What are the facts?
The Kills are vocalist/guitarist VV, a.k.a. Alison Mosshart, formerly of the
punk band Discount, and guitarist/vocalist Hotel, a.k.a. Jamie Hince. She's
from Gainesville, Florida and he's from London. With Gainesville, think of the
Larry Clark film "Bully."
When Discount ended in 2000, VV began exchanging tapes with Hotel through the
mail, but it took too much time, so VV saved some money and crossed the
Atlantic so the duo could write. They couldn't wait. Early in 2001, they issued a
demo that showcased their gritty, sexy sound and earned favorable reviews from
magazines. They also contributed a song, "Restaurant Blouse," to the
compilation If the Twenty-First Century Did Not Exist, It Would Be Necessary to Invent
It. Before the Black Rooster EP came out, they were an unknown quantity,
Their first gigs were at the London and Glasgow LadyFests and supporting Le
Tigre. More importantly, The Kills also toured the U.S. for eight weeks before
returning to London to finish their first full-length album, Keep on Your Mean
Side, which was released by Rough Trade in spring 2003.
This music is what I call "inquisitive" music. It is a look in a mirror and
maybe that look is too long. But it is necessary. Sometimes the focal center
of any study of phenomena must be "inquisitive." This is so because as
Heidegger says, "It is essential: because it is prompted by an original ontic
ignorance which does match the scope of an ambitious project that outstrips all
realistic possibilitiesÉ." The wealth is there. People ignore the richness in the
concentration of trying to say something new.
Rebellion is often packaged in nice boxes. Once we see that rebellious spirit
it must be dragged out year after year, to remind us of what took place. We
must see the body of Che Guevara to prove that the revolutionary spirit was
real and finite. Maybe the dead corpse of Guevara was just one body in a series
of Che Guevaras. What about those young people who weren't there to see the
strut of Guevara, the coolness of James Dean, or the geist of Iggy Pop? Do we
have to perform rituals and revivals every time we need a mind properly fucked?
At one point punk rock was a contraction for the sins of our fathers. The
question was asked about how much could you put on a Belgian waffle? Less was
more. Why not two members instead of four or five? A band like Suicide looked odd
in those days. Now every band is like Suicide: just the essentials. Wealth
from poverty. More has been done. Less than the least is still new.
Greg Ginn from Black Flag once wrongly called Adam and The Ants fascistic
because they dictated fashion and music. He wanted the freedom that comes from
the blank slate of punk. Ginn wanted no rules and no judgments. He wanted big
slabs of noise to find his own reflection in. But in reality, Black Flag and
Fugazi lead to more fascism than Antmusic ever did. Adam Ant was a temporary
style revolution that lasted a season. His shtick went immediately to MTV for the
consumption of mall goers. While hardcore punk lead to strict rules and
behavior as how to conduct oneself. It became an invested lifestyle. Its gallery of
heroes was more dull and faceless than the generation it replaced.
VV and Hotel knew the punk world well. Their previous bands Discount and
Scarfo fizzled out. It made them aware of the punk network in America. All its all
ages venues. This was the legacy of DIY punk bands and zines. They had paved
the way for punk music to be heard in every shithole town on the map. The
Kills would visit these places in June/July 2002. Alison called all the venues and
scheduled a tour, financing most of it on her credit card. They didn't really
say, "Hey this is a Discount/Scarfo thing." They had one song included on a
compilation and nobody knew who they were. They started in year zero. That was
the only way to move forward.
In music, it's all about discovering some special and unique that could seem
your own. It's hard when there are a million bands and a million websites.
Back in the 1970s, you only had the album to look at. Maybe there were a few
magazines? When a band came into town, it was the only time you saw them. It was a
special moment between you and the band. Now you can know the setlist and all
the member's birthdays before you ever see them. This is an era of the "big
squeeze." We are "inquisitive" about other's dirty laundry all the time, but
never about ourselves. You have to give to get.
The "big squeeze" is not for new way of knowing. It's not an adjustment on
the thermostat. It is making you a parasite on the last carcass. It's time to
find a new pace to live, and get out of the dead person's ass.
I read about The Kills in a local weekly. They were playing in Garden Grove,
about five miles away from where I was. It was in some industrial park. It was
some teenage halfway house. There were offices, couches, and a recreation
room with a pool table. There were about fifty people who were half my age. Is
this a place where the face of rock could be changed? The Kills were not the
best-looking band. They performed to one another rather to the audience. They
played about six songs. I bought the Black Rooster EP that day. I had never heard
of Dim Mak records either.
The performance of The Kills peaked someone's interest. They were most
obviously interesting because there were only two of them and they had a drum
machine. But I suppose most people wanted to see the other band that was a more
conventional band with four members. I saw VV and Hotel walking around the
hallways. They looked uncomfortable. I have read that some people complain about The
Kills lack of ability to engage the audience. We are voyeurs on their private
performance. This seems like beautiful music from the private of someone's
bedroom. The Kills don't have a shtick. They can't perform and make everyone
happy. Whether it is imagined or not, The Kills are shy. They don't want to be
onstage. So when introverts get together, they seek out each other for comfort
and lose themselves in the music.
They are nothing like The White Stripes. They are neither as talented nor
good-looking. Jack White is a musical phenomena on his own. Just give him a stage
and get out of the way. The Kills are very little like Mr. Airplane Man, The
Black Keys, or Modey Lemon either. Those bands want to pay tribute to their
record collections. The Kills are about right now, this moment.
There is much that is feminine and passive in music today. For one, almost
every band I see today is composed of very good-looking people. This wasn't true
of 1970s bands like Rush, Queen, or Kiss. Punk bands wanted to confront you:
your beliefs or your politics. Most cute bands today just want you to like
them. In a way, most bands are not much different than Britney Spears. There is
no Brechtian rush to the streets and to change the world with those feminine
bands. The Kills is not very pretty. There is something unhealthy about them.
They smoke cigarettes. VV almost looks anorexia. Kid Tsunami talks about needle
exchanges (a leftover good will effort of punk) but VV doesn't even look like
she has any energy for that. They turn their backs on the audience in a slight
way. They talk little between songs. They don't crack jokes. It's all music.
It's a wall of sound. You dig it or not.
Every need to ask a question is linked to the hunger for exhaustive answers.
Nostalgia is stronger than knowledge.
Rock and roll may have undergone significant changes in recent years, but The
Kills' no-holds-barred brand of dramatic guitar music remains vivid, vibrant,
and vital. Fuelled by a ceaseless spirit of forward motion, The Kills is the
sound of one of our most potent and distinctive bands operating on all
cylinders.
Where do they fit? Nowhere. You could say the same about The Velvet
Underground? They don't. They're just The Velvets.
The Kills "Black Rooster" EP is simple. It's about simple things. There are
grainy pictures. It sounds like it was recorded on a hand held tape machine.
The cover looks like this is a movie poster. It's a movie called "The Kills"
featuring VV and Hotel. There are the two and two amps. Four songs and "Gum."
Some words from Kid Tsunami.
What is "Gum?" When The Kills play live they play tapes of the voice of VV.
In "Gum" she sounds like a telemarketer or a phone sex operator. She says
"I'm doing this for you." In the live show, Hotel triggers these tapes, as VV
lights up a smoke. There is barely a reaction to the tapes. Oh here are those
weird words. VV talks about hustling in another of her "spoken word" pieces.
Another is about a weatherman in Florida, I guess.
The first song "Cat Claw" has the chorus "You got it, I want it." This
could mean sex, drugs, or anything good around the corner. The Kills define an
unknown desire on the first song. That lures us in. This sounds as distinct as
any punk song in the past ten years.
On "Black Rooster" they invoked the blues. Their blues takes place in the
basement where they "cuss and fight" and then more famously "fuck and fight."
Even though Hotel sings the lead and says "I'm not coming home again" it's
like he's sealing the fate of The Kills. They are not taking no for an answer.
They are not singing about an ex-girlfriend. They are light-years more mature
than most of their contemporary.
"Wait" is slow. It sounds like waiting. It sounds like two people getting to
know each other. VV sings "Tell me about your ghosts" and sounds like a
purgatory. "Dropout Boogie" by Captain Beefheart is a recording made on April
4th, 2002. I am surprised that no other early recordings make it on this EP.
I met them in New York City in October 2002. They were playing a few shows in
the area before heading back to record their album. Jamie told me that they
were staying at the Chelsea Hotel, which was not far away from where I live. I
soon discovered their interested in Andy Warhol and The Factory. Jamie said
something like they would be more interested in getting a filmmaker like Paul
Morrissey involved in the band, than a bass player. We talked about doing an
interview that week. I called them the next day at four in the afternoon. They
had just woken up. They soon found their way back to England.
When I heard the album, I knew this was an important band after all. Songs
like "Superstition" and "Fried My Little Brains" were harder than anything
before. Their confidence level in their performance had improved too. The
audience's reaction multiplied. They knew these songs. The video they did for "Fried
My Little Brain" was brilliant. It was lo-fi, scratchy, and sickly. The live
video that Keith Martin shot in San Francisco is the same way. Music at its
bare bones and its naked truth.
After seeing them play five times, in three different cities, I saw how they
developed. I spoke to Jamie again after the San Francisco show in July 2003.
He said they were going to Japan. I mentioned Warhol. Jamie said that there was
some performance they were doing that was going to feature Gerard Malanga. So
things have come full circle. There has always been, even with Warhol, an
American fascination with European things. Yet there has simultaneously been a
European fascination with America, epitomized by Warhol, Bob Dylan, and Edie
Sedgwick. We have that vicious circle in one band called The Kills.
*********
Fried my little brains
Got six troubles on my back
like six little milk teeth gone bad
won't move over won't get gone
won't move over mmm
Fried my little brains
Fried my little brains
Fried my little brains
Fried my little brains mmm
Only got ten minutes better get me good
pull out my little milk teeth
pull good
Won't move over won't get gone
won't move over
Fried my little brains
fried my little brains
Fried my little brains
I pledge allegiance to the Kills of the United States of Black Rooster, and
to the Cat Claw for which it stands: one kissy kissy under monkey 23, hitched,
with superstition and gum for all.
This is an anti-interview...
by Alexander Laurence
Photography: Keith Martin
