Kill Kenada
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| Kill Kenada | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Bognor Regis |
| Genre(s) | Alternative rock Hardcore punk Post-hardcore Indie rock |
| Years active | 2001–present |
| Label(s) | SUBverse Recordings |
| Website | killKenada.com |
| Members | |
| Tim Smithen Danny Williams Stevie Styx |
|
| Former members | |
| Stoo Fairhurst (2001-2005) | |
Contents |
[edit] Biography
Kill Kenada is a rock music group from Bognor Regis, England, formed in 2001 inspired by Fugazi, Pavement, Sonic Youth, Pixies, Urusei Yatsura, At the Drive-In, and many more.
The band name is a reference to a character named Shotaro Kaneda (Akira) or Kanada in Akira - possibly the reason why 'Kenada' was chosen was that it was somewhere in between the two different translations.
[edit] Band Members
Tim Smithen (bass/vox) Danny Williams (guitar)
[edit] Previous Members
Stewart Fairhurst (drums) 2001-2005 'Stoo' features on 'Choke', 'Red And Black', 'Massachusetts Murder Medallions', 'The Pink Album' & (B-side to 'In Your Throat' single) 'Eastern Sun'. James 'Eldge' Eldrige (drums) 2005 - 2007
[edit] History
Kill TETSUOOOOOOOOOOO first success was winning a battle of the bands contest in Portsmouth. They then went on to record some songs with Gordon Raphael (well known for producing popular indie band The Strokes). Their first release was a limited edition 7" on SUBverse Recordings - a record label set up by the band. The single, 'Choke', (released on July 28, 2003) received high praise from many media critics:
Their next single was the self-produced 'Red And Black' (with a Gordon Raphael-produced b-side 'Hit The Floor') released on November 10, 2003. The single, released with a video and on formats CD and 7", shot the band to success and underground fame - the band reaching the top 5 in the MTV2 Chart and receiving radio airplay - as well as a Radio 1 live session with Zane Lowe where it emerged that Lowe was a huge fan and ended the session by saying this, "I feel very honoured to be involved with the band this early on....
Through January and February, 2004, the band went on tour with local friends, and relatively unknown band, Bloc Party and Swedish band Span.
The band were then invited to play a special MTV2 show - Gonzo On Snow with Million Dead, Jetplane Landing and a few others on the 24 March, 2004 (by this time the video for their next release, 'Massachusetts Murder Medallions' was receiving airplay on MTV2).
'Massachusetts Murder Medallions' (once again produced by Gordon Raphael) was released on May 10, 2004. The single was made available only on CD format and was also given a promo video. The video received many requests on MTV2, more radio airplay and a small fanbase. To converge with the release, the band went on tour with Ikara Colt, Bloc Party and Yourcodenameis:milo from May - June in 2004. The band also played with Jetplane Landing on May 26, 2004. A live recording of this whole gig exists but only a few people have the Kill Kenada set, with Jetplane Landing's set being used on their 'Courage/Danger' EP release.
After taking a break from touring. They returned two months after their June tour to play 93feeteast with Yourcodenameis:milo on 5 August, 2004 debuting new songs.
The band then learnt that Steve Albini was very enthusiastic in regard to working with the band and Kill Kenada set a date to record with him. They made some new songs which were supposedly a departure from their 'mental' old style, yet was more focussed and aggressive. In August, 2005 Tim and Danny received a phonecall from then-drummer Stewart Fairhurst (aka 'Stoo') who told them he would not be able to make their next practice, or the trip to Steve Albini's 'Electrical Audio' studio in Chicago.
The band's scheduled date with Albini was in six weeks time. The band rapidly found a new drummer, known as 'Eldge' and practiced for 4 weeks solid and just made their Heathrow flight to Chicago. They spent 10 days recording with Steve and came back with 8 songs.
With an absence of 10 months. Kill Kenada and had to work at retrieving their fans' attention. They did this by first releasing a CD-album (on 28 September, 2005) crammed full of Gordon Raphael tunes. They did their best to make it clear that this release was to hammer the final nail in the coffin for those songs (which could have been released ages ago) and to illustrate this, the release was very modest (the album was simply a pink CD in a pink wallet - no artwork, no lyrics, no tracklist) - only 500 (each were numbered) were made and the album was only able to purchase from their label's website - SUBverse Recordings and from [1]Rough Trade].
During this time, the band returned to touring through September-November, 2005 and were unexpectedly feautured on Channel 4 news where they reported Kill Kenada as being an aggressive art-rock trio from Bognor who released their singles entirely independently through the Shellshock distribution network and also through their website.
Their next release wasn't until 27 March, 2006. The release, 'Fly', (featuring new drummer, Eldge and recorded by Justin Lockey of Yourcodenameis:milo) was a politically-charged offering, with both their aggressive and soft, reflective modes both employed to great effect. The music of the single is organised in a timelike state to reflect the thoughts and feelings of anti-American terrorists (most notably those involved in 9/11) and took on-board their perspectives.
The video for the song is viewable on the band's MySpace page and was made by Red Snow Studios who also made a video for the Kill Kenada song, 'Sado Maso' (a song from the Pink Album) which has never been seen. Due to the song's lyrics, it was a hard release to promote and the excitement behind promoting the song and single died down.
After touring extensively, Kill Kenada released 'In Your Throat' on 7" vinyl format only. The video reaching #1 in both the MTV2 NME Chart Show and MTV2's 'The Rock Chart Show'. The single also received radio airplay from many stations, most notably Radio 1's Zane Lowe who affectingly stopped the backing music to introduce the band's return. A live session on BBC6 Music's Tom Robinson show followed where the band performed 'In Your Throat', 'She's Red' and then premiered their forthcoming single 'Saline'.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
- The Pink Album (September 28, 2005; SUBverse Recordings)
[edit] Singles
- Choke (July 28, 2003; SUBverse Recordings)
- Red And Black (November 10, 2003; SUBverse Recordings)
- Massachusetts Murder Medallions' (May 10, 2004; SUBverse Recordings)
- Fly (March 27, 2006; SUBverse Recordings)
[edit] Other Appearances
Kill Kenada feature on Regina Spektor's song 'Your Honor' which was released as a single and on the album, 'Soviet Kitsch'."
