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When The Kills supported Primal Scream on their tour
around the UK last December, they came across like a
pair of chain smoking backstage types giving it some
loose garage Blues Explosion / Royal Trux for
beginners. Looking as if they had just enjoyed an
afternoon of extremely hard drugs, it would only be a
matter of time before the sweaty feral sex began.
Hotel and VV (or, if youre their mums: Jaime and
Alison) first met after exchanging tapes by post.
Hotel's previous experience was in the underrated Scarfo, but it
was only when VV eventually moved to the UK that The
Kills started to take shape.
Aided by only a drum
machine - they stopped just short of making it a
member, as the only two drummers they wanted were
either Mo Tucker or Bobby Gillespie - our heroes play
a stripped down punksome blues which keys in on all
the very 'now' and 'yeah' reference points, but escape
intact with something that's uniquely them.
Superstition has a nice bit of PJ Harvey tension,
with smidgeons of Sonic Youth and Patti Smith, as does
the strutsome Cat Claw, whilst Kissy Kissy is so
Velvets you half expect a smacked up
German model to start droning tunelessly over it. The
splendid Black Rooster just holds off - bar
references to Lancashire - from becoming a Fall song,
but pick of the bunch is the catchy, if not exactly
cd:uk friendly Fuck The People.
Keep On Your Mean Side is marvellous, rockin' album,
but really should come with a health warning. It's
the sound of scuffed shoes and bad diets of fags and
crisps, the sound of sleazy backroom saucing - and it
probably hasn't changed its underwear lately either.
Oh - and it's rather fantastic too.
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