Photo:
Kid Carpet (an anagram of his real name – you work it out!) is a funny man. I don’t mean in that he’s hilarious, though he is charming, engaging and amusing – what, in another age before TV destroyed the art, we might once have called “a good conversationalist”. What I mean is that he’s an odd mix of the anarchist, the artist and the cynical, business-minded manipulator of the system. He takes much of his inspiration from being “moved by unknown and edgy performers, and being unmoved by the superstars with the expensive equipment” – his whole ‘act’ is, if you like, a rebellion against the idea that you need the priciest, most up to date gear to sound great. At the same time however, he recognises that success in the pop music world is often about pre-empting the fashion world (and being lucky) and is not afraid to be gimmicky, to be fashionable, to be branded a novelty, if he could, as he seems to have done, work the system to his own advantage.
He is decidedly DIY, having done everything himself up until now – he has finally got himself a booking agent – but more than happy to make use of more mainstream methods of self-promotion. A good example is his one-day tour of London, that he did in the Summer of 2004 and saw him play several gigs around the capital. “As a tour it wasn’t successful in itself – I made no money from it, hardly anyone was at some of the shows – but as a gimmick, as a talking point, as a way of giving myself an identity, it was brilliant. Nobody saw it, but loads of people heard about it.”
Hang on though, did you hear about it? Having you got the faintest idea who Kid Carpet is? No? Well, he’s a bit of a live phenomenon, famously kicking out stadium sized modern nursery rhymes and polemics on car boot sale scroungings that include fisher price guitars, sound boards, games, tamagochis, battered casio keyboards and samplers – anything really. His studio is called Toybox – tells you all you need to know. His live sets are the epitome of childish glee tempered only with moments of supreme savoire-faire regarding unemployment lines and adult love. He’s playing half a dozen festivals this summer; you probably missed his Glastonbury set in the Lost Vagueness Chapel, and his turns at the Isle of Wight and Homelands, but you could still catch him at Aston Court, V, Wakestock and (if you live in Japan) Fiji Rocks. He’s also on tour for the whole of July, kicking off in a car boot sale at the end of the M32 on July 3rd.
Let’s have a bit of background. Born in Leeds (“Dad was a cricket fan, and back then if you wanted to play for Yorkshire you had to have been born there. So, just in case, I was born in Leeds…”), the young Carpet grew up in Glastonbury and Leamington Spa, encouraged by his parents to take up whatever instrument took his fancy. Forming bands from and early age, it was in Newport, at music college, that he became involved in the beginnings of Actual Size, who were signed to Gut Records in 2000. The toys have always been there: “I’ve always shopped in Charity Shops; bought my clothes there, bought my gear there.” Kid Carpet began as a side project, messing about with samples and humour, extended jam-style tracks that never ended, until Nathan from The Mighty Jungulator expressed an interest and suddenly Carpet realised that the tracks could be finished. About the same time things were souring with Gut Records: “We’d had two singles put out, then suddenly we were told ‘write some radio hits or you’re finished’ by some suit who kept touching his penis all the way through the meeting. Very weird.” In the end, they were released, the unfinished first album being shelved, and KC decided he wanted to pursue the toy and sample side of their sound by himself. “I was handing out demos at Actual Size’s last ever show, in early 2003. We’re all still friends – just the impetus had gone.” (Other ex-members of Actual Size now feature in War Against Sleep and Termites). “So I developed my own sound, had my live debut at the Watershed’s 21st Birthday Party in Bristol, in May 2003. Then from the following August gigs just started rolling in. Gigs in Norway, arts residencies, loads of stuff. It was like I was permanently on tour.” Things really hit the big time for him when South Wales label Slow Graffiti put out his Shit Dope EP last summer. “They paid for this radio plugger, Sarah Travis, to push it, and suddenly I was on the Blue Room, and Steve Lamacq, and BBC6. It was wild!” This was followed by tours with the Tratchtenberg Family Slideshow Players and Willy Mason, both of which happened “by happy accident”, although much praise must go to the Carpet himself who did it all himself. Even now though, having just landed a single of the week for his second single, and with the album 'Ideas and Oh Dears' coming out on Tired & Lonesome next month, he’s unwilling to take all the praise: “It’s largely due to luck and word of mouth and this being the right time for Kid Carpet.” “Yeah,” we say, “but you’ve helped make it the right time for you.” To this he does at least concede some responsibility. However, he also concedes, quite willingly, that Kid Carpet is a creature of the moment: “He’s probably good for another album, maybe two. But even now it’s starting to feel a little like a job – not all the time mind – and it shouldn’t – it should feel like my life.”
You see? Funny isn’t it, the way somebody can be so passionate and yet so removed, so innocent when on stage, yet so experienced off. Funny guy, Kid Carpet.
Photos by Adrian KK Hicks
