Alias Kid Might Be The Next Great Manchester Band - Sabotage Times
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Alias Kid Might Be The Next Great Manchester Band

Alan McGee's newest signing have just released their debut, and it's an album informed by the city it was born in...
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Alan McGee's newest signing have just released their debut, and it's an album informed by the city it was born in...



Despite only forming in 2014, Manchester band Alias Kid snagged the ear of Alan McGee who - attracted by their penchant for a chorus and no bullshit, working class stance - signed them to his label, 359 Music.

With McGee’s past in mind it’s difficult to not mention the bands he was associated with, especially when you listen to Revolt To Revolt;  Alias Kid's first record. It’s an album that revels in its Britpop influences, its Manchester influences. Of course these in turn hark back to the 60s and 70s, of glam, new wave, punk and four mop tops from down the M62.

Oasis are and will be those most mentioned when drawing comparisons, but really you can take your pick. ‘Messiah’ wouldn't be out of place on The Second Coming and not just because of the title. It’s got a vocal melody to rival ‘Love Spreads’ in its ability to linger unabated in your mind. You know sometimes you go to bed and you’ll get a melody or a couplet stuck in your head and you’ll spend three hours with that one part twisting your brain in knots, to the point where you curse the family of the person who wrote it? Like that. It’s great.

Their call to arms ‘Revolution Sometime’ is Gillespie-esque, and is the sound of what they are: five working class lads, disenfranchised with their generation that is ‘flatlining’ and ‘running on empty most of the time’. Recent single ‘Zara Henna’ is the sweetest track here, a singalong ode to a chick called Zara who the protagonist likes so much he draws on her with a henna pen. Listening to it made me daydream wistfully of Teenage Fanclub, of course another McGee band.

The danger with all these comparisons is that Alias Kid get considered a nostalgia band, a kinda Darkness for the Britpop era minus the spandex. This is decidedly not the case. Instead it’s just a reflection of who they are, where they come from and where their aspirations lie. They’re from Manchester, but a band for us all.

Recently there has been quiet rumblings of a revival in rock music’s fortunes, with Slaves and Royal Blood landing in the wider consciousness, and upcoming acts the forthcoming, Domino-signed Bohicas and The Jacques making good moves. It would appear that Alias Kid are coming along at just the right time to ride the wave, and with McGee at their side and guitars in their hands, the time is ripe for another Manchester uprising.

Give the band a follow over here