In The Bag: Kill It Kid - Kill It Kid

What's it called?

I think we have gone for the self-titled debut!

Where, when and with whom was it recorded?

The album ended up being recorded in three and a half weeks in January across the pond in Seattle with the stunning Ryan Hadlock! The studio was a three story wooden cabin in the forest with a stream flowing out the back. The cabin was filled with books, warping cylinder records, religious icons and prints, resoglass record players, trinckets from the day of the dead, oil paintings of horses and promo of the bands that have worked there. It felt like a special place to be laying some roots. It was such a pleasure to work with Ryan; having support and friendship from someone who has worked with such great acts so early on was unbelievable.

Sleeping, eating and recording in the same studio that the Fleet Foxes, The Strokes, The Gossip and The Foo Fighters had recorded in was very surreal and extremely humbling especially since we had only been a band for about a year and a bit it. Similarly getting the album mastered by Gavin Lurrsen who did the 'O Brother Where Art Thou' soundtrack, a couple of Tow Waits records, the Johnny Cash hits, as well as Ben Harper and Loretta Lynn was a dream come true.

What can we expect?

As we've said before we had about 5 months to put the album together. We were picked up by One Little Indian Records at such an early point in the bands development that what people will hear on the record is literally what we had at the birth of the band, we had no opportunity to overthink or obsess over what we had, its what the five of us were doing at that point in time. This makes the release of the record a blessing but also a daunting prospect to see how it was received...we were only ever out to please ourselves!

As far as getting the songs together goes people say you have 20 years to write the first album and 1 to write the second, for us that wasn't so. It was immediately unlike any band any of us had ever been in before and we had to quickly produce songs and parts to meet the band where it was. We were learning very quickly how we wanted to shift and progress our sound in each new song, and having a lot fun doin it! Hopefully our youthfulness comes across on the record.

Were you listening to anything in particular before or during the process that might have left its mark on the record?

The romanticism of the midwest was very appelaing to me at the time some of the songs were being written. We took from unfashionable and outmoded performers like Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and June Carter and Blind Willie McTell and Ruth Willis which felt relevant to me and Stephanie, but took care to avoid kitsch. American writers such as ; Sherwood Anderson, Capote and Hunter S. Thompson probably helped to shape some of what was written for the album. The songs themselves centre around love and loss, though not in a typical downbeat way, I think the range of influences all of us have as indivdual musicians made this possible

We tried to alter the perspective and position of the protagonist in this trad song form, it offered something that sounded fresh to us. People deal with tough situations in different ways and song allows you to pull out and focus on singular specific elements of your emotional reaction, and act unhindered on it. The voice in these songs has taken a more aggressive and assertive approach than a lot of typical ballads in the genres we listen to! Also having such a powerful rhythm section mean the songs carry a fair amount of weight!

What's the tracklising look like?

This is how it is going to look:

1. Heaven Never Seemed So Close
2. Burst Its Banks
3. Ivy and Oak (Mamma)
4. Fool For Loving You
5. Send Me An Angel Down
6. Private Idaho
7. My Lips Won't Be Kept Clean
8. Trouble sOf Loretta
9. Dirty Water
10. Bye Bye Bird
11. Taste The Rain

When's it due out?

The 5th of October at the moment.

When will it leak!?

Asap!

In three ragged words?

Young, Brash and Unexpected