Kid Canaveral – Avalanche Records, Edinburgh

23 July, 2011

It’s not very often that you get to a free gig (at least I don’t), so it was with much delight I was heading to my third one in three days. Kid Canaveral, fresh from winning my heart and ears at T in the Park, are launching their album SHOUTING at Wildlife on vinyl via Fence Records, with a free in-store performance at Edinburgh’s Avalanche Records. Happy days!

I’m dropped off in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle, which is quite a breathtaking sight this beautiful summers day. Yeah, I said “beautiful summers day” in relation to Scotland. I’m as amazed as you no doubt are. I saunter along King Stables Road towards Avalanche, marvelling at the hundreds of people lying relaxing in the sun as I get excited about spending some quality time indoors with my new favourite band. There’s a bit of astounding news on the way as Twitter informs me Amy Winehouse has died. I feel a little guilty at my lack of surprise, but it’s a tragedy nonetheless. That is a story for elsewhere and someone else to comment on though. I’m gig bound.

I arrive at Avalanche to find that it’s not overly busy, meaning I can wander for ten minutes and treat myself to a new CD. Since I already have Kid Canaveral’s album on CD and I don’t own a record player or any vinyl (gasp!) I plump for Milk Maid’s album Yucca. Minor shopping frenzy over I bump into Edinburgh podcaster, Edinburgh Man aka Jonny Dobson, and his wife Nichola. It’s an indication of the modern times we live in that we recognise each other from our tee-shirts, having tweeted the description earlier in the day for any twitter followers who may be in attendance and wish to say hello. We say our hellos and I talk way too much, before we slink down to the front of the crowd and stand about six feet from the band as they prepare to entertain us.

There’s a good crowd in by now and it’s heartening to see kids amongst them, ranging from seven months old (turns out this is the drummer Scott’s daughter) to teenagers, including one sporting a tee-shirt with The Who on it. Before anyone gets too outraged at a seven month old at a gig, the little lady in question does have a fetching pair of pink ear defenders. So fetching I plan on getting my own daughter a pair. Anyway, the band are ready to go and lead singer David informs us that they will play the album in it’s entirety along with a couple of bonus songs. Great stuff. He then asks the audience whether they’d like the album played in order or “on shuffle”. On shuffle is the consensus and the band launch into their set with ‘Good Morning’ which sounded great. Shortly afterwards David laughingly informs us that you can’t shuffle the album if you buy it on vinyl. Educational and entertaining.

After a little bit of tweaking to the sound (there was no sound guy so they did it themselves) they fired through the album plus extras and they were brilliant. The fact that we were all standing practically on top of them didn’t faze them at all. Scott’s daughter danced away with the help of her Mum right by my feet and the band were grinning from ear to ear at this. The feelgood factor is through the roof at this gig. Normally when bands take a while between songs to tune guitars or to talk to the crowd it can get a bit annoying, but not so here. Quite the opposite in fact. We’re all having a brilliant time, but it looks like Kid Canaveral are having a great time too and all the chat between songs, tuning of guitars and general DIY feel that the gig has just serve to show Kid Canaveral in the best light. These guys are great at what they do and have a lot of fun doing it and to stand in such an intimate setting mere feet from them and take it all in is a genuine thrill. David is a great front man too. Apologising before songs for any bad language, but directing it at the teenagers in the audience was a nice touch. His reminders every now and then of the album being available to buy today (it’s official release is Monday 25th July) is also good fun as it’s done with a smile. 

Everyone has a laugh when Kate plugs an upcoming gig with Admiral Fallow, the details of which she’s none too sure of. The second plug for it later is a bit more accurate and this general feeling of relaxation prevails for the entire set. All in all it’s a fantastic gig, made all the better by the interaction between band and audience. The interaction isn’t two way all of the time though, it has to be said. Dave asks the audience which song we’d like next and is met with a wall of silent, smiling faces. “Obviously you’re all familiar with our body of work!” he deadpans. The band even manage a cover of new label boss King Creosote’s ‘Missionary’ which sounds excellent, before closing with ‘Couldn’t Dance’. Everyone here knew what to expect, but I’d say the band exceeded expectations by being funny and charming in equal measures, never mind being fantastic when they were actually playing.

Just before they finish, David thanks everyone for turning up and says people should say hello afterwards and it’s a really nice gesture. Sure enough lots of people are talking to various band members afterwards and several copies of the record are being signed, all done with smiles of faces. I can’t praise these four guys enough. I grab a quick chat with drummer Scott and find him to be a lovely guy. He also tips me off as to where he got the ear defenders, so thanks for that! As I head into the sun to get the train back across the Firth of Forth, I do so with a smile on my face, a spring in my step and Kid Canaveral in my ear. Such was the good feeling this gig engendered I’m really hoping that this band get the success they deserve. Not only are the great at the music thing, they’re genuinely lovely people to boot. Now, when is that gig with Admiral Fallow?

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