British music is having a moment (again). Whether you want to liken it to the halcyon days of Britpop and Britrock in the 90s or the chart-invading clutter of landfill indie a decade later will likely depend on your vintage, but with bands like IDLES topping the charts and everyone from Bob Vylan to Nova Twins, Yard Act to Sleep Token and Creeper earning critical acclaim and making serious in-roads to the mainstream, it's hard not to feel like there's something very special happening on an island that otherwise seems determined to bury itself in the dirt.
Three albums in, Hastings' own Kid Kapichi might have not yet achieved the same breakthrough success as their contemporaries, but a string of sold-out shows across the UK suggests they're certainly on the cusp. Sure enough, the smaller room of Birmingham's O2 Academy is packed out just ahead of stage time, and as the bouncing dance beats of Groove Armada's Superstylin' play out over the PA, we get our first exercise in Kid Kapichi's unique cross-subcultural appeal as the guitarist on-stage tunes up playing System Of A Down's Aerials.
