Kids Get Hit by Buses learned firsthand a lesson that Janet Jackson taught millions: beware the wardrobe malfunction.
The Everett group was playing a 2008 show at Chop Suey, a Seattle club, when the zipper burst open on lead singer Gabe Hayward’s new costume. His smooth, pale chest was laid bare.
“We’ve had all kinds of mishaps,” he said months later, sitting in the cluttered house he rents with bandmate Aaron Campion.
He and Campion, both 21, will try to avoid an incident this Saturday. The dynamic duo will don their costumes for a round in Sound Off! at Seattle’s Experience Music Project. The battle of the bands spotlights unsigned acts who are 21 and younger, with the winner playing at Bumbershoot 2009.
Campion and Hayward met in first grade, when both lived in Marysville. During the last 15 years, the two slim friends developed shared interests, first in superheroes and video games, then in electronic music and very tight pants.
Their early songs were like their comics — a way to entertain each other.
In 2005, the two friends formed Kids Get Hit by Buses. The band’s name was loosely inspired by a bus accident they heard about.
To form their sound, the pair melded elements of 1980s synth pop with a style called chiptunes. Chiptune artists use early video game sounds — the type of beeps and boops heard in “Super Mario Bros.” — to compose.
The band wasn’t an immediate success. Some shows flopped. Once, an mp3 player crashed before a performance, forcing them to rush to find backing music for the show. And their first application to Sound Off! fell on deaf ears.
Recently, though, things have been clicking. The band was specially chosen by a youth advisory board to compete in this year’s Sound Off! The guys also have two shows this spring in Seattle, where they plan to move.
Blame the growing interest on the band’s cultish appeal. At their best, during songs such as “Dance Dance Dance,” the duo mixes a fevered rush of 8-bit nostalgia with giddy indie pop.
The group also has an interesting stage show.
Hayward handles vocals, while Campion mans various keyboards. The duo could play more instruments live, but they said that would dampen the live show.
“I could be playing the most intricate part possible, but then I’d have to be sitting down with my back turned,” Campion said.
Instead, the two use their free hands to bring out props, such as confetti, balloons and goggles.
That’s on top of the group’s silver and red costumes, which were based on an X-Men character.
“There’s all kinds of things we can do to lighten up the show, and make it really fun and entertaining,” Hayward said. “So yeah, props, costumes and then of course, you know, our charm.”
Andy Rathbun: 425-339-3455, arathbun@heraldnet.com
Sound Off!
With Kids Get Hit by Buses, Razpy &the Vigilantes, Cyrus Fell Down and SOL
8 p.m. Saturday, Experience Music Project Level 3 stage, 325 Fifth Ave. N., Seattle; $10, $7 students and EMP members; 206-770-2702
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