Black Kids: Hype Survival

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Unless you have been living under a rock for the past few months, you can’t help but have heard of Black Kids. Unlike some other tips for 2008 who are just vacuous hype and hot air (no mention, Adele), Black Kids have the tunes and the talent to match the plaudits. In fact, we’re willing to hedge a bet that they could develop into something very special indeed. Gigwise duly caught up with Kevin and Reggie from the band at London’s ULU at the tail end of their recent UK promotional stint to discuss all.

“In the beginning it was awkward, especially for those of us who weren’t black,” says drummer Kevin Snow with a cautious smile creeping across his lips. “There were times when real black kids would ask us what our band name was and Owen and I would just avoid the question and say ‘oh, you won’t have heard of us’.”

Incredibly, ‘In the beginning’ was only six months ago, when soaring, doo-wop-pop rockers Black Kids were content playing local indie discos in their hometown Jacksonville. Back then few people would have heard of them but now it’s all changed - they’re managed by Scott Rodger (He of Arcade Fire fame), signed to Almost Gold Records (an indie spin-off of major label Mercury), touring with the likes of Sons & Daughters and Kate Nash. And all this before going in to the studio next month to record they’re debut album with Bernard Butler. A lot can happen in six months.

Explaining their roots, charismatic frontman Reggie reveals the band started out at Sunday School; “I think the first time I noticed those guys was when we all had to bow our heads for prayer and I was there just head up, looking around, and I saw one kid over there, head up, looking around, and we just thought, let’s start a band.”

Reflecting upon their fellow Florida bands, including Limp Bizkit, Reggie affirms “It’s a very diverse scene. There’s this really dirty rap duo called Heavy Flow. They’re just the filthiest girls I’ve ever met; they have a song called ‘a blowjob is still a job, and I’m gonna work my ass off’!” (you heard it here first Gigwise readers).

“Also there’s a group called Buffalo Star and they’re really great: it’s kind of a small scene of four people and we’re all in these bands really,” he continues, cutting a sideways glance at Kevin that suggests they could be making it all up.

After too long playing the backing tracks on an ipod, Reggie got his little sister Ali to join, and with her came best friend Dawn. “It’s cool in a way, because I don’t think we would hang around otherwise,” says Reggie, glancing over at his sister. “I was aware that my sister was more talented than I was and I thought, how can I use that to my advantage? So we brought her into the fold, discovered her friend was a pianist and basically manipulated that situation to our advantage.”

Indeed, they’ve done well with manipulating things. When good friend and local gig promoter Brendan needed a band to play the local Athens Pop Fest (not to be confused with AthFest) he knew who to turn to. “We went to it and played about two o’clock in the afternoon, and it was a tiny venue: really low-key,” says Kevin, carefully squeezing any glamour out of the affair.

It turns out that in among the hundred or so people who turned out were a couple of prominent Uni bloggers. “They raved about our live performance and they said the recording was shit, and so everyone was like ‘oh, these guys must be badass live!’” says Reggie with a nostalgic smile, “and then we played at CMJ and everyone was like, ‘the recording was good but live they’re shit!”

The hype has spiralled from there. “I think we’re just too provincial to recognise that we should feel pressure,” smiles Reggie, shrinking a little at the suggestion that they are even under pressure. “It’s daydreams all of it, we’re just like ‘fucking eh! We’re doing it’. I just can’t see us failing… oh man, it’s gonna be such a hard blow when it happens.”

He sounds a bit like a Big Brother winner peeping through the doors back in to the real world; all full of belief that the nation has voted for them, but still aware that the bottom could drop out at any moment. “Obviously we want to be around for a while, we’ve got a load of great songs,” says Reggie. Perhaps this is why they’ve signed to Almost Gold records rather than any of the others vying for their names on the dotted line. “They just seemed to get us from the get go: we want to be around for a while and they see that, cos you know, we don’t want to be a flash in the pan.”

They speak with a similar trepidation about their band name. Black Kids is both an innocent nod to a lyric in Reggie’s favourite Hefner song (The Baggage Reclaim Song), and a statement about white folks who avoid the truth. It’s a strong contrast, but then being called Black Kids in a town in deep-south Bible-belt America somehow has deeper connotations than if they were from Totnes.

Kevin explains that when bassist Owen worked for the local Alt Weekly he found an e-mail sent in to the Mayor of Jacksonville’s office. “She was complaining about these kids that were playing basketball and were being kind of loud. She just referred to them as ‘kids who play basketball’ but it was really clear she meant ‘young black males’.” Rather than call themselves ‘kids who play basketball’, “it’s just obviously not a good name,” asserts Reggie, “we thought let’s just call it like it is: ‘Black Kids’.”

Florida is responsible for sports metal pioneers Limp Bizkit, but if the Wizard Of Aaahs EP (their only release to date!) is anything to go by they have chosen not to tread in their peers’ footsteps. The EP drips with lovelorn wonderment and childlike hankering after girls.

When asked what they’re trying to say Kevin jumps in first, “It’s like ‘how Reggie tried to impress the girls and failed part one… part two… part three’,” and then sits back laughing. Reggie takes the bait to defend his libido, “No! hey I don’t want to give the wrong impression, I do [get girls] okay. There are a lot of angry husbands looking for me.”

They’re heading into the studio with ex-Pulper, and thorough Brit, Bernard Butler, “We did our first two singles with him and he’s a real pleasure to work with,” says Pulp fan Kevin. “The album will be good if ten singles makes a good album,” harps Reggie with nervous defiance, “There’s this supposed hype that we have to survive and then we’re gonna be around for a long time.”