Music, Style & Culture

1990s - Kicks

Here at DIY we love the 1990s, so naturally we're very excited about their second album 'Kicks', the follow up to 2007's 'Cookies' that was released this week. The band talk us through the tracks that made the cut.

Here at DIY we love the 1990s, so naturally we're very excited about their second album 'Kicks', the Bernard Butler produced follow up to 2007's 'Cookies' that was released this week. A slight departure from their first effort, the album features new addition Dino Bardot (who was formerly in V-Twin alongside drummer Michael McGaughrin) on bass, and all three members sharing lead vocal duties.

The band talk us through the tracks that made the cut.

'Vondelpark'
I’d always wanted to write a krautrock pop song. The saddest lyric on the album concerns heartbreak and regret in Amsterdam. This is a real place with a spaceship-shaped pub at it’s centre which shows great concern for the local homosexuals.

'Tell Me When You're Ready'
One of our earliest tunes which seemed destined to be forever the bridesmaid and never the bride. The chirruping noises at the start came forth from my amp when I was ignoring it. Fender amps are the ladies of the music world. Marshalls are just lairy dudes to be ignored as a rule.

'I Don't Even Know What That Is'
It could be a song about trying to run with the cool kids and the horrible dawning realisation that you ain't ever gonna be cool enough. It could be a song about irritating people who try to persuade you that they're cool... A bit of both laced with a little light misanthropy, maybe... Mostly it's just designed to be fun to play...

'59'
A bus that comes so rarely that it's worth jumping on even if it's going the wrong way. You may see a girl with suspect togs and facial irregularities who make's the long trip up west unforgettable.

'Kickstrasse'
A genuine love song using 70s West German politics for poetic reasons.

'Everybody Please Relax'
An absurdist celebration of everything we’re supposed to hate.

'Balthazar'
Boy meets Girl stuff. References a catholic saint in donkey-form. I like donkeys. And Catholic saints.

'Local Science'
A hymn to Queens Park, Glasgow; home of a million rabbits and the place the people of Govanhill go to get drunk when it's sunny. Was envisioned as a spectral little summer song in the vein of 3rd album Velvets... Bernard B. looked into it's soul and somehow found a power balled nestled there!

'The Box'
Initially this sounds bit nasty but not completely so. This is as near as we can get to writing a love song. Most of the time you want to lock the subject away in a box / cage. Then you miss 'em and want to get in there with 'em.

'Giddy Up'
I hate it when people call round unannounced. Veers off into stuff about the Russian gymnastics team of 2002 before climaxing with a celebration of R. Wood’s artist muse.

'The Kids'
A song from back when we formed the band. The line name checking the celtic striker Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink enabled us to meet the man himself as well as manager Gordon Strachan and ol' Hoops legend Danny Mcgrain.

'Sparks'
Some people need an audience... some people like to watch. A celebration of the inner fury of those with red hair. Nature's warning... indeed.