The Kills - Soho Revue Bar
16th January 2008
16th January 2008
Time ago I read that American singer Alison Mosshart met guitarist Jamie Hince when she heard him practising in the hotel room above hers. I thought it was a very romantic story, regardless I believed it or not. Eight years later the pair are still together and about to release their third album ‘Midnight Boom’ which they presented at the formerly strip club Soho Revue Bar in London, quite an apt place to listen to the blues infected garage-rock of The Kills.
Still drummer-less, Alison ‘VV’ and Jamie ‘Hotel’ put on a show that is as simple as heartfelt. Mosshart is a glam-diva antics are as attention grabbing as her leopard print top. Her voice is a cross in between PJ Harvey and Jennifer Herrema from Royal Trux, another Boy-girl song writing partnership that went to an end about the same time as The Kills formed. Jamie’s stripped-to-the-bone guitar riffs and a drum machine are all the instrumental elements necessary to make this band work.
The Kills were to debut the songs from their forthcoming ‘Midnight Boom’ but they kick started with ‘No Wow’ from eponymous second album. The set was an amalgam of greatest hits and new tracks including the single ‘U.R.A. Fever’, which includes a dance beat and features Jamie and Alison’s call-answer vocals. The new material blends perfectly with their old tracks, and while it doesn’t offer a huge progression, it does aim for more electronic arrangements and is less centred on guitar riffs. Tracks from previous albums included ‘Kissy Kissy’, ‘Black Rooster’ or ‘Fry My little Brains’. Disappointedly there was no sign of ‘The Good Ones’, ‘No Wow’ first single and one of their finest moments to date, but I can say that seeing them live made up for it.
Still drummer-less, Alison ‘VV’ and Jamie ‘Hotel’ put on a show that is as simple as heartfelt. Mosshart is a glam-diva antics are as attention grabbing as her leopard print top. Her voice is a cross in between PJ Harvey and Jennifer Herrema from Royal Trux, another Boy-girl song writing partnership that went to an end about the same time as The Kills formed. Jamie’s stripped-to-the-bone guitar riffs and a drum machine are all the instrumental elements necessary to make this band work.
The Kills were to debut the songs from their forthcoming ‘Midnight Boom’ but they kick started with ‘No Wow’ from eponymous second album. The set was an amalgam of greatest hits and new tracks including the single ‘U.R.A. Fever’, which includes a dance beat and features Jamie and Alison’s call-answer vocals. The new material blends perfectly with their old tracks, and while it doesn’t offer a huge progression, it does aim for more electronic arrangements and is less centred on guitar riffs. Tracks from previous albums included ‘Kissy Kissy’, ‘Black Rooster’ or ‘Fry My little Brains’. Disappointedly there was no sign of ‘The Good Ones’, ‘No Wow’ first single and one of their finest moments to date, but I can say that seeing them live made up for it.
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