The Czechs completed their final individual rehearsal this morning, and once again turned in a no-nonsense, professional performance with Josef in full, growling form.
The Czech package is deceptively simple; the five rockers come out, do their rock thing, and the song ends rather abruptly. But there is a naturalness about the performance which actually makes it quite interesting to watch on stage and screen. Josef is as menacing as ever, and this carries across well on the TV monitors. Dressed in a red polo T-shirt and jeans, he gives an active, don't-mess-with-me rendition of the song on stage, his trademark growling vocal strong throughout.
As good as it gets
No nonsense is certainly the way to describe the performance, with three straight run throughs and then an early finish to the rehearsal, as if the boys just decided: that's as good as it gets – we're off.
Kabat could be touted as Lordi without the masks – and last year proved that there is a rock vote to be snatched at the contest. The honest, no frills performance of the group could be accessible enough to grab at least some of that, if 2007 is to be a year of rock.
Press Conference
After a short introduction to the band by their translator, Kabat got ready to answer the questions of the assembled press. Talk moved straight away to why the band had decided to come to the Eurovision Song Contest. 'During the National Final we were the only rock act, and people liked it. We will see, however, what is going to happen here in Finland'.
The band were asked about both their name and discography, the group gave us a very interesting reasoning behind their title. 'The word Kabat means Jacket. We decided on a name that was so silly that people were sure to remember it'. The band first got together in 1988 and released their first album in 1991. In the course of their 20 year history they have released 10 studio albums and a Best Of CD, as well as 2 videos.
When asked if they lived the rock star life style they told us that 'We have been together for 20 years, if we'd have lived the rock star life style for that long we would have burnt out'.
Kabat of course will be hoping to keep their personal fires going for their performance in thesemifinal on the 10th May
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_Cjze0PMdU
