Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Kix
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2012
Running time: 78:05 (audio disc only)
Rating: 4/5
Why not dig up some more on the glam crew Kix? The band formed in 1977 and fought their way up among the more prominent acts of the Sunstrip scene over a decade later with the commercially successful »Bow My Fuse« (1988). They packed their bags in 1995, when »grunge corrosion« ate everything away to the extreme – if I may use a somewhat broader term, since it wasn’t only the glam movement that got hit, but the bulk of the melodic side of rock. After the 1995 breakup Kix only sporadically turned up on stage, for instance in 2000, when they played shows in their native Maryland and in Pennsylvania, which went down very well at the time. Times changed, and sometime in early autumn 2004 Kix opened a new chapter in their career with a reactivation. In 2008 Kix played two of the biggest rock festivals in the USA, first Rocklahoma in Pryor (Oklahoma, USA), then Rock the Bayou in Houston (Texas, USA). Music critics rated both performances as the best of either festival. Since then Kix have been regulars on the club circuit, at casinos and at biker festivals. Across the USA.
This live document comes from December 18, 2011. It was Kix’s second-to-last show last year, at the club Ram’s Head Live!, as said, in Baltimore, that is in the state of Maryland, on Kix’s home turf.
Kix, active since 2004 and going strong in an almost identical lineup to the one that recorded the 1981 debut »Kix«, have only one newer member, bassist Mark Schenker, who has been on board since 2003 and came to Kix from Funny Money. A pile of live shows and long years of defiance from the band members, which brought plenty of priceless experience, delivered excellent results on the stage in Baltimore too.
Kix started out basically as rock n’ roll dirtbags, with a streak of punk hooliganism added to the direct, biting, primitive but instantly effective guitar phrases inherited from the AC/DC treasure chest, and on stage they come across as pure full-blooded rock! The sound is deliberately »ragged«, raw and stripped bare, and really carries that original punkish rock n’ roll character. Just the cheekiness, one of the band’s key trademarks and a big part of their character, is deepened by the fantastic vocal performance of singer Steve Whitman, whose energy never runs dry across this live document. In the show you can feel the incredible camaraderie of the crew, a full-on penetrating supply of primordially predatory rock n’ roll erotomania and audacity. The band stuck the biggest hits into the set list too, so the songs everyone demands ring out on this document: Cold Blood, Cold Shower (of course with Whiteman’s harmonica along for the ride), toward the end Midnite Dynamite, then Girl Money, the long-awaited Blow My Fuse and of course the over-obligatory ballad Dont’ Close Your Eyes, considered the biggest commercial success of Kix’s career.
The live audio recording alone is released as a single CD, with the solos and as many as five songs cut off. Luckily, there’s a “DVD plus CD” version on the market. The DVD includes the solos of both guitarists and the bass guitar, while the audio disc is missing The Itch, Same Jane, Sex, Hot Wire and For Shame, which is the only thing that really »holds water«. You can also get this release as a »digital mp3 download«, which covers all the missing parts that the audio CD doesn’t contain. Sadly, Frontiers Records didn’t decide on a separate release of the audio as a double live CD, which means that, from a marketing point of view, it’s simply unprofitable in these new times. A shame.
Personally, I’m rooting for the DVD plus CD version, because of what Whiteman does on stage, not only with his wonderfully well-preserved vocal range but also with how confidently and masterfully he fires up and communicates with the crowd, which you can hear on the audio disc – only the audio disc was delivered to our editorial office, as the promo version of the release. Given that the DVD document isn’t »cut up« but kept in one piece, the DVD is surely the number one target for any true rock enthusiast and fan of this band.
Judging by what the live CD delivers, it’s clear that Kix are fantastic on stage in their new era. Let’s just hope they make their way over to Europe soon, at least to some bigger European festival. Among the members of Kix today, the only one you can catch on a European stage is Brian »Damage« Forsythe, with the revived Rhino Buckett, otherwise Kix remain a real live rarity on our end of the globe. Let’s hope that changes as soon as possible! »Live At Baltimore« is a document that every true glam devotee and every believer in the magic of primal rock n’ roll sensibility has to own! From the first second to the last, it’s one hell of a fist of dynamite, relentlessly flooding your veins with a surplus of adrenaline and testosterone. Like love at first sight!
Lineup
Steve Whiteman – vocals
Ronnie “10/10” Younkins – guitar
Brian “Damage” Forsythe – guitar
Mark Schenker – bass guitar
Jimmy “Chocolate” Chalfant – drums
Production
Mark Schenker
Track list
CD:
1. No Ring Around Rosie
2. Atomic Bombs
3. Lie Like A Rug
4. Don’t Close Your Eyes
5. Girl Money
6. Cold Blood
7. Cold Shower
8. She Dropped Me The Bomb
9. Blow My Fuse
10. Kix Are For Kids
11. Midnite Dynamite
13. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.
