Kate Nash - UNDER-ESTIMATE THE GIRL

Written and recorded in less than 24 hours, Kate Nash is back with a new song. It's a world away from the plinky-plonky piano pop with which she made her name, and follows on from the post-grunge, punky guitar-led foundations (no pun intended) that she laid down on her second album. What are your thoughts on this seemingly Hole inspired inspired shoutfest? We like it, here at Bobbysix.

You can download UNDER-ESTIMATE THE GIRL for a limited time only here and you can see Kate on tour in the UK in the following places:

Sun 17th         Glasgow King Tuts: 14+
Mon 18th        LeedsBrudenell: 14+ with adult, 16+ without
Wed 20th        Liverpool Zanzibar: 18+
Thurs 21st      Manchester Deaf Institute: 14+
Fri 22nd          Nottingham Bodega: 14+
Sun 24th         Birmingham Glee Club: 16+
Mon 25th        Bristol Thekla: 14+
Tues 26th       Oxford Academy 2: 14+
Thurs 28th      Brighton The Haunt: 14+
Fri 29th           Guildford Boileroom: 14+
Sat 30th          Cardiff Ifor Bach: 18+
JULY 2012
Mon 2nd         Limerick Dolans: 18+
Tues 3rd         Dublin Whelan’s: 18+
Wed 4th         Belfast Limelight: 18+

Kate Nash at The Metro, Sydney

KATE NASH
THE THIN KIDS
The Metro Theatre, 05/08/10

Everett True is a name to be conjured with. The man who introduced Kurt to Courtney and who wheeled Cobain onto stage at Nirvana’s legendary Reading Festival show was perhaps the UK’s most notorious and opinionated music journalist ever. Now a resident of Brisbane, True finds himself as frontman of The Thin Kids (below). This is the second time I've seen True perform, and it remains hard to know whether he is for real or if the whole thing is something of a piss-take, but listening to an old English geezer tunelessly sing while his makeshift band (including Bridezilla’s Holiday Carmen-Sparks on percussion and Millie Hall on sax) tried their hardest to improvise around him was actually kinda awesome.

A couple of years since her last Sydney appearance, Kate Nash’s return was initially low key, playing piano for The Thin Kids while hidden beneath the hood of a parka. Soon enough though it was time for the main event. Of course her set featured the likes of Foundations, Paris, Merry Happy, Mouthwash and Do Wah Doo. Of course they were lovely slices of piano pop and of course everyone sang along. But, at heart, Kate Nash has always been more Riot Grrrl than Girl Group, and she set about proving it with a diverse, guitar-heavy and occasionally experimental performance. “This is a spoken word piece about not selling yourself short,” was certainly not what people who turned up to hear the hits were expecting. There were also rocky songs like the quiet/loud Pixies-esque romp, I Just Love You More, and moments of pure punk as Nash stomped the stage spitting lyrics.

The chirpy British songwriter has a fine way with words that she is not often given due credit for. The language she uses is simple but offers truths in its succinctness. “I wish I could be quiet/When I’m quiet people just think I’m said/And usually I am,” she cried during the outstanding Don’t You Want To Share The Guilt? On delicate love song, I Hate Seagulls, she demonstrated her dislike for celebrity sycophantism. “I hate anyone who, if I was serving chips, wouldn’t talk to me.”

There are plenty of people happy to write Kate Nash off as merely being the girl who sang that song about your friends being much fittah, but the desire she showed tonight to try to push her own boundaries is what makes her a genuinely exciting and relevant artist.

Kate Nash - My Best Friend Is You

Having rush-released her debut, Made Of Bricks, in order to capitalise on the success of hit single, Foundations, perky English songstress Kate Nash now returns with a more polished effort. Produced by former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler (who also produced Duffy), much of My Best Friend Is You has a brassy, sixties girl-group sound. You’ll Never Listen To Me is a poptastic introduction, as is next track, Kiss That Girl. Later, single Do Wah Doo sees Nash telling of her disdain towards a love-rival over jaunty piano, horns and handclaps.

At times though, Nash veers closer to her indie roots. Starting gently and building towards a spoken-word ending over strings, the epic Don’t You Wanna Share The Guilt gives more than a passing nod to Be Safe by her boyfriend’s band, The Cribs. “I don’t know how more people haven’t got mental health problems,” she begins, before her cockney vernacular becomes more frenzied.

Meanwhile, Pickpocket is a bit Regina Spektor, the fairly pointless I Just Love You More, is screamy and shouty in a Pixies way and the aggressive, sparse Mansion Song is almost rapped. “Strip, strip, strip and shag/Fuck, get fucked,” Nash snarls in her scathing attack on groupie culture. Its delivery is a bit cringe-worthy in a friend-insisting-on-reading-you-their-poetry kind of way, but it’s nonetheless bold and interesting.

This coming together of radio-friendly pop and edgier indie makes for a somewhat schizophrenic outcome, but regardless of whether that leaves something for everybody or not enough for anybody, Nash’s personality remains strong throughout and there are some brave intentions within her storytelling.