Kill It Kid Interview: SXSW 2010

Posted on Mar 12th 2010 1:04PM by Chris Cottingham
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Kill It Kid -- Chris Turpin (guitar, vocals), Stephanie Ward (piano, vocals), Adam Timmins (bass, banjo), Richard Jones (violin) and Marc Jones (drums) formed in 2008. One year later, they released their self-titled debut album on One Little Indian. Despite hailing from Bath, their sound is pure Americana -- slide guitar, violin and banjo all feature prominently. They are currently gearing up for this year's festival season. This will be their first time at SXSW.

Describe your sound in your own words.

CT: It's reconditioned delta bottleneck, Piedmont blues, Chess-era r'n'b, alt-country, rough diction and throated notes in affected songs played through radio valve amplifiers. For fans of Gram Parsons, Blind Blake, Etta James, Audioslave and Jack White.

How did your band form?

AT: We met about two years ago studying music at university in Bath, England. Me and Chris formed Kill it Kid as a two-piece acoustic act and through various recording sessions, collaborative showcases and grimy shows we came together as a five-piece and were signed to One Little Indian after recording an EP with John Parish (Eels/PJ Harvey/Tracy Chapman) about three months after forming. That summer we threw ourselves across the UK, squeezed in the back of Steph's Skoda, playing anywhere with a stage and clean-ish sheets. Six months later we were recording our debut album in Seattle, Washington with Ryan Hadlock (the Gossip/Johnny Flynn/the Strokes).

What are your musical influences?

CT: American fiction such as Capote, Steinbeck, McCarthy, Ginsberg and Salinger. Old shellac records pressed by Columbia, Okeh, and Victor. The musicians resting in the The Library Of Congress recorded by John and Alan Lomax. The romanticism of the Midwest and the 'Great American Songbook', which I was introduced to by the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Woody Guthrie and the Bluesbreakers.

How did you come up with your band name?

CT: I first knew it as the name of a ragtime tune recorded by Blind Wille McTell in his last recorded session. A New York barfly would shout "Kill it Kid!" at him as he took to the stage.

What's your biggest vice?

SW: Well, I ate seven mangoes this week. I also have a new effects pedal called a "Dirty Little Secret." Does that count? It's so amazing.

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

SW: I thought that I didn't like ABBA at all, but then I accidentally watched 'Mamma Mia', and I think it may have been the most joyful 90 minutes of my life.

Beatles or Stones?

CT: the Beatles can't be beat.

What's the craziest thing you've seen or experienced while on tour?

CT: In Sheffield, after a few too many tequilas, we saw a girl "excuse herself" in the middle of a friend's living room floor whilst the party was still going on. That, or giving boxer Chris Eubank an unsolicited lift into London.