King blues

Published 26 Aug 2010 15:30 0 Comments

Share this

Danielle Cumber chats to The King Blues before they hit the main stage

CURRENTLY one of the hottest bands around, The King Blues will be storming the main stage at this year’s Reading Festival on Sunday.

The King Blues began life back in 2004 and have worked their way to the top armed with a ukulele, a guitar and a commitment to politics and resistance.

The then duo, made up of Itch and Jamie Jazz were performing at squat parties and punk shows in London until they were discovered.

The band, now made up of Itch on vocals and ukulele, singer and guitarist Jamie Jazz, Dean Ashton on bass, guitarist Ade Preston, singer Perkie and Jack Usher on drums, are surprised at how far they’ve come.

Frontman Jonny ‘Itch’ Fox said: “When we started out we couldn’t get a gig for love nor money.

We didn’t have a demo and we’d go to promoters and say we were an acoustic band and they’d imagine a sort of James Blunt thing and no one wants that.

“We found some abandoned squats and gave them new life. It took a while. People came down to party and it grew from there.”

Only six years on and 2010 has seen the band tour the UK as special guests of Enter Shakari, play at The Royal Albert Hall with The Specials and tour Japan, and now they will perform in front of thousands at the festival.

Itch said: “We’ve played the smaller punk stage about three times now. Being on the main stage is a great honour.

“We’re a high energy live act. We’re going to turn the stage into a carnival for 40 minutes.”

But the band are looking forward to more than just performing on Sunday alongside other chart topping acts such as Blink 182, Paramore, Limp Bizkit and You Me At Six, and Itch added: “For me what I like about festivals is seeing bands I’ve never seen before.”

And to cap off a frenzied summer The King Blues’ next single Holiday is out the same day as their Reading Festival performance.

Itch said: “There’s millions of songs called Holiday but this one is more real and grimy, not a celebration.

"It touches on the recession and the former Great Britain and the racism in post war narrow-minded towns where they openly sold golliwogs in their window, and kind of how new Britain is leaving that behind.”

But don’t worry the bleak subject matter is transformed with an upbeat delivery and catchy chorus, which again highlights why the band were nominated as Best UK Band at the Kerrang 2010 Awards.

Itch said: “A lot of the other bands are our friends and we didn’t think of ourselves on those levels. We think we’re still a little punk band. We never expected to win or anything but it’s so amazing to be nominated.”

But for now The Blue Kings are preparing for their performance on Sunday and say: “We’re really excited to play Reading and can’t wait to get out there. We’ve been going since we were kids so its a big one for us.”

For more on the band see www.myspace.com/thekingblues

This article appeared in Royal Borough Observer 26 Aug 10

Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our The Guide archives.

Follow @windsorobserver