The King Blues & Viva Brother - a loss for music

It has been a strange week for rock music. First Viva Brother announce their split to an ever-growing fan base, the The King Blues announce they too will part ways and now bassist Kai Fish has left Mystery Jets. What is going on? Are pressures to perform getting too high for bands with smaller reputations to handle or is it just all coincidence?

Viva Brother were tipped for big things after NME featured them as a band to watch out for the future and dubbing them the new Oasis. NME soon changed their opinion of the Slough band and gave their album a pretty harsh review - plus named them in many of their 'worst' categories at this year's NME awards. Many fans blame NME for the split and I can agree on some level. I had the opportunity to interview Viva Brother and when researching them I was really put off by the coverage the band were given and when it came to the time of the interview I was dreading it - presuming that they would be arrogant tossers. That couldn't be further from the truth. I was pleasantly surprised to find they were a bunch of genuinely nice guys. This shows the power of NME and they are not a publication that you want to turn on you - especially as a fledgling guitar band.

Viva Brother parted ways on April Fools day with the message on their twitter “Thank you to everyone that has ever supported us or believed. It has been an unbelievable journey. This is us signing off. Goodbye.” followed by “And as for NME. Shame on you”. Despite what your feelings are towards Viva Brother, this is a big loss as they're so few bands like them. We need in your face guitar type bands, without them it's just the Gallagher brothers, and how much longer can that story continue?

The King Blues on the other hand split for completely different reasons- and reasons that really sum the band up. A statement read “We simply feel we have taken things as far as they can go and it would be unfair on you if we were to go through the motions like so many other artists do. We all believe strongly in what The King Blues stands for."

The King Blues brought political awareness to the younger population. I have attended a few of their gigs and I will always remember the first time. It was in 2010 at London's Shepard's Bush Empire and before coming out, anti BNP speakers took to the stage to tell us their personal story before the crowd chanted “**** The BNP”. The band grew up on the streets. Front-man Itch even once sold the Big Issue. There are very few bands who represent and stand up for people from these backgrounds. The King Blues will leave behind a legacy, one more album will be released and while their departure will disappoint us, it is probably the best way to get their point across.

Kai Fish and Mystery Jets knew they would be departing ways for a while. “It was probably the hardest thing I've ever done. I sat down with the guys and said, 'I'm finding being in the band really hard, but I'll try my best to carry on.' And I did, but feelings just don't go away”. While this will probably produce a notable impact on their music, it does show the pressures of being in a band. Again I have seen this band live and you could certainly see they were are hard working band. Kai won't leave us completely however, as he has his solo projects to fall back on. We look forward to the future for the band and Fish.

While all splits had their individual reasons, you can't deny the amount of pressure placed on these bands. It is almost a domino effect, when one goes a few go tumbling after. With that said, I wonder if anyone else is set to follow...