Description
If you are unfamiliar with London-based Officer Kicks, you can be forgiven: in their own biography they declare: if success was measured by fame or money then we would be in the bottom of a barrel marked invalid and my musical life (all 10 years of it) would be labelled the LONG void. They are well aware of the hardships that feed into the stereotypical musician’s lifestyle. Having been dropped by their first label before getting anywhere, Jamie Scallion, Keith Wickham, Jamie Fisher, and Michael Skorjanec started back at square one, playing successful debut album. Citywide Curfew, is their second album since regrouping and its a fierce collection of straight up rock. With mostly guitar-heavy songs it is high in energy, and the range is completed by a few slower piano-based tunes. Despite comprising of undeniably rock tunes, the album has something indie-pop about it. Reviews have likened them to a fusion of Led Zeppelin and Arctic Monkeys – a concept that may alarm diehard fans of either band, yet quite successfully captures the balance struck between heavy and crowd pleasing. In many respects this is the kind of band that can cross generations – think the early career energy of the Police, lashing of guitar overdrive , the stadium sound of U2 and by the end the rootsy feel of Kings of Leon – they deal in rip straight to the jugular songs and powerhouse riffs. On top of that there’s the magnificent vocals of Jamie Scallion who is not averse to poaching the occasional Liam Gallagher sneer. But then again why wouldn’t he, as this is a band that is the musical equivalent of a transformer, turning some recognizable musical influences into something all of their own making. City Wide Curfew is a cracker of an album and their scorching brand of rock & roll is an international language that looks set to launch them to an equally big crossover audience.
Track list:
1. The Kraken
2. Tom Thumb
3. Mrs Anderson
4. White Heat
5. Citywide Curfew
6. Control Sick
7. Hold The Magic
8. Let It Learn
9. Murderland
10. Automatic
11. Hard
12. Mind Limit
13. Box Of Dust