Your new record, Midnight Boom,
sounds peppier, more upbeat. Does this reflect a sea change in your
lives or just a conscious musical decision?
We had a brilliant time making the record. We didn’t feel any
stress. We didn’t care when it got finished or how long it was going to
take. We were laughing all the time, and you can hear that.
Sometimes when a band tries to change tack artistically,
they psych themselves out, but you avoided that.
The only thing we really wanted was to make a modern record. We love
old bands, old gear, old recording methods, old everything. For the
first time, we said, “Let’s try and fit into modern times and see what
happens.” It was interesting. Working on a computer was quite a painful
process. We didn’t like it and probably won’t do it again. But in the
end, we were happy to see that no matter what we did, it still sounded
like the Kills.
You and guitarist Jamie “Hotel” Hince originally worked by
exchanging tapes via mail, because you lived in Florida and he was in
England. But you relocated to the UK in 2001. How were you impacted by
culture shock?
I moved there and thought everybody lived in squats, hovels
basically, with strangers—because that’s what I was doing. I
figured out how to deal with people from all over the world, speaking
different languages, under the same roof. In a year and a half, I lived
with 49 different people. I had no idea how things worked over there.
Everything I was used to was different. But I’d spent my whole life in
bands and touring—all I ever wanted to do was play music—so
that made it all bearable.
The 1968 documentary Pizza Pizza
Daddy-O, depicting black Los Angeles schoolgirls
performing playground chants and clapping songs, has been mentioned in
connection with the new songs. What turned you guys on to
it?
We made this rule in the studio to not listen to any music while we
were writing. Somehow that turned into “let’s watch documentaries” and
reading a lot. What I thought was interesting about [Pizza
Pizza] was how kids’ songs and fairy tales are so dark. When
you’re watching that playground footage of those girls, they’re singing
about domestic violence and alcoholism. At 7 years old! But [the movie]
wasn’t a direct inspiration; it was more of a historical reference,
like where blues music came from, where minimalist music came from. How
you can have something very complete and strong, with just hand claps
and singing.
Were you big into jump rope and clapping games as a little
girl?
No, I was really quiet. I didn’t socialize with other kids that
much, so I never got into the playground games. I was too shy for any
of that. I mostly just watched. I drew pictures all the time.
Great photos are all over your album sleeves and website.
You collect cameras, yes?
We don’t collect them on purpose, but we just accidentally buy them.
Every time we see one we think is cool, we buy it and try it out. We’ve
been taking photos forever. That’s just something we do during the day,
especially on the road. It’s fascinating, driving around and seeing
different places, different countries, and we want to capture it, to
draw and write about it. It’s a way of remembering where you’ve
been.
How do you feel about cell-phone shutterbugs?
If I were to meet my favorite band outside of a venue, the very last
thing I would ever do is take out my phone for a picture. I would have
brought my best camera. A picture on a camera phone would
never satisfy me, so I don’t get it. But that’s just modern times.
Everything becomes more and more throwaway, yet those pictures have
turned into strange, precious little possessions for people.
Tell us something Jamie does, a habit or ritual that never
ceases to delight you.
Every single night, when he’s trying to figure out what to wear
onstage, he asks the exact same thing: “Do you think I’m gonna be too
hot in this?” And every night, I don’t know the answer. I don’t know
what the temperature is out there! It’s adorable. There are a million
things like that. We’ve been hanging out with each other for 10 years.
We know every little tiny detail, inside and out. He never stops making
me laugh; he cracks me up all day long.
Your band is named the Kills, your debut album was
Keep on Your Mean Side, and your music sounds
pretty edgy. Are you two confrontational?
We’re both really even-keeled, nice people who are reasonable and
work very hard. But there is quite a lot of fire behind all that; if
someone pisses us off, or says the wrong thing, we’re not going to sit
there.
Your recent single “Cheap and Cheerful” opens with you
hacking very loudly. How much do you smoke?
Oh, I don’t know… it depends. I don’t smoke as much as I used to.
But that’s because of all these smoking bans everywhere. I just don’t
get the chance. 
The Kills play Thurs May 15, Neumo’s,
8 pm, $12,
21+.
