Bristol punk rock - Kiss me, Killer
Riot grrl femme fatales
Kiss Me, Killer are thrilled to be back at the Exchange, Bristol on 27 November where we’ll be playing with mighty Italian riot punks, The Smudjas, hosted by Invisible Llama.
It’s a Monday nighter but what better why to liven up a drab Autumn weekday evening than coming to see Kiss Me, Killer? Come on, who cares about school nights?
Kiss Me, Killer launch their debut EP, Beware! on 10 November and there’ll be a bash at The Chelsea Inn, Bristol to celebrate.
The EP includes four of the band’s better known songs like Snakes, From the Inside, It’s Going Down and the eponymous, Kiss Me, Killer. The EP will be released on all major channels including iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Apple Music and everything else you’re likely to use. Physical CD copies will also include live favourite, Och Aye!
The EP was recorded in Cornwall and Bristol and is a completely DIY production.
We’d love you to come to our launch gig/party 10 November at the The Chelsea Inn, Easton, Bristol where you’ll be able to get your hands on the EP itself, some of our brand new merchandise, and enjoy a few freebies.
We’ll be supported at our launch party by The Menstrual Cramps, an amazing band who’ll been making a name for themselves on the DIY scene, and the wonderful acoustic duo Violet Scott & Amelia Bones.
Local Bristol promoters Custards’s Punk (yeah, Custard Spunk) brought a great bill to the Chelsea Inn, Easton, Bristol on 25 August.
First up came the riotous Salt Bath from the South Wales scene that’s spawning some excellent original bands for their first international gig, before Plymouth popunk exponets Super Secret Club tore if up with some swaggering tunes.
Welsh two-piece Think Pretty were up next with some down and dirty grungey rock’n’roll thrills truly impressed. A band I’d love to catch again.
KMK must’ve been away with the fairies as although we powered through our set with all-conquering verve we managed to complete forget to play Snakes, THE tracks from our forthcoming EP. Ah well… The Chelsea let us play it anyway, even though we were a bit past curfew.
27 August saw the band play our first festival: Griffstock 2017, near Stroud, Gloucestershire.
2/5 of the band – David, Cat and friends – made it up the day before and were able to check out some legendary bands. West Country anarcho-punk legends A-heads and, in the evening, the searing dub of Dub the Earth and quintessential festival outfit, Radical Dance Faction. Proper rave action – some people were well spun out.
The rest of the band joined us on the Sunday. Despite a bit of tuning issues (I guess guitars, like dogs, don’t being stick in like hot vans) we managed to play our set well enough. Sadly, I’d forgotten to remove my fetching toddler-style sunhat, which left me looking like someone ‘having it large’ in Manchester circa 1990. But, sod it, we’re not a fashion band.
Cheri was on hand again on photography duty. Check these out…
Kiss Me, Killer had a rocking time supporting US punk legends 88 Fingers Louie at the Exchange, on 4 August.
It was the band’s first outing on a bigger stage and as we’d honed our sound in elbow-crowded underground punk gigs I immediately felt like it was a bigger canvas to fill. How would our sound come across?
Although the gig was put together at short notice after a Norwich gig venue pulled out leaving 88 Fingers Louie and their UK touring partners, The Bitter-Town Hounds short of a date, a good number of people found out in time and KMK members managed to attract a few of their friends. Still, it was such a strong gig it was a shame the place wasn’t rammed. You missed out if you weren’t there!
After local act Layman’s Terms, Kiss Me, Killer hit the stage. First time we had full PA sound reinforcement and with hindsight I probably shoulda ‘gotta a bit more of me in my monitor’ as I could hear everyone else more than my Gordon Smith. Still, we did pretty well for most of the set, with opener Snakes making a strong statement and, judging from Cheri’s video clip, Cat’s Och Aye! must’ve come over with the riotousness it needs at the larger venue. Cat’s been getting into Open Mics again recently so hopefully we’ll have another Cat song in the set before too long.
There were some mystery tuning issues on our last couple of songs (and me forgetting a double chorus and ploughing into the verse riff… argh, fuckup), which kinda took the edge off the finale but, hey, as the sports cliché goes, ‘there were plenty of positives to take from the game.’ Next time we hit a bigger venue I know we’ll own that sucker.
Pictures of Kiss Me, Killer by Cheri, others by David KMK.
Next, The Bitter-Town Hounds took to the tall Exchange stage. A punk-metal crossover band, the sound blended straight-up old-school metal, thrash, grungier elements and proper rock vocals all served up with a fresh and original edge that really appealed to me. Great guys too. Definitely check The Bitter-Town Hounds out as I imagine they’d appeal to a wide cross section of music fans and could get much bigger before long.
88 Fingers Louie were, of course, the main event and AJ and Holly KMK are massive fans of the band and that flavor of punk rock. Holly danced out every notes, singing along to some of her favourite songs and the guys served up a flawless set. Holly also bagged a selfie with singer, Denis.
Afterwards, Nat and I did a bit of geeking by quizzing The Bitter-Town Hounds on their flawless wireless systems (Line6 Relay G10) and the glowing, sci-fi Kemper modeling amp that belonged to 88 Fingers’ Dan “Mr. Precision” Wleklinski and which I’d never seen outside dudes showing ‘em off on YouChoob in their front rooms. You just load up your patches and away you go. It’s the future, luddites.
Speaking of bigger stages the next gig on the calendar is London at the New Cross Inn on 20 August. We are going drill the set into our brains, hands and vocal chords. It’s going to be immense.