Kenickie

Kenickie were an English four-piece indie band from Sunderland. The band was formed in 1994 and consisted of lead vocalist, guitarist and lyricist Lauren Laverne, drummer Johnny X (real name Pete Gofton, Lauren's brother), lead guitarist and occasional lead vocalist Marie du Santiago (b. Anne Marie Nixon) and bass guitarist Emmy-Kate Montrose (b. Emma Jackson). The band's name comes from their favourite character in the 1970s film Grease.

History

Kenickie originally worked with Newcastle punk/riot grrrl label Slampt before signing to Saint Etienne's EMI subsidiary, EMIDisc. Kenickie registered in the UK Singles Chart, their highest position being No. 24 with the single "In Your Car",^[1] which opened Top of the Pops on the 10 January 1997 edition. Their debut album At The Club, peaked at No. 9 in the UK Albums Chart in May 1997.^[1] In the summer of 1997, Kenickie were scheduled to play Glastonbury; their set was postponed, due to rain, but took place later on the scheduled day.

After meeting them in New York, Courtney Love said:

They're a big bunch of sex, that band Kenickie. They're a big, raw-boned bunch of fucking sex — all three of them and the boy. I hope they get good. I hope we're a good example to them, I hope this record's huge and then the big labels will start sniffing around and then those big fucking raw-boned sexy Newcastle (sic) girls will be huge and have Number Ones and there will be an Amazon planet the way I want it.^[2]

The band's second album, Get In appeared in 1998. It was generally less well-received than its predecessor in the music press (although Melody Maker rated it 8/10), and sold less well. Johnny X, who now referred to himself as Pete X, moved to guitar, with the live band augmented by Graham Christie (later of Data Panik) on drums and Dot Allen on keyboards.

Kenickie disbanded on 15 October 1998 after a London Astoria gig, where Lauren closed the night by saying "We were Kenickie ... a bunch of fuckwits".

After Kenickie

Du Santiago and Montrose went on to form a new band called Rosita, and released two singles before splitting up. Du Santiago is now a member of The Cornshed Sisters and former head of communications for the Northern region of the Arts Council. In Autumn 2012, she took up position as Chief Executive of the University of Sunderland Students' Union.^[3] Johnny X went on to record under the name J Xaverre. He toured with Peter Brewis of Field Music's new project 'The Week That Was' and went onto play in Frankie & The Heartstrings. The band's one-time touring keyboard player Tony O'Neill (known in the band as Elvis Wesley) is now an author, living in the United States. Montrose completed a PhD in sociology in 2010 at Goldsmiths University. After some time as a research fellow in Urban Studies at the University of Glasgow,^[4] she returned to Goldsmiths in January 2015 as a lecturer in the Department of Sociology^[5]

Lauren Laverne released one solo EP, and sang on the 2000 Mint Royale single, "Don't Falter", which reached No. 15 in the UK chart.^[6] Laverne also was an uncredited vocalist on The Divine Comedy's 2004 single "Come Home Billy Bird" which reached No. 25 in the same chart.^[7] Since then she has presented various radio shows on radio station Xfm, most notably the breakfast show, before quitting in April 2007. She has also moved into television, originally as a guest on early episodes of music quiz Never Mind the Buzzcocks. She earned her own weekly spot on Channel 4 music show Planet Pop and became presenter, with Myleene Klass, of ITV music programme cd:uk in 2005, and hosted Channel 4's music show Transmission with Steve Jones in 2006 and 2007. She is currently lead host of BBC 2's The Culture Show and has her own daily radio show on BBC 6 Music, as well as occasionally deputising for holidaying presenters on BBC Radio 2. She now co-hosts Channel 4 show, 10 O'Clock Live, with David Mitchell, Jimmy Carr and Charlie Brooker.

Discography

The discography of Kenickie consists of two studio albums, a compilation album of live sessions, two extended plays, seven singles, four music videos and six original appearances on other various releases.

Studio albums

Compilation albums

• The John Peel Sessions (2000, Strange Fruit Records)

Extended plays

Singles

Other releases

• "Walrus" (demo) (on Signal Vs Noise compilation - 1994)
• "Hey, Punka" (on Laugh Hard at the Absurdly Evil compilation - 1995)
• "Rebel Assault" (on Elastic Jet Mission compilation - 1995)
• "Gary II" (on the Camden Crawl compilation - 1995)
• "Come Out 2Nite" (live) (on Phoenix The Album compilation - 1997)
• "It Started With a Kiss" (feat. Errol Brown) (on Come Again compilation - 1997)

Miscellaneous songs

Other songs performed on radio sessions included:

• Unnamed Acoustic Song (performed on Mark Radcliffe Show, Radio 1, February 1997)
• "Letter To Memphis" (cover of a Pixies track)
• "Save Your Kisses for Me" (cover of Eurovision song by Brotherhood of Man from appearance on A Song For Eurotrash TV show, 2 May 1998)

Music videos

• "Punka"
• "Millionaire Sweeper"
• "In Your Car" Directed by Dani Jacobs
• "Nightlife"
• "Punka" ^{[nb 1]} Directed by Dani Jacobs
• "I Would Fix You"
• "Stay in the Sun"

1. ↑ The original video from 1996 simply featured the band performing the song in the lounge of the real-life Gofton family home. This second video from 1997, filmed on location in Hollywood, featured the band as film stars in the studio for the shoot of a big-budget remake (still with the same concept) of their previous video.

References

External links

• BBC radio1/johnpeel kenickie page
• Kenickie Corner
• Planet Kenickie
• Kenickie Fried Chicken