Heading back to Leeds on their first headline tour were Liverpudlian band Clean Cut Kid at Headrow House. They kicked off the night with ‘Runaway’, their single that was released in October 2015 along with the B side ‘Jean’. They performed ‘Jean’ stripped back, giving lots of emotion to the song and was a good contrast from their upbeat, jumpy indie-pop songs. This was followed nicely by love ballad ‘Evelyn’, written by Mike (lead singer) about his wife Evelyn (keyboardist) after she complained that he hasn’t written a love song about her.
They played their great new single ‘Make Believe’ that has been getting some exciting radio play. If you haven’t seen the video for it then you need to check it out. Evelyn and Saul (bass) told us that when filming this video, they were on harnesses on massive mattresses being dragged and pulled in all sorts of directions, not knowing when they were going to be pulled along. New songs ‘Paper heart’ and ‘Felt’ gave a brief insight into the direction of their debut album, hopefully released next year. ‘We Used To Be In Love’ and ‘Pick Me Up’ got the crowd bouncing and clapping, creating an amazing atmosphere. They are definitely now one of my favourite bands.
They were so happy that anyone had even turned up, despite Ross (drummer) being really ill. Ending the night with the infectious melodies of their first single ‘Vitamin C’ made none of us want to leave but they did hang around to chat and take photos with fans. When their album comes out we’re only going to see bigger and better things happening for Clean Cut Kid. They’ll be back in Leeds on 25th October supporting The Courteeners at First Direct Arena.
Amy Brown