The Leeds Gig Guide

Band Biography for the senators:

For those who don't know, The Senators were a British band who were around in the late 80s and early 90s, and consisted of two brothers - Mick and Jim Kitson. Their music is not always easy to classify - I've heard it described as various things, from pop to soul to folk, and in truth there are Senators songs which fit into all of those categories. Unlike a lot of music from that period however, their records don't seem horribly dated today, so if it didn't sound so toe-curlingly pretentious, I'd describe their music as 'timeless'. (It's at this point that most people decide to skip this introduction and move on to the Trivia section.)

I first came across The Senators in 1990. There was a weekly TV programme called 'The Concert', which showed highlights of gigs from the Town & Country Club (a music venue in London). At the time, I was a fan of a band called The Railway Children, and I discovered they were due to be featured on 'The Concert'. The programme was broadcast in the middle of the night, presumably to protect small children from the evils of mainstream pop, so I recorded it, but was disappointed to find the next day that the second half was taken up by a band I'd never heard of - The Senators. The remote control was out of reach, and I couldn't be expected to leave the sofa, so I decided to watch the first few minutes of this band, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Twelve years later, I still have the video of that programme. It was only six songs and lasted less than 25 minutes, but it was 'love at first listen', and was enough to get me straight down the local record shop the next day, looking for more. A visit to 'Adrians' in Wickford, Essex, which I believe at one time claimed to be the largest independent record shop in the UK, immediately produced 3 singles, and (somewhat cruelly) left me with the impression that Senators records were going to be easy to find! That didn't prove to be the case, and I never quite managed to follow the band as closely as I would've liked, often only hearing of single releases when they turned up in bargain bins, and never managing to catch them live. The band split up in 1992, but I still play their music to this day, and continue to wonder why they never achieved the success they deserved.

The Senators' great strength is, in my opinion, their songwriting. You won't find dazzling guitar solos, showy arrangements, or rock star vocal performances on their records. What you'll find is one of the strongest (and most prolific) songwriting partnerships I've ever come across. Intelligent, heartfelt lyrics, and music to match.

Phil Gardner
http://www.hopesandbodies.homestead.com/home.html

Updated 5th August 2011:

Frank Finighan a.k.a. Jim Kitson from The Senators released a solo album in 2010 called My Darlings:

http://www.foreseeablefuture.co.uk/



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