EP REVIEW: Kid Klumsy – Fair Dooz (STP Records)
Kid Klumsy, from Coalville in Leicestershire, are one of those bands who are difficult to label but almost impossible to ignore.
Fair Dooz is their fourth EP in as many years for STP Records, after Spit Your Dummy Out (2018), Singing Our Souls (2019) and The Faces Don’t Fit (2020 – reviewed here).
It’s a hotch-potch of ideas and styles, all of which can be variously lumped together under the banner of punk rock.
There’s punk, post-hardcore, heavy metal and even gothic rock – see what I mean about being tough to label?
For a while Kid Klumsy were simply the band singer Weab.I.Am returned to after leaving Dirt Box Disco.
But hard gigging and a series of increasingly confident releases means they’re very much their own men these days, not just ‘that band Weab joined’.
After a twisted fairground intro we get down to business with Coconut, which offers an insight into their funhouse, with talk of “the world’s drunkest babies” and “the tallest man in the smallest shorts”.
Rebel song
Track two, Revolution, opens in furious hardcore style before settling into a mid-paced chugger where KK point a finger at some of the ills of our society which might just prompt fed-up folk to rebel against it.
SFW starts with a ska-funk intro, is built around a great bassline and has a great guitar solo.
It shows the five-piece at their poppiest and most accessible – hence the title, song for whoever.
We’re just warming up now, and the last two tracks are among their strongest to date. Media lays bare the toxic effect of mass media expectation, particularly on young women.
Then the closing Rise, about the lost innocence of our youth, calls out things that are wrong with the internet age, with the help of (sadly uncredited) female vocals.
Our 17 minutes inside the weird world of Kid Klumsy ends with twisted ringmaster Weab hoping we enjoyed the show.
On the strength of Fair Dooz, their show is one certainly worth buying a ticket for, and surely a full-length release can’t be too far away? 8/10.
