Despite having no previous TV, radio or press promotion in the UK, Chicago-based five piece KILL HANNAH already draw crowds of over 1000 people to their headline shows here. Add to the fact that they have over 200,000 MySpace friends and over 11,000,000 actual song plays from their jukebox, and that their video to their first UK single, Lips Like Morphine, has received nearly 1.6 million plays on YouTube alone, and it’s clear that KILL HANNAH are rock’s best kept secret. And did we mention celebrity endorsements from the likes of SMASHING PUMPKINS, MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE and Jared Leto’s 30 SECONDS TO MARS?
Formed in Chicago in the late '90s while singer/songwriter Mat Devine was still at university, KILL HANNAH issued several critically acclaimed and fan favourite independent EPs before stabilising their line-up and signing to Atlantic Records for their 2003 major label debut, For Never And Ever.
Dubbed "the missing link between The Killers, The Cure, Smashing Pumpkins and My Chemical Romance", no one sounded or indeed looked like KILL HANNAH when they first broke free of their art school roots. Some called it new romantic, some called it darkwave, others called it goth, but those tags don't do any justice to KILL HANNAH's music. They are all of the above but also so much more.
Lead single Kennedy quickly became an instant cult classic and was heavily featured in such hit US television shows as One Tree Hill, Jack & Bobby and North Shore. Yet, despite this mainstream exposure, KILL HANNAH stayed true to their underground roots with a fierce DIY mentality - creating their own merchandise, passing out fliers in the snow and pouring rain and personally maintaining their heavily trafficked website and more. They still do.
KILL HANNAH have amassed some of the most loyal and dedicated fans out there. These fans show up for shows at the crack of dawn when the band arrives to town, clad in custom made KILL HANNAH attire, proudly displaying their KILL HANNAH tattoos, where they meet up with other fans who have travelled far and wide with the hopes of catching a moment with the band, and to meet other KILL HANNAH fans. These fans have set up their own cult community and fan club, called the KILL HANNAH KOLLECTIVE (KHK). The KHK has grown to have active branches in almost every major city across the USA, and now in nearly every major country as well. As the music of KILL HANNAH has impacted fans around the world, KILL HANNAH have become more than a band, they have become a movement.
Creative in every aspect of their lives, various members have also initiated other projects. Frontman Mat Devine co-founded the Chicago Suicide Club, a lifestyle brand dedicated to art, fashion and events. As part of the Chicago underground music scene, the CSC has produced DJ events and aftershow parties with Jeremy Dawson of Shiny Toy Guns, Jared Leto of 30 Seconds to Mars, Peaches, Ladytron, Paul Barker of Ministry, Chris Vrenna of NIN, Marilyn Manson, Gnarls Barkley, Buzz McCoy of My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, Daniel Ash of Bauhaus/Love & Rockets, Marky Ramone of The Ramones, The Sounds, DJ/Performance artists Superstars of Love, and Ronan Harris of VNV Nation.
Bass player Greg Corner is a world renowned DJ and co-founder of Chicago's Dark Wave Disco, a monthly dance party that has featured Tommie Sunshine, Classixx (formerly Young Americans), The Teenagers, Steve Aoki, Carlos D. of Interpol, Uffie, Lady Sovereign, The Sounds, MSTRKRFT and Junior Sanchez, as well as The Faint, The MisShapes, Go!Motion, Blake Miller of Moving Units and Adam 12 of She Wants Revenge. It has received national press in SPIN Magazine and URB Magazine as one of the hottest parties in America.
The band's follow-up album, Until There's Nothing Left Of Us, surfaced in 2006 debuting at number 8 in the official Billboard Heatseeker's chart. While KILL HANNAH had cut Forever Never And Ever far from home in sunny Los Angeles, Until There's Nothing Left of Us was conceived and created back home in Chicago during the dead of winter. That, according to Devine, stamps every second of the album with a distinctive energy.
"Everything came from the stimulation I get from this place," he insists. "I live in view of the entire skyline; the trains literally circle me. It’s almost like the city itself envelops me. Like any metropolis, it can be dark at times, but super-romantic too. From nine to five it's absolute chaos, and then after six o’clock it's completely desolate. At the lakeshore it might be totally placid and serene, and in the next minute these crazy waves crash in and freeze as massive piles of jagged ice. In a way, our music is like that too. From track to track on this record, and even within each song, we have moments of triumph and then we have moments of creepy romance."
The band gathered at friend/former drummer Garrett Hammond’s home studio and began taking all of their demos apart. "We’d rehearse and develop and record every single part," recalls guitarist Dan Wiese. "Every note and every word got re-evaluated several times before everyone was satisfied."
After wrapping up their intense pre-production, they hit the studio with Chicago native Johnny K. With a catalogue that includes producing bands like Disturbed, Plain White T's, Finger 11 and 3 Doors Down, he seemed like an unusual choice for KILL HANNAH. "But we wanted to experiment," Devine explains. "My personal tastes lean toward European and 80's influences, and Johnny is known for doing straight-ahead rock or metal. In Chicago terms, it's like we're North Side and Johnny is, as he calls himself, a 'South Side knucklehead'." It was, of course, a perfect match. They began by finding common ground, as Johnny seconded their enthusiasm for The Cure, Peter Gabriel, and The Psychedelic Furs. The successful plan then, was to at once expand and refine their sound without losing the primal instincts that have driven KILL HANNAH from the start.
KILL HANNAH do not like to sit still. Between 2003 - 2007, they toured the US constantly – at one stage performing more than 250 shows within 18 months. Their touring buddies were diverse, including Chevelle, HIM, Papa Roach, Evanescence, Janes Addiction, and The All-American Rejects, to The Distillers, Lost Prophets, The Rasmus, 30 Seconds To Mars, Mindless Self Indulgence, Flyleaf, Alice in Chains and Velvet Revolver, and even with groups like The Sounds, Shiny Toy Guns and Angels and Airwaves... and the list continues. Impressively, the band also managed to find time to contribute a cover of Queen/David Bowie song Under Pressure to the soundtrack for thriller movie The Invisible, following a personal invitation from director David Goyer (Magneto, Batman Begins, Blade).
KILL HANNAH made their first foray into the UK live scene in 2007. You may also have caught them at the Give It A Name festival at London's Earls Court or the Birmingham N.I.A., or more recently as main support for the sold out tour with HIM. And, like in the US, KILL HANNAH have forged a formidable reputation as an extraordinary live band.
Single Lips Like Morphine is due for UK release on March 17, 2008. The band's first album release in the UK & Japan will be Until There's Nothing Left Of Us with added songs from For Never And Ever, plus new unreleased tracks. Until There’s Nothing Left Of Us is set to hit stores on March 24, 2008. KILL HANNAH will be main support to Aidan’s UK tour in March/April 2008.
