Kenickie are the newest brash, loud, almost all-girl band to hail from across The Pond. Young, fashion-conscious, and intelligent, Kenickie proves that not all girl bands from the UK are as flavorlessly spiced as some. The band was formed in 1994, and their fast-paced, razor-witted pop/punk approach (not to mention their somewhat emphatic fashion statements) made them immediate press darlings in England.

Kenickie's founding line-up started with Lauren Le Laverne and Marie Du Santiago, both axe-wielding pop superstars-to-be, who took their name from bad-boy best-friend character in Grease, (which, coincidentally, was released in 1978, the year of their birth). Quickly added to Kenickie were bass whiz Emmy-Kate Montrose and Johnny X, the lone boy of the band and Lauren's brother, on drums.  With the UK tabloid press at their feet and three releases under their belts, Kenickie have set their sights on the US. But don't think that this is a band that depends on looks, or the novelty of their youth, to get by. Kenickie want people to know that their music can speak for itself. At The Club, their newest collection of good-time anthems, is just the ticket to prove it. With powerful song structures and soaring melodies, At The Club is perfect for turning the inner sourpuss into a grinning idiot.

One of the most notable things about the European press clips for Kenickie is the way they tend to trumpet the girls' age (or lack thereof). When asked if this bothers them, Lauren was quick to answer.

"Yes, it did," she says. "Especially at first, it did. We were scared because we didn't want too much emphasis placed on the fact that we are young, because we knew we wanted to be in the band for as long as we could, and we weren't going to be teenagers for very long."

"But we didn't worry about it too much," Marie continues, "because we knew we had the songs, and we knew that if you're a good musician and write good songs, you don't particularly have to take great pains to tell people that. The best never do."

While eschewing the pleasures of tooting their own collective horn, the members of Kenickie take their craft seriously. When asked if their style might cause problems to arise with being taken seriously as musicians, Marie looked thoughtful.

"Well, if we're going to have any problems, it will be that people will see us as non-valid because of our emphasis on image," she says.  "If there's one thing I'd like to do, it would be to make it all right to be a musician and still dress up and be real girls."

"The difference is that England is very concentrated on pop, where with America, it's rock, very rock." Emmy pipes up. "Pop music is about great music, but it's also very much about a certain attitude, and a certain image. That seems almost frowned upon in America."

"I'd like to make it all right to be free to dress up," Marie says with the air of a beauty pageant contestant naming her innermost wish for the judges.

This attitude is indicative of the Kenickie vibe: boldly stepping into the arena and knocking out conventions right and left. Look out for these Wünderkinder--they just might be rocking your house soon. As one British paper said, "Lock up your sons! Here comes Kenickie."#