Kid Ego + Majik + Peep Show
Edinburgh Liquid Room, 14th September 2006
It's Thursday night, it's eight o'clock, and outside it's bucketing down with rain. This doesn't bode well for the turn out at this New Wave of British Glam gig night. I suspect that of the thirty odd people here, only about ten have actually paid to get in – most of them are 'with the band' or, in fact, 'in the band'. So while the rest of Edinburgh's baby glam community stays warm and dry at home and logs onto MySpace, it's up to me, HMB's mum and a few other lost souls culled from the usual pool of glam suspects to welcome onto the stage Livingston's finest, the '80s-tastic, snake-hipped, skinny-ribbed cock rock heroes Peep Show.
How do guys this age end up dressing like LA Guns, dancing like Mike Monroe, singing like Axl and laying down lixx like CC Deville? With a combined age that's probably still younger than Alice, they take to the stage with high-kickin', mic-twirlin', arm-flailin' gusto, just like the '90s never happened. Kurt Cobain? Who he? Nevermind… Sleazy numbers like 'Cat Boy' and 'Sex Gun' are pure Faster Pussycat, while 'It's a Nice Night to Die' could have been culled straight from Back to Mystery City, and as such is the stand out track for me. The obligatory cover of FP's 'Bathroom Wall' is as raw and ragged and sexy as the original – and it's as near to the original as we're going to get this weekend, now that the Pussies have cancelled their Glasgow gig… thanx guyz!
Next up are blues rock boys Majik – that's M-a-j-i-k, they're at pains to inform us, just in case we're rushing home to look them up on MySpace. Two white dudes with afros and big flarey jeans, they reaaaally want to be Hendrix – and if Hendrix is a bit of stretch of the imagination, then Lenny Kravitz will do. Their blend of energetic funky '70s rock is deft and catchy and fun, but their lack of PVC is disturbing to us. And they don't set fire to their guitars. Boo!
And then it's time for the main event, baby glam Brit rockers Kid Ego, who caught my eye at the Wickerman festival with their high octane, Crüe-style, good time rock'n'roll. In true rock star style, they've got themselves an intro track, complete with Motörhead sirens, and they make a good entrance to it, bursting into a deafening wall of solid, sexy, glam metal sound. Flanked by eye candy on bass and guitar, lead singer Zakk may look like a cross between Vince Neil and Danny De Vito but he puts on an excellent show, belting out each number in exuberant style, with a bit of Shakey-style chicken leg dancing thrown in for good measure. The 'Glitter Kittens' (two skinny girls in pants, belly-jewels and not much else) are brought on stage to writhe in unison to 'Lady Godiva' and 'Heartbreak Hooker' (you gotta hand it to these guys, they do song titles well) accompanied by much windmill armed, foot-on-monitor, rock god posturing from the rest of the band. What a shame we'll never get to see 'em on Top of the Pops...
Wickerman Festival 2006, 22nd July 2006
Peep Show, 6th April 2008
Wired Desire + Peep Show + Dirty Angels + JMC, 27th February 2007
Tattooed Millionaires + Dirty Angels + Peep Show, 12th December 2006
