Roman Is Better

Kubichek!/The Patricians @ The Plug, Sheffield 28/04

Kubichek! are proof that perseverance pays off. Having been tipped to be "The Next Big Thing" for the last two years or so, someone has finally decided to give them a chance and put out an album. The frustration that those years in limbo must have caused them comes across in their performance. Whilst lesser bands would have no doubt gone under or given up, Kubichek! stuck with what they do and fuelled all their anger into their music. Given the current trend for average run of the mill post-punk bands (stand up Switches!), it would be easy to dismiss Kubichek! as another in a long line of delay pedals and 16ths, but none of them sound as angry, passionate or down right pissed off as Kubichek! do.

Tonight sees Kubichek! on top form, running through choice cuts from their debut lp. As you would expect from any post-punk band, there's lots of dum-tish-dum-tish drum parts but coupling this with a steady diet of Fugazi and Washington harDCore, Kubicek! demonstrate the edge they have over many other bands. True, recent single "Nightjoy" could well be compared to Editors own brand of Joy Division-lite, but it doesn't sound as lazy or have the "will that do?" vibe that Birmingham's dullest have. Lyrically, Kubichek! deal with crushed ambition that comes from living in a small town. "Hometown Strategies" talks of those who fail to see that they "hometown's aren't everything" whilst the frankly brilliant "Stutter" applies to failing relationships, rubbish friends, rubbish parties and rubbish nights out. Even their token slow song is called "Hope Is Impossible". It certainly is grim up north. Having said that, Kubichek! avoid appearing as po-faced miserablists. They throw themselves around Plug's relatively small stage with far more energy then you'd expect from a band who've been touring for so long and even provide some comic relief in the form of a story about Henry Rollins' first band being called The Cranberries.* They finish with "Just Shut It Down", throwing themselves into a feedback laden outro. And that's it. One of the best live bands in the UK at the minute? Probably.



*Obviously it wasn't The Cranberries. It was S.O.A., fact fans.