Hotly-tipped Florida outfit Black Kids have admitted that their name has caused them a few problems, especially for the three white members of the band.

Speaking to Gigwise backstage at London’s ULU, band drummer Kevin Snow explains: “In the beginning it was awkward, especially for those of us who weren’t black. There were times when real black kids would ask us what our band name was and Owen and I would just avoid the question and say ‘oh, you won’t have heard of us!’”

Frontman Reggie went on to elucidate that Black Kids is a nod to his favourite Hefner song ‘The Baggage Reclaim Song’ and also the difficulties people have in talking about race.

Explaining things further, Kevin continued that when bassist Owen worked for the local Alt Weekly he found an e-mail sent in to the Mayor of Jacksonville’s office. “She was complaining about these kids that were playing basketball and were being kind of loud. She just referred to them as ‘kids who play basketball’ but it was really clear she meant ‘young black males’.”

Reggie conceded: “It’s just obviously not a good name. We thought let’s just call it like it is: ‘Black Kids’.”

(by Scott Colothan)