Recap & Photos: The Kills (clicky)

On Wednesday evening, you could've found me at The Earl, checking out the post-punk duo The Kills. Their "thing", you see, is that they consist of only two members and rely on a drum machine to provide the underbelly of their tunes. There's just no way you could conceive of two people with guitars (sometimes just one) and a drum machine sounding so mind-blowing, but somehow The Kills do it. And that's exactly what they accomplished on Wednesday.

Back in 2005 (I think), they played Coachella and upon returning home, I noticed that a lot of people were commenting on their set and saying how awesome it was. I took a minute to get into what I missed out on and got very little out of it. Either I wasn't there mentally or I just didn't get the sound or whatever, but their newest album at the time (No Wow) refused to stick with me. So I kinda brushed 'em aside and that was that. Then they came out with Midnight Boom this year and things changed. Lead-off single "U.R.A. Fever" got stuck in my head for days and refused to leave. What was really odd what that I didn't really think the song was that special after first hearing it. I decided to go back to what I previously cast away and listened to No Wow and I was swept up in it, along with this new record. After hearing that their tour for Midnight Boom was ending in Atlanta, I wanted in and prepared for anything. I just couldn't think that their kind of setup would be as propulsive and explosive as what was hyped.

Damn, was I wrong. They brought it hard and they brought it loud; it was insane! There was a screen playing various videos behind them while they were doing their thing, with videos of seemingly random things to performances of Patti Smith and Tom Petty. Alison Mosshart, who does most of the vocal work, really had my attention most of the night, and she definitely commanded it. Whether it be through her creepy glances to the back of the club or through her odd stage antics (like walking in circles or distinct squares in between songs), I was drawn to her. The other player, Jamie Hince (who provides a vast majority of the guitars), displayed tons of intensity throughout their set, often yelling while playing. You'd think that with their kind of guitar sound (especially how LOUD it is), the guitars would be enough for noise, but apparently not.

At any rate, the show was awesome and a great surprise. Here are some decent pics from the gig and hopefully they'll do the show justice.