Ground Components / Kids from Russia

Andy J Ryan Mar 20, 2023

The Ground Components EP Launch - Hopetoun Hotel 15 July 2006

After earlier subjecting myself to some sporting fixtures decided by excruciatingly poor refereeing/umpiring, a bit of disillusionment had crept into my evening, but it and any voluntary control I had over my body to keep still was soon left at the door.

The Kids From Russia were creating a rightly passionate din that seemed impossible to come from only the three chaps onstage. Music that explodes out at you and is delivered with such ferocity and action they make the stage look small and the crowd swell with movement.

The Ground Components had to make an onstage announcement to locate their lost drummer but once found and onstage the band got straight down to business. What is instantly apparent is the cohesion within the band, they are all pulling in the same direction, each equally sharing the passion in the music they are playing.

The band draws from a diverse background of musical stock ranging from soul, R&B, country and literal pop songs but the sound is not easily definable. On face value the band can be enjoyed for their simple and unescapable rhythm gushing through their songs, many of which could easily hold up against the best of the 1960s Northern Soul stompers getting feet sliding in dingy clubs the world over. Bass player Indra weaves beat loaded bass-lines through the songs as if he was on a loom, Dale sits at keyboard as if to forcefully address his notes to the song as opposed to just flouncing above it. The two brothers Simon on drums and singer/guitarist Joe out front couldn’t be more opposite – Simon a stoic presence holding it all together down back behind the kit whilst Joe only constrained by the walls of the venue and the length of his microphone cord as he bounds about the stage.

With the Kids from Russia’s guitarist taking over the six-stringed duties for the set, Joe was even further unburdened and belted about the stage like a fast forwarded yoga video, a multitude of camera lenses fixed on his every move. The set touched on their two previous EPs and a defining Dylan cover ‘Its Alright Ma…”. Newer tracks from their upcoming album An Eye for a tooth, A tooth for a pick revealed a more urban flavour muddied into the mix, with a greater emphasis of lyrical rhythm and flow and I dare say a bit more hard hitting in their content.
The new single they were here to launch is a solid display of a band evolving and maturing, while they are still fine purveyors of some shakin’ soul action they soon may become as quotable as they are enjoyable.