Photo Set: Kid Leather @ The Central Saloon
Kid Leather @ The Central Saloon
January 19, 2019 in Seattle
Words and Photos by Caroline Anne
In January, on the approach of a “super blood wolf” moon eclipse, Seattle’s Kid Leather rocked the supermoon of historic musical venues, The Central Saloon.
The venue, located in Seattle’s Pioneer Square neighborhood, has championing local music for over 125 years and hosted musical icons such as Mother Love Bone and Soundgarden. One can just look along the walls to see posters of Seattle’s musical past.
Formed about six years ago, Kid Leather is the noise punk brainchild of Chris Cool (formerly of Atomic Bride) on vox, guitar and synth, with longtime friend and Coldwater, Mich. native, Branden Minniear on drums / samples and Spoono Ghiefardi on bass.
Kid Leather opened their 9-song set with “Just a Chick Flick” and “Roller King” off their latest EP, Soft Machine (released April 2017) before thrashing their way into several new songs.
While I have seen videos of Kid Leather over the years, this was my first time seeing them perform live. When Cool spoke it was crystal and the quality of sound was almost too polished for a punk band. There was an air of confidence with their stage presence that was fun, but not cocky. This was evident on the song “Copacetic,” when Cool almost ceremoniously raised his guitar to the ceiling before repeating the lyrics “I haven’t lost my cool.”
On stage, the trio demonstrated a kindred choreography. Ghiefardi danced freely about stage, adding high flying kicks into the air, but stopped frequently to head bang along with Minniear and at one point playing alongside Cool on the floor, neither of them missing a beat.
My favorite new song was the last of the evening, “Pop Contest,” on which Minniear drummed like a ferocious hummingbird. At times he seemed to outmatch my shutter speed.
Kid Leather finished recording their second full length album in December 2018. I highly recommend checking out their Facebook page for updates on its release.
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