Concert Review: Kiss Me Krakow

I first saw Kiss Me Krakow frontman Jeremy Mix perform at Arlene's Grocery sometime last fall. I was there to do a review on the band Farewell Flight from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. After I saw them and did an interview, I hung around to see who might be playing next.

It turned out to be Jeremy's band, and by the end of his set I was really glad I had stayed. Hearing his band was just one of those serendipitous moments in life that is so cool. Something in the sound of the band caught my attention and held it. The comparison I made at the time by sort of putting elements of their look and sound together in my mind was to imagine The Rolling Stones with a sort of southern influence being fronted by Kurt Cobain — okay, it sounds strange but that was the image.

After the show I talked to Jeremy and got a copy of his CD to listen to, planning to do a review. I found Jeremy to be a really likable dude. He has that sort of laid back, easygoing personality and ready grin that I associate with the south and makes him fun to hang out with. He projects that same personality on stage and both times I saw him perform the crowd seemed to conect well with him and his music.

I liked the CD that he gave me that night a lot, enough so that when I was on Biff Naked's tour bus a few weeks later and we were talking about promising bands from the New York City area I gave his CD to Biff to listen to. But I noticed that there was a difference between the CD and the live show. The songs were the same but the live show included two backup singers, Celia Chavez and Julia Brown.

Celia and Julia aren't present on the CD that Jeremy gave me that night and so I got to hear the band both with and without the girls. While it is true that I liked Jeremy's music a lot on the CD, I felt that having the girls doing backup really put the icing on the cake for the band. They gave it that special "something" that really took the band to the next level. Both Celia and Julia have music careers independent of the band and I was pleased to see that they were still around when I went to the debut performance of the Jeremy Mix band now called Kiss Me Krakow.

Article Author: Mike Johnston

Covering mainstream music, the New York City indie rock scene and off-Broadway theater productions. Also articles on science, the ongoing effects of climate change, and alternative energy.

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