Don’t let a few touches of makeup fool you.
Kill Hannah may wear eyeliner from time to time, but behind the wall of blush and mascara beats the heart of a fierce and fiery rock ‘n’ roll machine.
The group, (bassist Greg Corner, singer Matt Devine, drummer Garrett Hammond, guitarist Jon Radtke and guitarist Dan Weise) brought their edgy glammed up stylings to the Trocadero’s Balcony Ballroom on September 12th, and treated the crowd to over-sized guitar riffs and prophetic bursts of distorted emotional intensity.
Kill Hannah’s sharp and soulful hard rock can be traced back to their school days in Chicago where front man Devine found his muse in the form of a misfit female classmate.
“She stood out so much. She was really hot and really strange. She had purple hair and three nose rings. She was just one of those unforgettable people,” Devine said.
Though quickly struck with inspiration, success did not strike so expediently for Kill Hannah.
The band spent the formative stages of its career handing out flyers in record stores.
The group’s unbridled determination and self-selling approach generated an underground buzz in the Windy City, and quickly spread around much of the Midwest.
“It’s nothing like it happened overnight, trust me,” Corner says.
“The reason we have a cult following is because we believe we are doing something different. We never fit into one area of music in Chicago. We weren’t punk, we weren’t goth.”
Devine adds, “I think there are certain things we have in common with bands, but not enough to be part of the scene.”
After cutting their teeth playing in and around Chicago, a slew of demos followed and Kill Hannah eventually caught the attention of Atlantic Records.
The band quickly signed with the label and went into production on its first full-length release.
The disc, titled For Never and Ever, will hit store shelves on Oct. 14.
The album is an eclectic mix of power chords and punchy drum work.
Electronica and pulsating bass provide the backbone for their sound,
while Devine’s slithering vocals were pitted against a backdrop of distortion and drum machines.
“It’s taken a long time,” Devine says, “but we’ve really defined our own sound.”
Self-described as, “Somewhere between the Smashing Pumpkins and The Cure,” Kill Hannah is a refreshing dose of raw energy and the sort of grandiose rock vision that might actually put a smile on Robert Smith’s face.
Dustin Schoof can be reached at schoofy@att.net.
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