A rehash of other bands

(Morning Star, Saturday 27 November 2004)

The Kinison - What Are You Listening To?
(Atlantic)

I LIKE to think that The Kinison's album title is like your mum coming into your room with a "what are you listening to?" and shutting off the stereo, writes KIRSTIE MAY.

And you'll wish that she would - this album is a real rancid slice of nonsense pie.

Opening track The Farm and The Girls plunges into some sub-Cooper Temple Clause rock posturing and, all of a sudden, some no-hopers like Kasabian seem a credible option.

As the album unfolds, each track seems worse than the last.

The unpleasant Oh Boy That Girl Can Move betrays the band's US roots, even though their sound is British to its core.

The heavy-handed rock that The Kinison are peddling is relentless and uninspiring, with guitars that are too brutal and a voice that never changes, forcing any melody that may exist to bury itself shamefully.

The single You'll Never Guess Who Died is nothing new, a rehash of countless other guitar bands with little to say from any given decade.

The Kinison come from Oblong, Illinois, which a rudimentary search reveals has less than 2,000 residents.

As such, it's no surprise that the boys are breaking out - but this is not the way.

Definitely a garage band who should've stayed in the garage.