Kicking Sicily
Kicking Sicily

Kicking Sicily, a ska and punk band from Albany, NY, first asked me to review their CD over a month ago. They sent me their demo with an extremely professional press kit containing a bio, some publicity, a business card, and some old show flyers. Their resume is extremely attractive and more than sufficient for any local band. Their bio included a quote from Bucket of the Toasters, who said that they were “the best ska band in Albany.” Overall, I was impressed. At Western New England College, I caught the end of their set, and was definitely struck by the intense energy of the performance. While all of this definitely comes through on their self-titled demo, creating a powerful and diverse release, the audible result is inhibited by recording quality.

The first track, “The Blame,” starts off with a strong horn line from their trombone, sax, and two trumpet horn section, although the mixing and slight errors in playing create a slightly less than perfect result. After this solid entrance, a vocally-based verse exposes a few more mixing problems, including barely audible percussion and less than clear guitar and bass lines. The band has extremely articulate horn lines, and has really nice transitions from ska to punk and back again. The vocals are more hype-styled talking and singing than perfected harmonies, but the style gets people moving and excited live – the ultimate goal of Kicking Sicily’s music. “High School Anarchy” is a really catchy two-tone and punk track with a really well written horn hook. Some of the horn lines are not in tune or recorded to potential, which is atypical of this horn section, renowned for their blend and balance of sound. Small things in this song that may have detracted a little from it for me were some missed notes in the vocals and a well-played trumpet duet using some really trebly mutes. The trombone and sax solos in this tune and a really tight horn breakdown are more than commendable, ending the track on a high note. “I Don’t Think…” shows a consistent trend throughout the CD – hilarious and personal vocals, in this case about how much his girlfriend’s father hates him. The tune ends with a nice two part vocal harmony, showing impressive diversity in sound. “The Perfect Girl” kicks in with some scary circus music, which I think is a little too intense and atonal compared to the rest of the tune. Logan, the guitar player and vocalist for Kicking Sicily, has very socially critical lyrics, showing a more serious side to the band. Later tracks of “Tarn” and “Cigarette Supermart” address alcohol and tobacco addiction, which I really like. A band that can have fun, yet take some issues seriously and also do a lot of self-promoting, is definitely at an advantage. “Rude Attitude” starts off with a very unclear bass line with low tone quality, but builds up quickly to a catchy and harmonized horn line and lyrics created as a sort of ska anthem. In this song, the rhythm section is really exposed in a two tone verse, which further presents the imperfections in the recording quality, but also shows lots of precision in the guitar and drum parts. There are dueling trumpet solos in this song that don’t seem to be in any scale, just a flubbing of notes that really bother me, contrasting with the nice horn accents throughout the rest of the song. The next tune, “Afraid of the Boner,” is a really cool swing tune with a rock breakdown revealing more personal and pretty funny lyrics and another catchy horn line. “You’re Their King” plays with odd time signatures and critical lyrics, but also has some horn accents that are extremely dissonant. It’s this duality that makes this record really hard to judge, as Kicking Sicily does some things extremely well and other things that you wish they had left out. “Sideline Pushers,” “Give Me Some Sugar, Baby,” and “Skank It Up!” round out the disc with more danceable tracks with smooth transitions, which make it easy to see why these guys are a live favorite in their native Albany.

Overall, I enjoyed getting to check out the tracks on Kicking Sicily’s self-titled 12 track demo. As these guys get more and more experience and exposure, they’ll definitely get their name out throughout the Northeast. Although I would have liked better recording quality, these guys use what they have to present themselves as professionally as possible. I’d definitely recommend checking out the band live and judging them for yourself – their combination of energy and intensity is an irresistible force that sucks fans in.

Reviewed By:  Todd Springer

Date:  Sat 2 Sep 06

Score:  6.0

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