubt this saved on the whole budget thing, but it is rather lacking in imagination. They can do better.
If you've already been to see Girls Aloud and missed them, deciding that paying for an overpriced vodka and coke was more important than seeing the future of pop, then shame on you. If you're going to one of the last dates of the tour, then make sure you're in early enough to catch their set; the merchandise stall will still be there when you get out. And, if you're in their hometown of Caerphilly, you could do worse than go and see them perform on Aug 28th at the Megaday festival, where they'll be supporting a Madness tribute act. This may not seem a hugely appealing prospect at first, but it's a hell of a lot more enticing than the Iron Maiden, Incubus and Funeral for a Friend line-up that the Reading Festival is promising on that same day. And the queue for the toilets will probably be a bit shorter.
