King Eskimo at the Riverside Stage, Stockton Fringe
Back to the riverside stage on Saturday at the Stockton Fringe with a nice hangover. Making their appearance on the stage were King Eskimo, a 4 piece Indie-rock band. With influences such as the Stone Roses, The Who, Johnny cash and The Jam, I was interested to see how this band would perform. Their style is definitely melodic and relaxing with a nice acoustic guitar sound from the front-man.
After thinking I had the measure of this band, the lead guitarist decides to throw in some rather strident guitar solos which seem to fit strangely well with the overall soft rock and blues style. All the band members feel quite confident and the lead singer's voice is most definitely strong and bruising. There's no synths or big production values anywhere near this band. Throughout the set, although I wasn't not moved by what I heard, I couldn't draw myself away. The sound had a pure quality to it thanks to the band's technical ability.
King Eskimo have been described as "Oasis fronted by Michael Hutchence". Personally, I feel that is a rather grandiose statement to make since although the band played well and was received well by the crowd, I felt that most of the songs sounded too similar. The band are, however, just starting out and respect was certainly due, in part, for the occasional people who felt they should get up and dance. Being early on the bill, the crowd was never going to be huge but the band certainly earned the applause they received.