Search This Blog

Saturday 23 April 2022

Seen at King Tuts - Kenickie

 


Kenickie

Friday 29th May 1998                  £6.00         Ticket No: 00023

Sunderland pop punk band Kenickie are probably best known for bringing DJ Lauren Laverne to the world's attention.

She was the lead vocalist and lyricist and additional guitarist  with her brother under the stage name of Johnny X on drums, Maria Du Santiago on lead guitar and Emily -Kate Montrose on bass.

All nom de plumes with the real names being Lauren and Pete Gofton, Ann Marie Nixon and Emma Jackson. They were on the go from 1994 to 1998 and released two albums during that time  At the Club (Emidisc 1997) and Get In (EMI 1998)

They disbanded on 15th October 2018 after a gig at London's Astoria so I would imagine that when I saw them it would probably have been the last time they played in Glasgow.

They are probably best remembered for two of their singles Punka and In Your Car. Both appear on At the Club which I picked up in a charity shop a few years after the gig.

I did however have the CD single of In Your Car, the tracks of which are featured below, and which probably inspired me to go and see them. From what I remember they were pretty bouncy and good fun.

There weren't too many (mostly) female bands around in that genre at that time and they have been credited for having inspired other female bands

If the name is familiar but you were not aware of their music that will be because they were named after Kenickie (played by Jeff Conaway ) the second in command of the T-Birds after John Travolta's Danny Zuko in the film Grease. In aprevious post I inadvertently said that they were named after one of the Pink Ladies.

Kenickie - In Your Car

Kenickie - Private Buchowski

Kenickie - Killing Fantasy

2 comments:

  1. Lots of info here - you've done your homework. I knew of Kenickie (and not just the one from Grease) but didn't know what they sounded like. Kind of what I expected and definitely a female band, not a 'girl group'.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Punka is a stone cold indie classic. Bought the single when it came out tho' sadly never saw 'em. Always wondered who played lead on that break at the end, Was it Marie di Santiago (ha!)? Anyone know?

    ReplyDelete