KillBillies

chicks, cars and murder beat sock hops and boppin'

By Rick Overwater

    When you’re up to your neck in one of the “billy” genres, be it rockabilly, pyschobilly, horrorbilly, or any amalgamation thereof, getting the formula right, achieving that balance between fitting in and also carving out your own turf, is a tough job. For the KillBillies the solution, was simple: Lay down a few simple ground rules, starting with the lyrics.

    “Lyrically, I’d consider us more horror-psychobilly,” says Mike Hell, guitarist for the Calgary three-piece. “When we came up with the concept of the band, we decided songs can only be about three things – chicks, cars, and murder.” One of the advantages of adopting that methodology, he adds, is that clear-cut boundaries help make for a lightening-quick, efficient songwriting process. And while some free, unfettered artiste-types might find that creatively stifling, it hasn’t been much of a problem.

    “We like the confines of it,” says Hell. “Rather than seeing it as a limitation, we try to fit ten pounds into a five pound bag.” OK, chicks, cars, and murder. Obviously the KillBillies fit the niche they’ve chosen, one they consciously decided they wanted to be a part of. But how do they set themselves apart?

    “We try to keep the music really traditional, as traditional as we can,” says Hell, citing well known rockabilly greats like Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochrane, early underground pioneers like Vern Pullens and even latter day masters like the Stray Cats.  And indeed their music harkens back to a golden age. An age where drummer/vocalist Don O’ Dead’s Misfit-inspired lyrics would have got them banned for sure. “Yeah, we’re not singing about sock hops and boppin’ with your baby all night long – it can be kind of dark.”

    Playing it straight up as possible can be as challenging as playing music seemingly more complex and Hell’s guitar playing shows plenty of the restraint necessary to pull his chosen sound off. It’s a testament to his schooling, where he actually picked up a diploma in guitar and another in theory and composition. The fact he doesn’t use that knowledge to descend into spotlight-hogging wankery is another feather in his cap. The same goes, for that matter, for Eve Hell.

    Eve is not only Mike Hell’s wife, but standup bassist for the KillBillies. The couple met while studying music and Eve was finishing her diploma as vocal major. You’d expect Idol-wannabe histrionics but when she steps in front of a mic, its plain-and-simple sultry. Take for example, the song “Zombie Love”, a track that the band submitted for Volume 2 of Stumble Record’s Zombie Night in Canada album. “We tried to make it as sultry as possible so that there was no way they couldn’t accept it.” Accept it they did, and sadly this is one of the only places besides their MySpace site that one can hear the KillBillies recordings. For now, that is.

    A full fledged CD is supposed to drop later this fall and Hell says they’re trying to stay true to form and keep the recording as simple as possible, often limiting themselves to a couple of tracks fed into a Mac. “Why not?” asks Hell, “I figure we’ve got as good technology as what they had at Sun Records back then and that’s good enough for us.”