Kings of Spade roxxors my soxxors

December 10, 2010

Tracy Chan,

Ever been to see a band where the music is so good that the rhythm, as Urban Dictionary says, “starts from your toes (which are in your socks) and works its way up”?

I’ve been looking for an excuse to write about Kings of Spade for about a year now. There’s already so much written about them, and so much has been said. But since they’re one of my all-time favorite local bands, if not my #1 favorite, and since Wednesday’s Broadcast at NextDoor, I feel like I should add to the multitudes of praise.

If you haven’t been to Broadcast yet, it’s a weekly live music night, with various local (and sometimes visiting) bands who get a chance to both play and be filmed while playing. Just about every local band has been featured at Broadcast, but it takes some heavy hitters like Kings of Spade (among the various achievements to their credit, they’ve opened for Bon Jovi) to crowd the venue.

Here’s the crowd at Broadcast. Please forgive the point & shoot photo quality.

Every time I see them play, I’m amazed again by how much individual talent each band member has, and how much working together allows them to showcase that talent. And they’re one of the only bands I know where all the members, from drummer Matt Kato to bassist Max Benoit to lead guitarist Jesse Savio, pretty much have their own set of groupies, drawn to the different personalities that make up this synergistic and explosively charismatic group of performers. As lead singer Kasi Nunes says, they’re not just a band; they’re a family. A damned good-looking, really talented family.

Kasi is known for her trademark mohawk, her amazing, powerful blues/rock vocals and her gorgeous girlfriend 😛

Kings of Spade is an act I’ll never get tired of watching. I can’t even remember when I started going to their shows; I know it was several months after they came back to the Islands from LA and started performing again. Unanimous word on the street was “you need to check out their show,” so I did, and I’ve been hooked ever since.

Their Wednesday show, with Taimane Gardner and Sex Puppets, was a rare treat for those who came out. We got to see Taimane, who’s a virtuoso on the ukulele and an absolute marvel to watch, give a brilliant, theatrical performance.

She later took the stage with Kings of Spade for a spirited collaboration that got the instant approval of the crowd.

After Kings of Spade, Sex Puppets played a set to end the night. A relatively newer band, fronted by the adorable Makke Farley, they’ve come a long way and have really tightened up, but still seem to be in the phase of really finding a voice for themselves.