1. Growing Up
My first music memories are from my early high school years. I was into vintage bands like Zeppelin, The Who, Ramones.
I remember spending hours drawing the Zeppelin symbols on my school bag. I was learning piano and guitar – I soon gave up the piano but luckily stuck with guitar.
2. Inspirations
I am a tragic Pete Townshend fan. I’m influenced by Brit rock from the generation before me. Being a rhythm guitarist, I related more to that music and to other rhythm guys like Johnny Marr. But the best show I have ever seen was The Wombats at Splendour a few weeks ago. The more they put out, the more the crowd reacted and the harder it all went. An amazing sound for a three-piece. I’ve been talking to the guys about adding some Wombats-style grooves to our new songs. Stay tuned to see if that happens!
3. Your Band
Kim Killspeed is a new band for all of us. We released our EP, Ultrasound, in May and have been stoked by the response. Amrap has been wonderful and we have been played on 30 radio stations here and in the US and UK. We just started working with a manager and a PR agent (it’s cool to say we have representation now, ha). We are also collaborating with other musicians, like the all-girl Bandintexas. We are playing together in Wollongong this weekend and that’s gonna be major for both bands.
4. The Music You Make
Our music is kinda folk-pop. Candy writes melodic folk songs and Bruce is a blues guy. I’m into upbeat messy guitars. When we come together it works itself out and we get our sound. But truthfully it’s a bit more complicated than that. We recorded with Ben Worsey at Everland Studios and we drove him crazy getting the right guitar sounds. I remember laying down a track and Ben interrupted me from the control room to point out we had nine amps! Our current live set-up blends a few different sounds as I’m through British gear and Bruce is through US gear. We put a lot of thinking into our live sounds.
5. Music, Right Here, Right Now
Lots of musicians complain about the state of the industry. But our music was played in Alaska, Florida and Manchester within a few weeks of releasing our EP. Before digital music, that would never have happened.
[Kim Killspeed photo by Andrew Kagis]
Kim Killspeed’s Ultrasound is out now independently. See them at Dicey Riley’s, Wollongong Saturday August 22; Victoria Hotel, Orange Saturday September 5; or when they support RY at Ruby L’otel on Saturday October 10.
