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Facts on The Incredible Kidda Band
American girl band The Babyshakes have recorded
a version of The Kicks track If Looks Could
Kill.
Also worth checking out is the terrific new
album from Alan Hammonds, called The Kidda Band
Man. It’s a CD that’s full of very funny, very
topical and very well written songs.
As The Kicks, each member of the band appeared as a Page 3
Pin Up in teen girls' magazine, Oh Boy! A huge honour! |
This week, Pete looks at the career of The Incredible Kidda Band.
The Incredible Kidda Band by Pete Chambers
The Incredible Kidda Band were Nuneaton’s finest and
probably only real power pop punk band in the seventies.
Lively and energetic are just two terms you could apply
to this band some others would be crazy, loud, mad and
exciting!
Yep, you always kew when this band were on stage you
were in for a good time, they never let an audience down
an! d they probably never left the stage without an
encore during their height.
The classic Incredible Kidda Band line-up featured
Alan
Hammonds, Kidder, Dave Lister, Les Rollason, Johnny
Rollason and Dick Millington. A year into their career
they released the single Everybody Knows, not a huge
seller at the time but some 28 years later it has been
fetching crazy prices (£200+) on E-bay. And while we are
using the word crazy, it may be opportune to mention
that one band member, who should probably remain
nameless (OK it’s Alan Hammonds) had frisbee-d 120
copies of the said single into a nearby skip!!
During their career they got to play not once but twice
on the popular ITV show, Get It Together. The first was
in 1979 alongside ELO and Les McKeown of the Bay City
Rollers, while the second was in 1981 playing alongside
Cliff Richard, of all people.
By 1980 they reinvented themselves at The Kicks and went
on to release the singles Get Off The Telephone, Big
Boys Don’t Cry, If Looks Could Kill and Don’t She Look Fab.
By the end of the 80s, the band had changed into We’re
Only Human and all was pretty much over for The Kidda
Band and their guitar-based style of new wave rock.
Their legacy continues - not just in the price their
first single commands but also in the release of the
band's CD compilation, Too Much, Too Little, Too Late, a
29 track anthology of the band, including the local gem Camphill Go Go!
That was followed in 2002 by a batch of re-released
singles from Japanese label 1977 Records.
Two former members of the band, Alan and Dave, and Pete
Chambers will be on the Bob Brolly show on Friday, 24
February from 3pm. Listen to the show
here. |
