Fearless Nature (1LP White Vinyl)

Anybody familiar with the teeth-gnashing, blood-dripping punk snarl of Kid Kapichi
knows about their ‘Fearless Nature’, so it should, at first glance, come as no surprise
that the Hasting band’s fourth album should take that title.

The first track to be released, ‘Stainless Steel’, frontman Jack Wilson describes as
the bridge from the old Kid Kapichi to the new, and in its lethal, taut, muscular
efficiency it certainly bears the hallmarks of the band’s classic sound, but the maturity
of its point of view and the courage in its vulnerability is something new. You hear it
throughout ‘Fearless Nature’, an album riven with moments of self-doubt made by a
band that has grown bold enough to show the bullet holes in their armour after years
on the frontline.

‘Fearless Nature’ is also a bridge to a new Kid Kapichi in a more literal sense. In May
2025, guitarist Ben Beetham and drummer George Macdonald announced they were
leaving the band, a decision they had made internally some six months earlier. The
choice was made amicably, and ‘Fearless Nature’ stands at the intersection of the
two generations; the songs were written, recorded and produced with the old line-up
(co-produced by Beetham alongside Mike Horner), but are now set to be taken on the
road with the new makeup of the band.

Guitarist Lee Martin and drummer Miles Gill are both longtime friends of Wilson and
bassist Eddie Lewis and veterans of countless hard-playing bands on the live circuit
in the South of England.

The band’s political message may be undimmed, but with ‘Fearless Nature’
expanding their repertoire, it now has company. Their decision to allow an emotional
complexity into their lyrical perspective is a major step forward, and the benefits are
there for all to draw strength from.