Kiss Me, Killer returned the The Chelsea Inn, Easton on Easter Monday as part of a stellar lineup from the length and breadth of the UK hosted by Fishlock Promotions.
The half-dayer kicked off around 5pm with local punk folkers Invincible Pigs serving up a mix of politics and jigs.
We were up second with daylight still pouring through the Chelsea’s windows but fortunately people poured into the bar from outside and we welcomed a large and enthusiastic crowd.
I (David) felt a bit all over the place fluffing solos left right and centre on the early songs but luckily the rest of the band were on point, underpinned by the rock-solid beats of AJ (sporting flaming orange hair and channeling Animal) and Nat’s propulsive basslines. Holly’s crowd interaction gets better and better and you could tell the audience really warmed to her. Cat’s vocals too were sounding perfect and this time her Telecaster was plugged into my big Orange amp giving it a new beefiness – you’d never have guessed she’d flown back from Switzerland that afternoon. Commitment!
Photography from KMK’s set by Cheri:
By the last few songs I felt warmed up and the uptempo psychedelia of Snooker really came across, my Gordon Smith GS2 guitar howling away nicely, while From the Inside seemed to posses all the punch it needs. Cat’s always well-recieved song, Och Aye!, meanwhile, was imbued with a fresh level of meaning — I shall say no more.
Our friend Ina kindly held our Zoom digital recorder during the set. Here’s a quick clip of Snooker:
There was a huge amount of love from a varied Chelsea crowd. We befriended a Swiss tourist, a punk fan for 40+ years, who had wisely strayed off the beaten track of Cathedrals and ‘Spenshun Bridges to seek out proper DIY punk rock in the backstreets of BS5. The only disappointment for him was that we didn’t have any Kiss Me, Killer records to sell him (on vinyl!), although I helpfully suggested a few options around Bristol where he could go crate-digging for rare material.
We seemed to get rid of some stickers and bin badges on the merch table and the Chelsea manager Sali purchased one of our tees.
We all stayed to the end to see the rest of the acts including acoustic punk including The Tragically Mystery tour, who offered thoughtful songs on various philosophical and political matters, some storming punk rock from Derry’s Last Avenue, frenetic Yorkshire garage from Nosebleed who used the entire Chelsea to good effect, Edinburgh’s Billy Liar played some acoustic tunes, and raging Scottish pop punks The Murderburgers wrapped things up with a storming set.
Images by David:
