The Kills
w/Easy Action, Super Magnificent Action Trio
Fri July 12,
Chop Suey, $8.

If it were up to the Kills--a raw, sexed-up London two-piece--word about their trashy, swaggering punk style would spread organically. Despite their awareness of the damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't nature of the music biz, the impassioned sleaze rock band strives against becoming another cog in the hyped-up promotional machine that is the commercialized press, especially the U.K.'s notoriously sensational wing of writers. The primitive musical style that slinks out of their records even pervades the way they promote their art.

Now before you dub them silly idealists, the Kills--guitarist/drummer Hotel and singer VV, former frontwoman for the Florida punk group Discount--understand and struggle with the contradictions intrinsic in wanting to avoid the press and hoping to share their music with the world. Obviously, they haven't ruled out interviews altogether. "It's always gonna be this eternal paradox," Hotel says in a phone interview from the road. "You wanna be in this position where you can do exactly what you want... whether it's to turn interviews down for corporate magazines [or to] realize that those magazines are the only way a lot of kids get to read about music. It is pretty paradoxical, [but] we've only been together for a short time, and I think [the organic route] is working better than we could've ever expected, so we're sticking with it."

Though they won't elude press publicity entirely, Hotel and VV hope to keep interviews to a minimum and prevent media hype and distortion from causing the band to lose sight of what really matters--the music.

The Kills started out when, over a period of six months, Hotel and VV sent tapes back and forth between the U.K. and the U.S.; it wasn't until VV decided to take up a London residence that the pace picked up a bit. The band has released one self-recorded EP--a stunningly powerful debut called Black Rooster, which combines naked guitar-and-drums rock 'n' roll with sultry PJ Harvey-style vocal taunts. Their songs about wanting, cussing, fucking, and fighting add to the hot, grimy vibe that makes this record so appealing. Longtime admirers of Captain Beefheart's tripped-out blues style should appreciate the band's cover of Beefheart's "Dropout Boogie" in the mix. The Kills have a single, "Restaurant Blouse," on an upcoming 5RC compilation, and have been building up a little fan base by playing tour dates back in England. It didn't take much for the duo--now a month into their U.S. tour--to generate a fast-spreading buzz. "Word got out and we got lots of interest," says Hotel. "We started to get proposals from record companies, and we've been e-mailed all these contracts with offers before we left to go to America--it's all been surreal."

The duo is considering signing to U.K. label Domino Records--home to recent critical darlings Clinic--and is also hoping to work on some level with Rough Trade. The Kills plan to release two or three more EPs before combining them into a compilation record, which Hotel estimates will be out by January. They should have a full-length ready for release by spring.

However, Hotel and VV have no plans or high hopes before walking onstage, because, simply put, this is the artistic path they've chosen. "We're just ourselves, there's nothing else," Hotel says. "We don't have jobs--this is our life, so there's not any transition period. We're living in it and being at the pinnacle of our creativity. I'd like to think it's pretty intense when we play live--yeah, it's intense."

The Elastica/Royal Trux-influenced band aims to work at a grassroots level, and chooses to stay away from mainstream technologies. Hoping to capture the primitive essence found in '30s-era blues records, the Kills recorded Black Rooster on eight-track at a vintage London studio. "It got a bit out of control, but it was the best time I've had in a studio," explained Hotel. "It was a really odd studio, all vintage-style-- nothing was made after 1970--it was a really incredible-looking building. We only had two days and, not having enough time to try different things or keep different takes, it was just bang it out straight without thinking too much. I really like the vibe [of the record], and when I listen back to it, it sounds like it's a session, [unlike] so many recordings nowadays that sound almost over-perfected.

"The way we recorded was as organic as we could get it," he continues. "In England, everything is done on ProTools--it's all multi-track and digital, and it's a sound that's a bit stagnant. So we were careful to make sure the sound was raw and live--the same as our artwork, [which] was all cut-and-paste. We try to not get too far away from this grassroots idea. I like the idea of being hand-to-mouth."