A rather dreary last Friday evening saw the EP launch of local math-rock quartet King No-One, a band who’s recent success was plain to see in the gig’s attendance. Crowds, albeit of shrill-voiced 15 year-old girls, descended upon Fibbers to pack out the venue for what was a very hot, very loud affair.
Following strong performances from Pioneer and High Tyde (the latter particularly successful in energising the crowd) the headline act took to stage by half nine – accommodating the largely underage audience. The Yorkshire boys entered to chants of “King No-One”, making for a nostalgic teenage ‘fangirl’ experience.
“Sound of Fear” began the set, and there were winks from vocalist Zach Lount to the female crowd members at the fore. The off-beat swing of “Route” offered a welcomed dynamic change-up and the set streamed through bursting choruses and tempo changes reminiscent of the math-rock genre.
Despite the occasionally-blinding front lightsand the increasing heat, it all sort of worked. We fell into a sweaty mass of bobbing heads beneath the confident and unrelenting King No-One.
You’d perhaps want less hair-fiddling from Lount, and certainly far less swooning when he removed his jacket, but otherwise a so-far satisfying gig. Constant alterations in rhythm and accented beats were sometimes bewildering but did not lose the audience, and we rolled onto “Millennium”. The track’s ridiculously infectious chorus sparked communal sing-alongs and a final energetic crescendo seemed to take the action on stage to new highs.
Before “Gold” could begin, Lount executed a rather long-winded episode of EP-throwing to the crowd, something eventually very anticlimactic. By now, explosive choruses were becoming mildly monotonous, so “Saloon” was a relieving switch-up. Unfortunately, the crowd en masse seemed to lose interest in this slower, minimal offering. Vocals were howling and strong but audience chatter went some way to drown this out. Phone lights in the air instead of lighters pretty well embodied the general ‘not-quite-there’ feel of the night.
A predictable twenty second encore was unnecessary stage-play and “Moonstruck” failed to reach the highs required to round off such a set. Solid drumming and general tightness was refreshing and impressive, but stage formalities were peppered with a few too many attempts at crowd involvement – which merely distracted from the music. Of course though (and rightly so), the band seemed to want to gain full enjoyment out of a locally-packed-out Fibbers – while they can still appreciate such intimacies.
They’d do worse than to remember modesty in taking somewhat unripe stage skills to larger UK venues – venues which King No-Onewill no doubt be selling out in years to come.