22/4/2011 Kitty & The Kowalskis at Workshop @ Roadtrip

Subject	Kitty & The Kowalskis at Workshop @ Roadtrip
DateCreated	4/24/2011 3:28:00 PM
	Friday night finds me heading down to the trendy streets of Hoxton - to see something that's anything but trendy.  I'm at The Workshop @ Roadtrip to see underground New York legend Kitty & The Kowalskis. It's been ten years since this band's last (and I think only) London gig, and I couldn't attend that one. I didn't think I'd ever get to see this band live, but here there are in the UK for one night only. It's not the full lineup as their bass player is out of action - alegedly due to an unfortunate incident involving the Amazon River - believe me, you don't want to know the details!  Therefore, Kitty herself has had to switch from her normal six string to bass for this show - the first time they have played as a three piece. In spite of the hastilly arranged lineup, the band pull it off pretty well with some rather good work on guitar and drums in particular. There is a strong punk ethic to what the band do, but the songs are catchy and tuneful. And fun too! The setlist is mostly pulled from the band's two albums 'All Hopped up on Goofballs' and the cheekilly named 'Chinese Democracy' - which was actually released a long time before 'Mad Axl' got round to finally releasing his G'N'R tribute band's album.  Kitty & The Kowalskis are often compared to Blondie - for obvious reasons (they have covered that band's 'Detroit 442') but the Ramones are a more obvious reference with a couple of the Kowalskis songs paying tribute lyrically to members of that iconic NYC band. Tonight's set is a lot of fun.  I hope it's not another ten years before this band play in London again. Kitty assures me afterwards that they will be back much sooner than that! Let's hope so...