Kick To Kill aren’t dangerous. I’m sure of that because I discovered that their name isn’t from experience. But one thing I’m sure of is that they are almost immune to danger, if not downright lucky, as you’ll discover in this interview. Pain is nothing for them and if this interview caused them any pain what so ever, they didn’t show it. They recently released the delightfully titled single ‘Cut Me’, reviewed by myself on this very site, and are probably the people you’re the most likely to see in the back of a van giving blood. Yes, Glasgow’s finest gothic experimentalist’s discuss their near misses of death, influences on life and music and just why on the release of their first single the band had a major line up change. Needless to say, there is nothing uninteresting where Kick To Kill are concerned…

How’s life with Kick To Kill?

DAVE: Starting to get to work so its good.

HARRIS:  Really good. After some time out it feels really worthwhile playing so many gigs. The single gave us something to focus on and now I think we can all feel a bit more momentum behind the band.

How did you decide on the name Kick To Kill?

DAVE: I stole it from a possible album title another band was working on.

HARRIS:  Dave stole it! Glasgow act Julia Thirteen were looking at album names. One that got thrown about was fight for fun, kick to kill. We all liked it.

Do you feel a certain sense of invincibility after surviving the attack on your person in Glasgow and did it change your view of the world?

DAVE: I’ve had a few close ones – a couple car crashes, and I recently came off my motorbike – and have been cool. I’ve always been able to walk away from them, though I don’t know if I’ve been lucky to survive or unlucky to get in to them in the first place. I’d say a bit of both.

In my review of Cut Me, I said that if you offered the chance to watch you bleed, there would be undoubtedly many takers. Have you ever made such an offer and how was it received?

DAVE: I gave blood once in a van and they were very grateful for the donation.

You’ve been compared to The Stooges in your style, but what is your aim with the sound and image of the band?

DAVE: Image wise I haven’t thought about it, in terms of clothes. I’ve always aimed to make our music moody but fast-ish. I dont think the Stooges reference is fair, we are less rock n roll and outright crazy. We like to make a big fucking noise though.

HARRIS:  I think we’ve managed to create a pretty unique sound compared to a lot of present music. Our aim is to push this and try and see where our music can take us. Personally, I’m confident our sound will expand in the future.

Why do you think so much good music comes from Glasgow? Is it something in the water or just the atmosphere?

DAVE: I think its because of the scene and the fact its a major British city. A lot of these great bands aren’t from Glasgow, they’re just based there.

HARRIS: Live music is a big part of Glasgow night life. I think with so many bands and venues the competition just raises the bar. I think we’re quite lucky in that nearly every time you go to a gig or event in Glasgow, something will impress you.

What’s your process when recording and writing music?

DAVE: I will normally write some lyrics and a chord pattern or riff then take it to rehearsals and work out some ideas. After a while it should start to take shape. If we are not feeling it after a week or so we will drop it. I tend to re-write the lyrics after a couple of weeks too.

HARRIS:  The lyrics are Dave’s. The songs will usually come from an individual idea with everyone else coming together. Sometimes we’ll plan songs out from the start. Others happen in minutes. We record our tracks ourselves with Dave and his brother Ian working hard on the production. This way we have a lot of control over the finished sound.

Is the current interest in vampires and all things blood a good thing or a bad thing?

DAVE: Any kind of fad is a bad thing. It totally cheapens itself. I pesonally love vamps but would not be interested in Twilight or its ilk. It looks like Dawsons Creek for the damned.

Is there a particular incident that inspired you to write ‘Cut Me’?

DAVE: I wrote the song about S & M and the darker things that go on in your mind.

After you were attacked and treated in hospital, you discharged yourself with a simple  “It doesn’t hurt”. Are you superhuman or just plain invincible?

DAVE: It was more a case of put on a brave face so I could go home because I hate spending time in hospitals. If they thought I was in major pain they wouldn’t let me go home. I did think that getting stabbed would have hurt more. It’s not that bad.

What’s your motto in life, if indeed you have one? (A motto, that is!)

DAVE: I’ll do it tomorrow.

HARRIS:  You can lead a horse to water but you cant make it dance.

Any amusing, bizarre or just plain disgusting anecdotes from touring to share?

DAVE: We were playing in Newcastle and we were heading back up the road, we were all pretty drunk and as the night went on I fell asleep with a can of beer in between my legs. It spilled all over my crotch and was really cold, so was the bus and the hangover was kicking in. I had to take off my jeans off and sit in the soaking wet chair in my boxers. I’ll never forget how miserable it was.

Do you ever think that you can be too dark in a songs vibe or imagery?

DAVE: Phillip Glass seems to do it all the time.

HARRIS:  Probably. Although Richard D James has really set the limits of dark and wrong.

Bearing the comparison to The Stooges in mind, who’s musical legacy would you want to inherit were such a thing possible?

DAVE: When I was younger fame sounded great but I don’t think I would welcome it anymore.

HARRIS:  The M.J. back catalog has now grown somewhat in appeal.

What was the feeling when you started having people commenting favourably on your music and did it inspire you to create more?

DAVE: Yeah its pretty cool, it’s good validation.

HARRIS:  Personally getting a good response from people involved in music and especially musicians means a lot. People like The Damned and aplacetoburystrangers stand out.

After the first single was released, the band line up changed very suddenly. What lead to the change?

DAVE: I had to make a couple of changes so that we could really sound the way I wanted. The two guys that were cut are great guys but their musical styles were very different to mine and it affected the overall feel to our sound. We seem to have an easier time live because we only have one guitar to worry about so there are no ego battles and it sounds a bit cleaner.

What music were you listening to during the recording of the E.P.?

DAVE: I’m listening to the new Twilight Sad album at the moment and I’m blown away. I really enjoy listening to ‘Third’ by Portishead.

HARRIS:  Twilight Sad, Mogwai and The Buttons.

Tell me about your favorite album and convince me to buy it!

DAVE: I have a suspicion that you would already own it anyway.

What was the inspiration behind creating ‘The Darkwave Opera’ and what’s the atmosphere like at the shows?

DAVE: We were sick of playing with indie bands or metal bands. We couldn’t seem to find any good gigs to play where the bands have similar styles or vibe so we did it ourselves. Thats what Flowers In The Dustbin is all about. Do it ourselves, so if it’s shit we have no-one to blame but us.

If you could have someone cover one of your songs, who would it be and which song?

DAVE: It would be cool to see what Mogwai would do to any one of them.

Any final words of wisdom for our readers?

DAVE: I would but it could leave me open to law suits.

Thank you Kick To Kill! To read my review of ‘Cut Me,’ click here.

The Cinematics hiatus has withstood a defunct record label, near poverty and many a concoction of drinks along the way, but thankfully Glasgow’s The Cinematics have finished their second album and are currently touring it across Europe. We caught up with Scott and Larry from the band to find out more…

 

Hey guys, so you’re in the middle of a European tour right now, how’s it going?

Scott: It’s been going really well. It’s great to be on the road rather than sitting at home watching rolling-news and freaking out at the state of the world.  I’m a big fan of cultivating a bubble of ignorance while on tour- I can’t read the newspapers in Europe anyway. So, it’s a world of music and drinking and talking to new people.  It has not been without incident, though, as Larry was rushed by some fans at the start of the tour, falling off-stage, and has been hobbling around ever since.  I’ve also heard a rumoured alternative explanation, that he just attempted an ill-advised stage dive.  Who knows what happened?

Larry: I’m in agony. I suffered concussion and chipped a bone in my ankle, but the rest of the band found it hilarious.

 

What was the last show you guys played? And how did it go down?

Scott: We played at the Frequency Festival in Austria, which was a lot of fun. We were on the middle of the bill yet managed to get an encore, which was nice.

Larry: I almost drowned the following day, however, while trying to find my Y-fronts at the bottom of the lake beside our hotel, after some naked aqua-gymnastics. The worst of it was that our bassist and drummer, Adam and Bonney, just stood on the banks laughing heartedly as I struggled with my mortality. I think I’m spotting a pattern here. I recovered in time to watch Radiohead that night, so all was well.

 

I can remember seeing you guys support Editors and We Are Scientist’s years back at my student union and thought you out shone both bands that night, what was that tour like?

Scott: It was great at the time. All of the bands got on really well and still do.  It does annoy me now that we sometimes get accused of sounding like the Editors, because, as you know, we developed our sound independently, at the same time as them. I wish music journalists would do their homework, instead of making lazy comparisons. In any case, our new material doesn’t sound anything like any of those bands…

 

How’s the new album coming together?

Larry: We finished recording it in January or February, but to fit in with the label’s release-schedule it was delayed over the summer and will be released at the end of September. I think we’re all very happy with it, and the delayed release has meant that we are, in fact, well on our way with writing the third album.

 

How does it differ from your debut in 2007?

Scott: I don’t know if you can even compare them. We have a new member in the band; we are older and wiser- it’s bound to be different. And better! Our new record is for anyone tired of listening to over-produced rubbish which says nothing yet is marketed as the latest great thing. We wrote this record during a tough time for the band, while our new label, The Orchard, clashed with the remnants of the now-defunct TVT Records over legal issues, leaving us with limited money to live on while writing songs we weren’t even sure would ever be heard by anyone but our annoyed neighbours.  The songs describe our lives and our relationships during a time when the wider world seemed to be in meltdown. There are arguments over paying bills, there are yuppie hypocrites and their naive delight at the collapse of Capitalism, and there lost loves walking out after losing belief in the cause you’re fighting for and/or because they think you love your guitar more than them. We recorded this record ourselves- we wouldn’t have it any other way- and I think this is a truly honest record about the lives and thoughts of four young guys living these times.

 

Who has been given the production duties for the album?

Larry: Some mad tramp that the band found in Glasgow!

Scott: Larry did. We started demoing the songs ourselves and then decided that we wanted to see the process through to completion. It didn’t seem right to have written these raw and honest songs, and then try and recreate them in a false environment, with flash production and studio trickery, so we let this maniac have his wicked way with some knobs and buttons.

Larry: These days it’s possible to auto-tune vocals and edit drums after the fact, in order that everything sounds absolutely perfect, and this is what most or all bands do when they’re recording now. We did not want this at all- we wanted an honesty and transparency in the sound. Perhaps for the next album we’ll want a big, plastic stadium-rock sound, but we’ll have to wait and see!

 

There seems to be a real buzz around the Scottish music scene at the moment, do you think this is helping the band?

Scott: It doesn’t feel like this band was ever part of any Scottish scene. I mean, we like a lot of Scottish bands but I can’t think of any that we have anything in common with, or at least any more so than with bands from New York or Berlin.

Larry: I think we’re happier to succeed on the strength of our songs and that fact that we’re a frighteningly good live band, rather than by singing in affected Glasgow accents, pretending to be class-warriors and wearing tartan. Although, now that I think about it, I do often wear some tartan on stage, so you can shoot me as a hypocrite at dawn!

 

Your favourite Glasgow venue?

Larry: Stereo. The staff are wired to the moon, the vegan food is middling-to-average, most of the bands who play there are indier-than-though music-elitists who would spit on your face as soon as they talk to you, and the beer isn’t even that cheap, yet I like the overall ambience.

 

The best band you guys have supported?

Scott: I’ve liked most of the bands we’ve played with.

Larry: Diplomatic. Very diplomatic.

Scott: Ok then, David Byrne.

Larry: [Looks puzzled]

Scott: Did we even play with him?

 

How do you spend your times in between shows on tour?

Scott: Listening to music, eating, sleeping, reading books. I’m reading “The Joke” by Milan Kundera. I’ve read all of his books now, but I’m not sure why, as I don’t think I’ve really understood a word of it! We do a lot of interviews and press also.  I like to get out and meet people on tour, so we do socialise a lot.

 

The drink you’ve discovered on this tour and have been drinking far too much of it?

Scott: We’re Scottish. There is no alcoholic drink or combination of alcoholic drinks that we did not learn about at school by the age of 15.

Larry: That said, I do like a Death in the Afternoon after a gig, if the promoter will stretch to it on the rider.

 

If you weren’t bragging about how good The Cinematics are you’d be telling everyone about which band?

Larry: Bragging about your own band is one of those things in life which are much better if you can get someone else to do it for you. I tell everyone I meet about The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Beat!Beat!Beat and Wavves. The boys in the band will tell you, though, that after a certain time of night all I’ll talk about is Bob Dylan.

 

The song you’ve written that you would like to be remembered by so far?

Larry: ‘Hard For Young Lovers’. People will only appreciate it in two or three year’s time, when the New Right is ruling the country, declaring civil-war and forcing misery on half the population, leaving only good or naive men to make their stand.