Tuesday, July 10, 2007
my first bit of music writing ever published: The Checks
Madame Jojo's, Tuesday 17 May 2005
Retro isn't so retro when the boys doing it are so young you suspect there's afterbirth behind their ears
At the gig, everyone you speak to says that The Checks sound like early Rolling Stones, and that's because they’ve been listening to the blues: Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, the stuff Mick and Keith were soaking themselves in when they were still teenagers. There's no new spin on it, either - except, crucially, these boys are young. Very young. And sexy. They wear tight jeans, tight T-shirts, and front man Ed Knowles is as camp and cocky as Mick Jagger was when he used to strut about in that long scarf and those cock-gripping trousers. Their youth means that: A, they are hot, mesmerising, even; B, they are full of plain, sincere enthusiasm. They play unreconstructed, chugging, bluesy rock and roll, with no tongue in cheek. Maybe it’s something to do with their heritage - The Checks are from New Zealand and have the same shameless plundering habits as that Australian, irony-bereft AC/DC tribute band Jet.
Knowles makes fearless, jerking, unselfconscious lead-singer moves that remind you of that other Antipodean boy, Craig Nicholls, and also have you suspecting he's seen a few videos of Joy Division in between listening to the Bo Diddley back catalogue. The other four (who are cute too but will, I think, always just be "the other four") look upright and eager, like they're on The Ed Sullivan Show, except for one point when the lead guitarist steps to centre and gives us a dangerously proggy solo, politely escorting us back to the Isle of Wight, 1971. At the end of the set, we've heard nothing new but we feel damn good, we love rock and roll. And we've got the horn.
Artrocker May 2005
Retro isn't so retro when the boys doing it are so young you suspect there's afterbirth behind their ears
At the gig, everyone you speak to says that The Checks sound like early Rolling Stones, and that's because they’ve been listening to the blues: Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, the stuff Mick and Keith were soaking themselves in when they were still teenagers. There's no new spin on it, either - except, crucially, these boys are young. Very young. And sexy. They wear tight jeans, tight T-shirts, and front man Ed Knowles is as camp and cocky as Mick Jagger was when he used to strut about in that long scarf and those cock-gripping trousers. Their youth means that: A, they are hot, mesmerising, even; B, they are full of plain, sincere enthusiasm. They play unreconstructed, chugging, bluesy rock and roll, with no tongue in cheek. Maybe it’s something to do with their heritage - The Checks are from New Zealand and have the same shameless plundering habits as that Australian, irony-bereft AC/DC tribute band Jet.
Knowles makes fearless, jerking, unselfconscious lead-singer moves that remind you of that other Antipodean boy, Craig Nicholls, and also have you suspecting he's seen a few videos of Joy Division in between listening to the Bo Diddley back catalogue. The other four (who are cute too but will, I think, always just be "the other four") look upright and eager, like they're on The Ed Sullivan Show, except for one point when the lead guitarist steps to centre and gives us a dangerously proggy solo, politely escorting us back to the Isle of Wight, 1971. At the end of the set, we've heard nothing new but we feel damn good, we love rock and roll. And we've got the horn.
Artrocker May 2005
