The New Kinetics

San Diego’s The New Kinetics brought their blistering brand of rock and roll to the Whistlestop on Friday night. Following an affable performance by fellow locals The Mashtis — who were celebrating the release of their new 7-inch A Canopy of Sundays — The New Kinetics’ rough-and-tumble set went off like a pipe bomb. Frontwoman Birdy Bardot cooed and wailed her way through tracks like “Riffle Raff” and “Cha Cha,” her careening vocals slicing through the surging guitars and crackling drums like they were butter. For their final feat, the band capped the night with an ambitious cover of “Johnny B. Goode” that would have stopped Chuck Berry in his tracks. Hot damn. - Owl n Bear San Diego

The New Kinetics – Contact (Aural Gravy Records) Good old fashioned garage rock, filtered by the likes of T-Rex, The Small Faces and The Kinks, it doesn’t get better than this. The group (from San Diego’s South Bay) drips attitude from the opening track, “How the West Was Won,” with singer Birdy wringing more angst out of the repeated phrase “come on” than some bands manage in a whole career. Each track builds on the previous one, while elements of punk, powerpop, new wave, mod and rock weave in and out. Yes, the New Kinetics wear their influences on the their sleeves, but in this case that’s not a negative, as the they have the spirit, energy and song writing skills to back it up. Whether you are a fan of any of the above mentioned genres or just looking for a band with a serious kick, this album won’t let you down. Great band, great songs. Produced by Mike Kamoo and the New Kinetics. Recorded at Earthling Studios. - San Diego Troubadour

Interesting vocals. It reminds me of signature quirky sound of Romeo Void
and female vox like that.This band is one to keep an eye on.
The guitar solo that comes in the later half of the song gives the group a
Jefferson Airplane flavor in 2011.... digging the retro sound - ANRGIRL

We’ll just come out and say it: Birdy Bardot of The New Kinetics is one of the best singers in San Diego. Drawing equally from 60s psychedelic blues, grunge, and indie rock, Bardot’s salty-sweet voice channels everyone from Grace Slick to Chris Cornell. (Check out the above MP3 for their song “Riffle Raff,” and if you don’t at least agree on that front, you should probably just stop reading here.)

Couple Bardot’s vocal cords with a crack band that includes former Hotel St. George guitarist/keyboardist Brian Reilly, Jon Bonser on drums, and Leslie Schultze on bass, and you have an outfit that’s sure to energize crowds and make new fans everywhere it goes. And now that The New Kinetics are about to release their debut full-length, Contact, they can even go in your stereo.

Song after song on Contact will have you singing along — or wishing you had Bardot’s pipes so you could. Similarly, Reilly’s guitar work is at times both understand and stunning, proving that he not only knows how to write a song, but can also shred with the best of them. Reilly contributes vocals on a couple of Contact‘s tracks, and his bluesy versatility more than holds its own against Bardot’s dynamism. You don’t have to take our word for it, though; the whole album is streaming over at its pre-order page, so go ahead and give Contact a call. - Owl and Bear - a san diego music blog

Friday, Aug. 12 PLAN A: Schitzophonics, The New Kinetics, Legz, JJCnV @ Eleven. Schitzophonics are perhaps the craziest rock ’n’ roll band in San Diego—just check out my feature about them on Page 25 and you’ll see what I mean. But they had better make sure they don’t get upstaged by The New Kinetics, an ass-kicking band whose charismatic frontwoman might remind you of Karen O.
- San Diego City Beat