The Kills are an alternative rock band formed by American vocalist and guitarist Alison Mosshart ("VV") and British guitarist Jamie Hince ("Hotel"). Their three albums, Keep On Your Mean Side, No Wow and Midnight Boom, have gathered much critical praise.
Career
Mosshart was previously in Floridian punk rock band Discount, and Hince was in the British rock bands Scarfo and Blyth Power (the latter an anarcho-punk band). The duo first met when Mosshart heard Hince practicing in the hotel room above hers, and when the former groups disbanded they struck up a songwriting partnership. For months, the pair air mailed work tapes across the Atlantic; this proved to test the patience of both artists as it took days or weeks to get each other's tapes, so Mosshart moved from her Florida home under the guidance of Lauren Antonina Herbert to London[2].
Wanting to cut themselves off from their pasts, Mosshart and Hince considered their new project to be Year Zero in their careers. They renamed themselves "VV" and "Hotel" respectively and began writing sparse, minimalist songs together with the aid of a drum machine. In 2001 they showcased their new songs on a well received demo tape. In true punk rock fashion, however, the pair shunned approaches from major record labels. Recording as VV and Hotel, they contributed the song "Restaurant Blouse" to the compilation If the Twenty-First Century Did Not Exist, It Would Be Necessary to Invent It. Shortly after this they recorded their debut release, the Black Rooster EP, which saw release on British indie label Domino Records and was picked up for distribution by Dim Mak Records in the United States.
The record could not have been more of a departure from both artists' previous bands. It was lo-fi in both musical and aesthetic terms. The record sleeve featured photos of Mosshart and Hince taken in a photo booth rather than professional photography. Musically, the record was a sparse, lo-fi Garage rock/Blues hybrid. Though the band cites PJ Harvey, LCD Soundsystem and Royal Trux as immediate influences, the music press has largely compared them to the other boy/girl minimalist garage blues duo The White Stripes.
Keep on Your Mean Side
Following international touring, they entered Toe Rag Studios, where the White Stripes had recorded their album Elephant, to record their debut album Keep on Your Mean Side, mostly on 8-track, in just 2 weeks. Distributed in the US and UK by Rough Trade Records, the album was similar in style to the EP, veering from the Velvets-esque stomp of "Wait" to the noisy, dirty garage punk blues of "Fuck the People" (this song is rumoured to be a reference/homage to the French convicted criminal Florence Rey) and dark psychedelia of "Kissy Kissy". The record was well received by the music press, though the White Stripes comparisons would not go away.
Maintaining an anti-careerist, anti-music industry attitude, the band rarely granted interviews. Rather, they got the music press to come to them with their minimalist yet powerful live shows (which also included the drum machine), the pair maintaining an air of tension by subverting the expected role of stage performer.[citation needed] Mosshart chain-smoked while singing, rarely speaking to the audience, whilst Hince violently ripped blues riffs from his instrument. At a New York City show following the ban on public smoking, Mosshart went on stage with three bottles of water, lit up a cigarette and proceeded to smoke constantly from the first song to the last note of the set.
In 2006, "Wait" was used in Children of Men, the film by Alfonso Cuarón. It was played on Radio Avalon and described as "a blast from the past all the way back to 2003, that beautiful time when people refused to accept the future is just around the corner". In 2007, the songs "Cat Claw" and "Wait" were used in the Criminal Minds episode "Doubt".
No Wow
Their second album, No Wow, was released by Domino Records on February 21, 2005. Featuring an artier, less "guitar rock" sound, the record embraced post punk influences and sounded even more stripped down than Keep on Your Mean Side. Originally written to be performed on a Moog, the band was forced to change directions and record it primarily using a guitar as its central instrument after Hince's Moog broke and couldn't be repaired before entering the studio.[1] A 40-minute DVD documentary was included with a limited number of copies and features interview, performance and on the road footage shot on tour.
The first single, "The Good Ones", from No Wow, was released on February 7, 2005 and reached number 23 in the UK singles charts.
Mosshart features in the title track of Placebo's album Meds, released on March 13, 2006 in the UK, and on April 4, 2006 in the US. She also features on the Primal Scream album Riot City Blues.
Midnight Boom
On November 2, 2007, the band announced on their news blog that their third album was finished. The first single was called "U R A Fever", and was premiered by Steve Lamacq on BBC Radio 1 on November 19. On December 10, 2007, The Kills were interviewed on a New York radio station where it was revealed that the new album will be titled Midnight Boom. Two song titles were also revealed: "Alphabet Pony", a dark surreal song inspired by playground clapping games and songs, and "Last Day Of Magic", a song written by Jamie Hince about heartache and loneliness, with references to Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment.
Following a cover-story interview in Nylon magazine, the new album was released March 10, 2008 (March 18 in US).
In March 2008, Alison was featured in the BBC documentary The Mighty Boosh: A Journey Through Time and Space.
On October 21, 2008, "Cheap and Cheerful" was used on the show House during the opening scene of the episode "Lucky Thirteen". "Cheap and Cheerful" can also be heard on the NHL 09 soundtrack.
Fourth studio album
On September 11, 2009 it was announced on the band's Myspace page that they have begun work on their fourth studio album though no release has been set.
Discography
Studio albums
References
- ^ [1]: Do Or Die, by Matt Schild, accessed October 30, 2006
External links
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The Kills |
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| Alison "VV" Mosshart · Jamie "Hotel" Hince |
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| Studio albums |
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| EPs |
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| Singles |
"Fuck the People" · "Fried My Little Brains" · "Pull a U" · "The Good Ones" · "Love Is a Deserter" · "No Wow" · "U.R.A. Fever" · "Cheap and Cheerful" · "Last Day of Magic" · "Tape Song"
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| Compilation contributions |
"Restaurant Blouse" (If the Twenty-First Century didn't Exist it Would be Necessary to Invent It) · "I Call It Art" (Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited) |
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| Related |
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