Rolling Dog

+ Kid Idiot - Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms - April 2006
Image: © 2006 Simon Bartlett
By Adam Reed

To the backing of PJ & Duncan’s ‘Let’s Get Ready to Rumble’, Kid Idiot arrive on stage. But don’t be alarmed. The Portsmouth three-piece aren’t here for some M.O.R. Saturday evening TV action or any after-school-soap-opera-cum-smash-hits-rap-icon skulduggery, they’re here to rock the Wedgewood Rooms and win over a few new fans along the way. With songs like ‘Lose Weight’, ‘Diary’ and ‘My Goodbye’ they belt away the frustrations of being a twenty-something guy, with fun lyrics to a hard rock soundtrack. Kid Idiot are loud, animated and fun; something very refreshing in a scene where, particularly on stage, bands so often take themselves too seriously. Having followed the Rolling Dog story from their days of indie pop in pubs, it’s a wonderful thing to watch them in action as they headline a packed Wedge for the nth time. The modern-day Dog are polished, professional and their live experience is relentless. Hardly pausing to catch breath, they plough their way through tune after tune of what they call ‘indiedancecore’. This can be crudely summed up as sophisticated punk that carries with it an uncontrollable urge to swing your hips. Matt Woolway’s vocal range gives the band a dimension of their own and his stage performance is enchanting an already captivated audience who love every minute of tracks like ‘Question Answer’, ‘Scenester’ and ‘Spookyvision’ - as recently featured on XFM Unsigned. With dates lined up in London over the coming months, polish those dancing shoes and get out to see them.