The Kills

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Biography

The Kills is a Rock music|rock band formed by American singer Alison Mosshart ("VV") and British guitarist Jamie Hince ("Hotel"). Their first three albums, Keep On Your Mean Side , No Wow , and Midnight Boom , have garnered much critical praise. Blood Pressures , their fourth and most recent studio album, was released on April 4, 2011, worldwide and April 5, 2011, in the United States .

Career

Mosshart was previously in Florida|Floridian punk rock band Discount (band)|Discount , and Hince was in the British rock bands Fiji, Scarfo and Blyth Power . The duo first met when Mosshart heard Hince practising in the hotel room above hers, and when Scarfo and Discount disbanded, they struck up a songwriting partnership. For months, the pair air mail ed work tapes across the Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic ; this proved to test the patience of both artists as it took days or weeks to get each other's tapes, so Mosshart moved from her Florida home.

Wanting to cut themselves off from their pasts, Mosshart and Hince renamed themselves "VV" and "Hotel" respectively and began writing sparse, minimalist songs together with the aid of a drum machine . In 2001 they showcased their new songs on a well received demo tape; however, the pair shunned approaches from major record label s. Recording as VV and Hotel , they contributed the song "Restaurant Blouse" to the compilation If the Twenty-First Century Did Not Exist, It Would Be Necessary to Invent It . Shortly after this they recorded their debut release, the Black Rooster EP , which saw release on British independent record label|indie label Domino Records and was picked up for distribution by Dim Mak Records in the United States .

The record could not have been more of a departure from both artists' previous bands. It was lo-fi in both musical and aesthetic terms. The record sleeve featured photos of Mosshart and Hince taken in a photo booth rather than professional photography. Musically, the record was a sparse, lo-fi Garage rock / Blues hybrid. Though the band cites Captain Beefheart , PJ Harvey , LCD Soundsystem , The Velvet Underground , The Fall (band)|The Fall , Patti Smith , Suicide (band)|Suicide and Royal Trux as immediate influences, the music press has largely compared them to another well-known boy/girl minimalist garage blues duo, The White Stripes .

Keep on Your Mean Side

Following international touring, they entered Toe Rag Studios , where the White Stripes had recorded their album Elephant (album)|Elephant , to record their debut album Keep on Your Mean Side , mostly on Multitrack recording|8-track , in just 2 weeks. Distributed in the US and United Kingdom|UK by Rough Trade Records , the album was similar in style to the EP, veering from the Velvets-esque stomp of "Wait" to the noisy, dirty garage punk blues of "Fuck the People" (this song is rumoured to be a reference/homage to the French convicted criminal Florence Rey ) and dark psychedelia of "Kissy Kissy". The record was well received by the music press, though the White Stripes comparisons would not go away.

Maintaining an anti- careerism|careerist , anti- music industry attitude, the band rarely granted interviews. Rather, they got the music press to come to them with their minimalist yet powerful live shows (which also included the drum machine), the pair maintaining an air of tension by subverting the expected role of stage performer. Mosshart chain-smoked while singing, rarely speaking to the audience, whilst Hince violently ripped blues riffs from his instrument. At a New York City show following the ban on public smoking, Mosshart went on stage with three bottles of water, lit up a cigarette and proceeded to smoke constantly from the first song to the last note of the set.

In 2005, "Monkey 23" was used in " De battre mon cœur s'est arrêté ", the film by Jacques Audiard . It played over the closing credits.

In 2006, "Wait" was used in Children of Men , the film by Alfonso Cuarón . It was played on Radio Avalon and described as "a blast from the past all the way back to 2003, that beautiful time when people refused to accept the future is just around the corner". In 2007, the songs "Cat Claw" and "Wait" were used in the Criminal Minds episode "Doubt".

No Wow

Their second album, No Wow , was released by Domino Records on February 21, 2005. Featuring an artier, less " guitar rock " sound, the record embraced post punk influences and sounded even more stripped down than Keep on Your Mean Side . Originally written to be performed on a Moog synthesizer|Moog , the band was forced to change directions and record it primarily using a guitar as its central instrument after Hince's Moog broke and couldn't be repaired before entering the studio.: Do Or Die, by Matt Schild, accessed October 30, 2006 A 40-minute DVD documentary was included with a limited number of copies and features interview, performance and on the road footage shot on tour.

The first single, " The Good Ones ", from No Wow , was released on February 7, 2005 and reached number 23 in the UK Singles Chart .

Mosshart features in the Meds (song)|title track of Placebo (band)|Placebo 's album Meds , released on March 13, 2006 in the UK, and on April 4, 2006 in the US. She also features on the Primal Scream album Riot City Blues .

Midnight Boom

Midnight Boom was released in March 2008. That month, Mosshart was featured in the critically acclaimed BBC comedy "The Mighty Boosh: A Journey Through Time and Space".

The album found a lot of new fans through its music being used throughout many young American TV shows, including 90210. A big selection of songs from the album were featured within hit series Gossip Girl, and also, their track 'Sour Cherry' was featured as the soundbed for Season Two's official trailer. Sour Cherry also featured on the footloose trailer.

The album also picked up new mainstream success for the band with various big TV performances in the UK; appearing on Later With Jools Holland, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, T4, The Album Chart Show, Sound, Live From Abbey Road, and From The Basement.

On October 21, 2008, "Cheap and Cheerful" was used on the show House (TV series)|House during the opening scene of the episode " Lucky Thirteen (House)|Lucky Thirteen ". "Cheap and Cheerful" can also be heard on the NHL 09 soundtrack. It was later used in the Fendi 's TV commercial for the "Fan di Fendi" perfume (2010). "U.R.A. Fever" was played during a love scene in the 2010 movie The Losers (film)|The Losers . Only the chorus of the song is played. "U.R.A. Fever" was heard in the 2010 film Welcome to the Rileys , as well as appearing on its soundtrack.

The bonus song "Night Train" appeared in the 2009 remake of the film Friday The 13th.

Blood Pressures

On September 11, 2009, it was announced on the band's MySpace page that they had begun work on their fourth studio album though no release date had been set.

The Kills' fourth studio album, Blood Pressures , was released in April 2011. A video for the first single from Blood Pressures , "Satellite", was released on February 9, 2011. "Future Starts Slow" was also used in a promotion for the episode "The Wait Is Almost Over" of hit TV series True Blood (season 4) . The song from the same album "Damned If She Do" was also used in the promotion of The Vampire Diaries third season, and has received positive reviews from the fans.

"Future Starts Slow" was also featured in a March 2012 episode of the The Vampire Diaries| Vampire Diaries .

Discography

Studio albums

Keep on Your Mean Side (2003)

No Wow (2005)

Midnight Boom (2008)

Blood Pressures (2011)

Copyright Citations

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