The last time I stumbled onto KAIKO at the Hoxton Bar and Kitchen, a slurring blonde wrapped a bear-trap grip around the lead singer's leg for five excruciating minutes. If she'd have tried it this time, the new bassier sound would have stripped the skin off her face quicker than a restaurant showman whipping off a tablecloth.
The Camden-based band have always been a watchable outfit, armed with a Tesco carrier bag full of bright, melodic tunes and neat, crisp riffs. But, while the band still have more in common with Kings of Leon than Queens of the Stone Age, they've done themselves a world of good by putting a few hairs on their chest. Kaiko were by far the loudest and most energetic act on a laid-back weeknight in Hoxton.
Grimsby lass Sarah Thirtle, aka BOBBING FOR APPLES, celebrated her birthday that day by donning an acoustic guitar and treating the gathering crowd to some sprightly self-penned numbers, with a side of light, soaring vocals.
And indie-folk lad BEN GRIFFITH and band picked out a soft love
note or two before Kaiko wandered on stage. Griffith has made a lot of friends in Brighton. Prince Harry reportedly loved
his gig in Earls Court in February, and he's already been tapped up to appear in a Ford Focus advert.
But he's possibly better suited to fans of the 'brave new world' of
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Damien Rice than the darker, more haunting landscapes of The Smiths and Nick Drake.
They may not have their own advert, but Kaiko's legion of fans is growing. Several music lovers braved bank holiday hangovers to wander over to Hoxton. And even Radio One's Huw Stephens sneaked a track onto the airwaves last week - only for the band to miss it because no one clued them in.
I had high hopes for the evening from the minute the floor started
shuddering with the cattle-rumble of bass and drums - if only because it might cause me to spill the unutterably horrible lager I was struggling with.
And the extra power jolted Kaiko's acoustic-led sound like a tumbler of whiskey at nine in the morning, creating a warm but jagged sound similar to this year's resurrected Download headliners My Vitriol.
According to www.myspace.com/kaikomusic, the band are currently recording their EP at Abbey Road studios. If they can capture their live sound on CD, their fame could sweep London like a fake flu bug on a sunny summer's day.
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