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See our new Cooper Rose-produced KMK trailer!

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Thanks to Cooper Rose we’ve now got a cool intro video. Filmed by Cooper during our appearance at Umlaut Records’ Dugstock II fest at London’s legendary New Cross Inn, some clever aiding has made us look like one of those bands you just have to check out.

The unbelievable multi-talented Cooper also plays and sings with The Menstrual Cramps and well as recording and producing their records. She’s also a part of the supercool Bad Sidekick, who’ll be realising an EP later in 2018, which is one to look out for.

Cooper playing with Kiss Me, Killer.

The video’s already clocked up hundreds of views on the Kiss Me, Killer Facebook page and you can view a YouTube version right here:

Kiss Me, Killer to make Devon debut

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It’s taken us a while but we’re finally playing Exeter at the famous Cavern club on 15 May. The gig, entitled, All in Riot Grrrl, will feature some of the best in punk rock from the West Country, including Bristol legends Drunken Butterfly and Bath’s top feminist anti-folk exponent, Yonic.

A night of punk rock action in Exeter.
A night of punk rock action in Exeter.

Tickets are available for a mere £4, on sale at The Cavern Club and from this website: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/437086

There’s also a Facebook event page here.

Bristol’s NITELIFE Magazine covers Hell Hath No Fury’s Menstruals gig

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Go into any of Bristol hipper cafes, haunts and night spots and you’re sure to have seen, or even picked up, a copy of Nitelife Magazine, which showcases the best is the city’s nightlife.

Nitelife has clearly cottoned on to the now exploding new wave of punk bands emerging both in Bristol and across the UK, which are bringing a lot of excitement, and covered a gig promoted by Holly KMK in her Hell Hath No Fury Promotions guise. The headline act were The Menstrual Cramps, one of the biggest and most authentic names in this dizzying explosion of incendiary new DIY music, mixing feminism, humour and onstage dynamism into an infectious package.

NITELIFE Magazine, Bristol
NITELIFE Magazine, Bristol

The gig made the cover with a stunning image of the band. Holly KMK can even be seen in the background if you look carefully. You can see the whole issue here.

Kiss Me, Killer hit the Pig and Fiddle, Bath

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It’s taken us over year but the band has finally made its debut in our neighbouring city of Bath at the popular Pig and Fiddle Pub. The gig was hosted by Cat Backlash of Bath DIY Punk Collective and we shared the bill with two storming punk rock juggernauts.

First on the bill were Bath-based Meekers who warmed up the crowd with an enjoyable slab of melodic punk rock. Accomplished bass and powerful drumming were backed by tuneful leads and washes of guitar. It’s just the kind of act you need to get a venue pumped for a night of live music.

The Pig and Fiddle’s main entrance becomes the ‘stage area’ on gig nights, which gives the bands plenty of space to move around and throw some serious shapes. The venue, lined with wooden panels, ephemera and interesting decor has a sort of small town Americana vibe and the images of the gig, from famed local gig photographers Cheri Clouds and Meg Manley Photography, looked great in this setting.

Martyrials' Sam (image: Meg Manley)
Martyrials’ Sam (image: Meg Manley)

The next band to take to the Pig and Fiddle’s massive la porte rug-come-stage was Wiltshire’s mighty Martyrials. This group has been causing a real stir on the UK DIY punk circuit with their searing keyboard-driven sounds. Lead singer and keys player Sam comes across like a The Nice-era Keith Emerson spliced with the Cardiacs’s William D. Drake fronting some mutant synthpop band, using and abusing his Roland machine with manic abandon. Dirty baselines were forged by Matt while drums were both caressed and pelted in equal measure by the enigmatic, emerald-haired Oana. It added up to a powerful package that got the punters rocking.

Kiss Me, Killer were the headline act. Following the Martyrials would be tough, especially as poor Holly had been feeling under the weather but, a trooper as always, she made it to the gig anyway. A revamped set saw us open with EP banger From the Inside with its animalalistic, metalesque riffage and the crowd lapped it up before we powered into Rat Race‘s sludgy riff, poppier hooks and Arabic-scale psychedelia.

Kiss Me, Killer in action at the Pig and Fiddle, Bath (image: Meg Manley)
Kiss Me, Killer in action at the Pig and Fiddle, Bath (image: Meg Manley)

Nat KMK had come armed with his brutally-effective Barefaced bass cab, a bit of gear that really brings his clever playing alive, basslines weaving in and out of my Gordon Smith GS1, Cat’s Telecaster and AJ’s forceful drumming. We’d thrown ‘first ever song’ Narcissistic Tendencies into the set and, oops, it rather fell apart through lack of rehearsal but thankfully we’d got the crowd on our side by then…

The crowd enjoy KMK.
The crowd enjoy KMK (image: Meg Manley)

Newish song Tear Your Heart Out (Rip it to Pieces) with its meaty, chugging breakdown went down well and when the Pig and Fiddle audience demanded an encore we took a chance on Sliding Into My DMs, a new tune with Holly lyrics that take aim at creepin’ dudebros. It was rough and ready (‘I had no idea what was going on,’ claimed AJ) but the audience seemed to like it regardless. Job done.

Holly KMK rocks the Pig and Fiddle (Image: Meg Manley)
Holly KMK rocks the Pig and Fiddle (Image: Meg Manley)

Cat Backlash has rebranded Bath DIY Punk Collective into a new events management/music promotion outfit called VIBE REVOLUTIONS. If her new venture creates more gigs like this one local music fans will have a lot to look forward to.

KMK at Manchester Anarchist Bookfair: The biggest trip yet

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After tearing it up on the Bristol music scene for the best part of the year, Kiss Me, Killer have been filling up our calendar with more out of town gig to spread the music far and wide. Saturday saw us make our biggest trip yet after we were invited to play the afterparty at Manchester Anarchist Book Fair.

With busy civilian lives to attend to we decided we could be there and back the same day so set out in two vehicles, Nat’s head-turning vintage Ford and David’s beat-up old VW van. The M5 and M6 traffic was kind enough and we were making good time until Nat – who was taking AJ, Cat and Cheri – hit a snag: With three passengers and AJ’s heavy drum hardware the low-slung souped-up classic car was struggling, with types occasionally rubbing the rear arches. No matter, me and Holly soon caught up at the next available service station (after sorting out a wrong turn) and were able to lighten the load.

Kiss Me, Killer setting at at Manchester's Partisan space, which hosted the Anarchist Bookfair
Kiss Me, Killer setting at at Manchester’s Partisan space, which hosted the Anarchist Bookfair

The band arrived at Manchester’s Partisan space, which is in the shadow of Manchester Arena, just in time for soundcheck. Partisan describes itself as a ‘space for independent, community led, DIY and cultural based projects’. A co-operative, it is democratically owned and managed by the people who work in and use the space and hosts cultural events, meetings, exhibitions, film screenings, book launches, parties, gigs, etc. Partisan’s basement area is a large, cavernous space and the perfect setting for some incendiary DIY punk. The line up Ian of the Manchester Anarchist Bookfair had put together was stellar with bands like Epic Problem, Crywank and Bolshy on the bill.

The incredible Bolshy, a punk/dub/ska outfit from Liverpool
The incredible Bolshy, a punk/dub/ska outfit from Liverpool

Kiss Me, Killer was the first band on and it felt good to bring our sounds to a completely fresh audience. People seem to like us down Bristol way but would would the North make of us? We powered into Snakes In the Grass, which is on our recently-released EP, and were powering along before, ping, I broke a D-string on my Gordon Smith GS1. Scrambling off stage on search of my guitar case I soon realised I didn’t have any spares. A helpful chap from another band, Epic Problem, emerged from out of the darkness brandishing, like Excalibur, a lovely Gordon Smith GS2, which he Kindly let me for the rest of our set. I didn’t have time to adjust the strap shorter so looked slightly cooler than usual.

Rat Race came over nicely with is pounding sludge riff with poppier moment and touches of psychedelia and as yet unrelated Snooker! sounded good in the bright, resonant Partisan basement. The first band on always has a cooler crowd but there was a decent audience and we weren’t cleaning the room.

Cheri taking pictures with her new Canon camera
Cheri taking pictures with her new DSLR camera

Cat took to the mic next and launched into live favourite, Och Aye!, which is currently only available on the CD released on the EP, and by now were really hitting ’em with some blazing DIY punk, Bristol-style.

A lot of people say From The Inside is their fave track on the EP, and it’s relentless palm-muted riffage took the set into a heavier direction with Holly’s vocals becoming more hardcore, AJ hiting the skins with even more power and purpose and Nat’s Phantom bass really pumping. Nat now has a fancy wireless set up so he could leap off the stage and mingle with the punters. Nice!

Time was moving on so we steamrollered into Kiss Me, Killer and, to my mind, it was the best we’ve ever played into live and in the slightly echoey Partisan space the gothic hammer horror and psychobilly elements of the song we given an extra dimension. We finished with a pretty powerful rendition of It’s Going Down and that was our lot. We sold a copy of the EP and received loads of good feedback from a receptive punk rock crowd.

Derbyshire punks Epic Problem played a storming set. Notice yet another Gordon Smith guitar
Derbyshire punks Epic Problem played a storming set. Notice yet another Gordon Smith guitar – this time a GS1.5. Cool!

Despite the long trip back to Bristol we wanted to stick around to hear as much of the other bands as possible. Every band impressed but for me there were a couple of stand outs. Bolshy really mixed it up with a festival vibe combined ska Punk, ska, dub, and even jazzy lines. Me and Holly also digged Epic Problem, the Leatherface-y elements in their sound really appealed.

We returned to Bristol exhausted in the early hours of the morning. But it felt good to have hit the road. The next out of town show will be Stourbridge. That’ll be a gentle pootle compared to Manchester…