Kill Devil Hills

Tue 16th Feb, 2010 in Features

Swamp-rock straight-talkers Kill Devil Hills are currently plying their trade along the East Coast on the ‘Another Joke, Another Ransom’ tour. With the band’s latest swaggering set of tunes Man, You Should Explode winning them much praise, FasterLouder bails up the boys from Perth.

Why Kill Devil Hills? Was it based on the town in North Carolina? Or did it just sound cool?
A freakish accident between a pen and a serviette took place and the name stuck. It came out of a convo about American music, Greil Marcus and hillbilly tunes.

Rolling Stone have named Man, You Should Explode as “flawless”. The tracks seem very meticulously thought-out. Is that important to you guys, or do you prefer just to jam?
Each song has it’s own kind of history i guess, usually a song is wriiten by someone with a clear and noble intention and then it gets gang-raped by the band and left on the side of the road to feebly crawl home…

Has your approach in the studio remained much the same over your three albums, or was Man, You Should Explode done differently?
MYSE employed the services of a specific person to come in as aco-producer, Burke Reid, whose fantastic energy and enthusiasm and semi-madness for chillis drove us to deeper wells of despair and greater heights of post-chilli euphoria…

You’re joined by The Tucker B’s at a couple of dates this weekend. Are those guys friends of yours, or are you going in blind?
We’re not blind but something’s a bit dicky with our sense of smell, as clearly the Tucker B’s are not really humans. The band hails from WA and are well known to us from there…we’ve done our research on them creepy drag queens.

Finally, an Australian group who has worked so hard has been rewarded. Has it been a rough ride?
If you mean by ‘rewarded’ that we are getting some critical acclaim, then I guess yes, it’s a good thing. But it’s really just another beginning. It’s had its fair share of drama, let me put it that way – but 90 per cent of the time it’s easy and great to do.

Is the Kill Devil Hills live show always a work in progress; does it change from tour to tour?
Yes, it’s a kind of Picture of Dorian Gray affair, you could say…

What are some of the venues in Australia that you really look forward to playing?
Some crazy little pub in the middle of the Nullarbor on the back of a truck would be something kinda different.

And finally: if you didn’t make it as a band, what would you guys be doing? Lawyers, accountants, laborers, farmers?
Music journalists…he he.

There are three stops left on the Kill Devil Hills tour.

Wednesday 17 February – The Republic Bar, Hobart
Thursday 18 February – Hotel New York, Launceston
Saturday 20 February – Corner Hotel, Melbourne