Kill it Kid at OPEN

So, imagine taking a packet of Salt and Shake, shovelling a heap of chilli powder into it and then flinging it to the ground and stamping all over the damn thing. This is, arguably, what Kill It Kid do with the old blues roots from which their sound has sprouted. The pieces of what once was are still recognisably there, but they've been ushered through mechanisms of spice and violence to create something altogether different. And it makes for one darn good shindig. Myself and a somewhat hoarse crowd of fans can tell you that for nothing. The power of it all is sensational. In centre stage frontman Chris Turpin spends his time howling and firing filthy guitar licks from the hip with abandon. Paired up with fellow vocalist Stephanie Ward, at times they don't seem to be singing at all but are instead breathing fire and smoke into their microphones to fill the room with a furnace-like heat. Marc Jones is an utter fiend on his poor drum kit, a devil with drumsticks, whilst Dom Kozubik makes for an almost menacing figure, pulling twisted bass lines out beneath a temperature-defying wide brimmed hat that screams 'yo, screw you, humidity. I'm here and you can just deal with that, okay?'These songs are all grit and sex and longing, as full of feeling as they are musically impressive. If you ever start to get the sense that maybe this track really resembles something they played earlier, something new and interesting inevitably gets thrown in to keep your ears on their figurative toes. It's dark and feverish, and favourites like Wild and Wasted Waters and Pray on Me are a joy to soak in. KIK have just released their latest album, You Owe Nothing, which piles on the heaviness and adds a welcome group of tunes to their repertoire. Mostly they feel flippin' great in this sweat box of a venue, with Blood Stop And Run etching itself into the mind in particular.I can't get away from the fact that I think Caroline is a fairly middle-of-the-road thing and feels largely mundane amongst everything else going on - I'm always skeptical of any song in which the defining component is the calling of someone's name followed by some vocal filler - but, with a mass of people singing along beside me, I almost, almost, doubt myself for a moment. Really, though, that's pretty much the only criticism I can level at this mostly sublime set. Kill It Kid are a heavy, exhilarating bunch, and are, simply, properly good.