Having been invited to support the likes of Liam Gallagher, Royal Blood and Nothing But Thieves in the space of the last year or so, Hastings quartet Kid Kapichi are fast becoming one of the most exciting rock acts in Britain.
“Opening for Liam at the Royal Albert Hall was easily one of the most prestigious gigs we’ve done,” says guitarist and co-vocalist Ben Beetham. “Liam is a legend; we all knew it was a big moment. And touring with Nothing But Thieves taught us how to fill out big stages. We’re finally out of the cage, running around doing Chuck Berry moves!”
Latest release There Goes The Neighbourhood is their third album in as many years and once again sees them fusing elements of punk and psychedelic rock into their own heady cocktail of noise. On songs like Tamagotchi and Get Down, they’re splicing more conventional overdriven tones with highly effected synth-like structures, yielding some truly explosive results…
“We’ve started to lean more into the spacey stuff that goes side-by-side with the punk,” continues Ben. “It’s like hearing Queens of the Stone Age and Guy Ritchie movies mixed together! So I’m now running a dual rig: there’s a Line 6 Helix handling the wacky sounds running direct on one side and then I’ve got the mothership with the pedalboard and amps.
“I love finding the sweet spot between fizz and fatness, stumbling upon mad tones. It genuinely feels special, like you are privy to a moment that no one else will experience while alone in your room.”
Ben’s main weapon of choice is a 1952 Japanese Telecaster reissue made in 2009, which gets runs through Fender ’65 Deluxe Reverb combo backed by a Marshall JTM cab, with more amps likely to be added in the near future. “I won’t be subtracting – us guitar players hate throwing things away,” laughs Ben. “Amp switching is a dream of mine. I want every frequency covered!”
On the pedalboard, you’ll find a Visual Sound Double Trouble (“one side for the standard meat, the other to take it to the next level”), a Russian Big Muff clone (“it always makes an appearance”), plus the Electro-Harmonix Pitch Fork to add further depth where needed.
There’s also a POG2 with only the lower octave running through one of the sharper settings on the Q button, as heavily documented on previous recordings. For wetness, two DigiTech Polara reverbs are employed, one set short and the other long. “It’s the famously obnoxious Lexicon sound,” grins Ben, adding: “You wouldn’t think that side of the ’80s has much of a place in our music, but it works!”
