Look, It’s Klezma Villanova

Have you ever noticed how famous musicians who join new bands often fail to maintain the level of notoriety they managed with their old band?

No one ever talks of McCartney in Wings as they did when he was a Beatle, whilst Doherty and Barat have struggled to maintain the cult status they boasted as Libertines. However, there is one around the corner who may change that trend.

Coz Kerrigan, who came to fame as the drummer of Larrikin Love, is now looking for greater success in new outfit Klezma Villanova, but he still worries about that tag following him.

“I’m Coz Kerrigan, not the drummer from Larrikin Love,” he said before playing a gig at Vodka Revolutions in Richmond, Surrey.

This lingering label was initially an issue for fellow band members as guitarist Joe Whitney-Fish explained.

“At first there was an element of that but at the end of the day he’s a good drummer and a good bloke.”

Klezma’s main trio of Joe, Ryan Dunphy (lead vocals) and Tom Varrall (bass) have been playing together for over a year but have picked up a couple of band members along the way including Coz.

“Someone knocked on my door and a little Dave Miller face was looking up at me and we asked him to join,” joked Joe about their new multi-instrumentalist member.

Despite having some similarities to Larrikin’s ‘Bluegrass Punk’ style Klezma (Klezmer is secular Jewish music) sounds more like Gogol Bordello at a bar mitzvah.

“I don’t want to be in a standard band,” explained Joe “It’s dance music because everyone enjoys dancing music.”

Klezma are due to support The Holloways at McCluskys, Kingston, on November 20 which is an event obviously on the minds of the band.

“It’s a good slot for us because the crowd is going to want to see a certain style of music,” Joe said before Coz reminded them that Holloways guitarist Rob Skipper used to play fiddle for Larrikin.

To check out up-coming Klezma gigs, and to hear their music which will have you dancing round your bedroom in minutes, visit Klemza Villanova’s MySpace page.

[story by Colin Rowe]