Gig Review - Kid Carpet @ Joiners

Kid Carpet = some sort of legend.

Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in July 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd

Kid Carpet / Birdpen / INTRODUCING:Emergency/Music / SHEGOTSiCK
@ Southampton Joiners

I remember fondly the previous time I saw Kid Carpet. We turned up to see the Go! Team play at Southampton University. On walking into the room we saw a small man onstage in the distance. He was playing some kind of hip hop with Fisher Price toys. “Fuck’s this?” we said. “You have to be a student to like this kind of stuff.” We’re not, and it means we could gaze with superiority at the other people in the room.

Two songs later and we were down the front, dancing and laughing as the man in the black Kid Carpet t shirt threw shapes and played songs about shoes and carrier bags. I had high hopes for tonight at Southampton Joiners, I really did.

You can tell it’s experimental night when bands start playing around with their spelling and punctuation.

First onstage were SHEGOTSiCK. Sadly due to the fact I am incapable of turning up to anything on time, as The Boss laments every morning at Native Towers, we arrived as they were finishing, so I can’t tell you anything about them, apart from that they are from Portsmouth and their MySpace would probably trigger an epileptic fit.

INTRODUCING:Emergency/Music had a lively half an hour with some marker pens before coming on stage. Barechested and covered with symbols which look marginally like they’ve come from ‘Close Encounters Of The Third Kind’ the band play an excitable kind of electronic funk featuring plenty of staccato saxophones, a bass dancing lightheartedly and some manic headshaking from the person on the right who looks like they’re wearing about four different charity shop outfits all at once. One of the musician’s hat drops off, and (is it the same one?) one has a tendency to leap offstage and crash around the first few rows of the bemused crowd, ploughing into them and playing on like nothing has happened. They’re quite good fun, but the more experimental phases can be hard-going, and if it wasn’t for the insane man moshing with his guitar and the frantically prancing bass, I’m not sure they’d be anything special.

Next up is Birdpen, and it’s major change of direction. They dryly announce themselves as “the token indie band” and the first song is entitled ‘Round Of Applause For A Great Disaster’. Yes, but do you clap when they get to the end? Or does that imply said song is indeed a disaster? In the end, a few songs seemed to overlap each other, thankfully ending that problem. The guitars are roaring and there’s a heavy feel of suspense to their setlist, which is along the lines of Editors and Kasabian. They’re a very good band, although stand out for being possibly the most normal on the running order.

Up steps Kid Carpet. Gone is the t shirt with his name on it, here is one with a picture of tweenagers’ favourite bunny, Miffy. It’s a slow start as he ‘gets into the zone’, but repeated pressings of the ‘BRISTOL!’ call to arms launches ‘Bristol Carpet Factory’, one of the shortest but strangely powerful tracks from album ‘Ideas And Oh Dears’. It’s fun, it’s funky.

If you haven’t heard his music before, you should give it a go. To be honest, I think Kid Carpet sounds better live than on record, I think it’s the sexy basslines thumping away and his hilarious stage presence. While waiting for one keyboard programme to load up, he treats us to a story about Barry Manilow. Realising the keyboard is taking longer than expected, he starts to stretch out the story of Baaaaaaarry… Maaaaaaniloooooow… He’s really into his dancing, throwing shapes and concentrating so hard. Kid Carpet also has some friendly and cheery chat going on between songs which makes everyone warm to him.

We see the remains of a plastic guitar, which was apparently treated to a free ‘guitar-shortening service’ on a Ryanair flight to Dublin. There’s a distortion microphone which makes him sound like a pilot underwater. There are sample, cute keyboard noises and some real hardcore hip hop hidden under the twee sounds. Songs tonight include ‘Your Love’, ‘The Kid’s Back’, ‘Employee Of The Month’, ‘Make It Look Good’, ‘Carrier Bag’, livened up with weather symbols (this song contains one of my favourite lyrics: “In a carrier bag / where you put all your doubts / And your coat”) Someone calls for ‘Jump’ quite early on, but is told that Van Halen appeared at his door brandishing a big stick. It still got played though.

Strangely no-one is dancing, but I’m guessing this is just down to the good old Southerners’ welcome, which is just standing and nodding and smiling occasionally, whatever is being played. I’ll give the crowd credit, there was plenty of whooping and throaty ‘Yeeeeah!’ when certain songs came on, and everyone clapped heartily and laughed a lot.

At a gig earlier this year, Kid Carpet had a toy guitar and a Furby stolen by a tramp. Let’s all club together and get him some more toys to see what he can come up with. He’s a great live act and certainly worthy of a trip or two to see.

Kid Carpet