Three Kings High: Hail

Right thoughts, right words...

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They aren’t keen on clichés in Bristol, so while Three Kings High build their songs from strong guitar riffs and memorable choruses, their indie attitude wilfully refuses to let them follow any of the signposts pointing to the obvious route.

Instead they tinker and make it less obvious and more interesting. They make their lyrics count – not just the words themselves but the rhythm of the words. It pulls you in too, notably on Nothing Left To Lose, an extended version of last year’s single.

Maybe that makes them too smart for their own good sometimes, a bit like 10cc, but that’s a risk they’ll take. Difficult to categorise but fans of Franz Ferdinand, Jungle or the Arctic Monkeys should get it./o:p

Hugh Fielder

Hugh Fielder has been writing about music for 47 years. Actually 58 if you include the essay he wrote about the Rolling Stones in exchange for taking time off school to see them at the Ipswich Gaumont in 1964. He was news editor of Sounds magazine from 1975 to 1992 and editor of Tower Records Top magazine from 1992 to 2001. Since then he has been freelance. He has interviewed the great, the good and the not so good and written books about some of them. His favourite possession is a piece of columnar basalt he brought back from Iceland.