Music INSIGHT
By Benjamin Nunnally
L
istening to Kill, Baby… Kill! live isn’t quite
like the end of the world — it’s more like
the end of the world knocking on the
front door.
Bassist Erek Smith’s amplifier resonates
through the floor, up the legs and into the
heart, beating out a thrum with drummer
Joshua Jackson’s thunderous, up-tempo
beats. Noah Holt’s intense, distorted guitar
melodies ride over the pounding rhythm
section like bombers over a battleground.
You think you’ve got the sound figured out
— instrumental punk rock with a surf vibe,
dangerous and gritty — and then keyboardist Chris Eagle spins over to a theremin, his
hands twisting around the instrument like
Hendrix worshipping his flaming guitar in ’67.
There’s no singing, no words to cling to for
meaning — it’s all instrumental, constantly
churning and changing, peppered with me18
lodic hooks and standout moments. It’s the
catchiest apocalypse you’ll ever survive.
“How f***ed would it be starting from zero?”
asked Holt, discussing the band’s post-apocalyptic themes. “No laws in the midst of hopelessness, everything’s going to be ‘Lord of the
Flies-esque.”
“Surf” doesn’t bring dystopian survival to
mind, usually calling up either the Beach Boys
or Dick Dale’s Misirlou, that tune at the end of
Pulp Fiction.
“The only people we’re a surf band to are
people that don’t know surf bands,” said Holt,
describing a surf music scene that’s full of
groups that often fill the same role as cover
bands — something light to listen to while
the audience talks, dances or drinks. KBK’s
style is closer to aggressive punk than breezy
beaches, especially in the rhythm section,
June 2014
INSIGHT