by Chris Curry
A bona fide bombshell of a concert took place on Thursday June 20th at the legendary 9:30 Club in Washington D.C. It was a sweltering summer day and the evening’s festivities included electro-industrial’s most prestigious KMFDM, up and comers 16 Volt and a newly re-charged Kidney Thieves.
16 Volt were slated to open the show but due to a schedule change quickly shifted to the middle slot. An otherwise moving set was plagued by guitar and guitar rig technical difficulties that seemed to zap the life right out of the band’s energy and projection level.
The 9:30 Club was thick with cigarette smoke, black eyeliner, an endless array of Lip Service goodies and over-priced beer. The scene was standard for a show helmed by trailblazers KMFDM who were dealing with their very own technical difficulty in the form of an inebriated Raymond Watts. However KMFDM are KMFDM and Kidney Thieves are not. Be that as it may this fledgling project opened the show and hit the stage appearing well rehearsed, slick and eager to make a lasting impact on the good folks of D.C.
Before the show I was awarded the opportunity to speak with 4 of the group’s 5 members. We discussed the state of the music industry, their new album ZeroSpace and even how to properly stage dive during a KMFDM performance.
Chris Curry: So the project is originally from Cleveland, Ohio, correct?
Bruce Somers: Not unless you consider me the project. I’m from Cleveland but Kidney Thieves are from L.A.
CC: That’s interesting because most of your press leads one to believe that KT are from Ohio, and then they try and tie that in with Nine Inch Nails.
Bruce: Right, but we’re setting the record straight this time.
CC: While in Cleveland was your project supported by the area?
Bruce: Well the area is certainly not supportive but we were able to play the scene and the people within that scene were very responsive to what we were doing. I have to admit though; we were always looking to get out of Ohio. I think most bands in small towns look to escape. I have to add that our stuff was pretty poppy in the beginning but Reznor came along and helped pave a way for the heavier stuff.
CC: O.K. so now you’re in L.A. How does this differ? Is it a more difficult market to tap into?
Free Dominguez: Yea it is. It’s a really concentrated industry town. It’s very stressful trying to be creative when so many people concerned about commerce and product surround you, but we’ve really stuck to what we wanted to do artistically.
Bruce: Well a lot of times it depends on what you’re trying to do. I mean Austin, Texas is a great town for music if you’re doing blues or something grassroots, and other places have support for different types of music and art, but L.A. is just a fight, period. It’s a fight to see just how many people we can play to and expose ourselves to.
Sean Sellers: There’s a different band playing every single night.
CC: A different one born every night for that matter.
Sean: Right. So with that in mind you can go out anytime and hear and see live music.
CC: I noticed that you are distributed by Warner Brothers. Have they stifled your creativity in any way?
Bruce: Hell Yea! (Laughs)
Free: No, and we pretty much wouldn’t do it if that were the case. We handed in the new record and they said, “Cool.”
CC: So did you guys sit in a conference room listening to ZeroSpace with a bunch of suits?
Free: Um, no actually they just came by the studio and were very supportive of what we were doing.
Bruce: Well first off we’re not on Warner we’re on Xstacy Records, which is basically owned by one person. It’s an indie label and that really opened a door of trust for us. If we were on Warner exclusively and they hired the “big” producer and the “big” studio then yes, we’d have them crawling up our backs about things but as it was we did exactly what we wanted to do musically.
Sean: Does it even say Warner on our cd?
Bruce: Yea, it says, “Distributed by Warner Brothers.”
Sean: Oh, O.K. Distribution is kinda different.
CC: Yes it is, but anytime that an act is attached to a major label one has to wonder what it was that they had to sacrifice in order to get the job done.
Bruce: Right and a lot of acts do sell themselves off, but we didn’t have to.
CC: What do you consider the most distinct difference between your debut Trickster and ZeroSpace?
Free: Well we’ve grown in so many ways as songwriters and sonically we were able to build a bigger and better studio.
Bruce: We basically did the first one in a 10X10 bedroom and with that we were unable to listen to playbacks properly, but Zerospace has no excuses. We really had the opportunity to make sure that this one had the right amount of impact.
CC: I did notice that Zerospace had a lot more depth than your previous outing, not only aurally but the songs seemed to be better crafted this time around.
Bruce: Yea and chicks dig it too! (Laughs)
CC: You recently did a short road trek with Biohazard; was that as frightening as you were anticipating?
Free: At first it was cause we just didn’t know what to expect.
Bruce: Sean wasn’t surprised. Of all of us he’s toured the most and he’s the most experienced at that type of thing.
Sean: It was cool. It’s just a matter of getting up there and rocking.
CC: I’d read that you made a conscious effort to play the heavier songs from your catalog. Did you follow through with that or were you ever comfortable enough to pull out some of the lighter stuff?
Free: No, we stuck with the harder stuff. We just went with the idea that we needed to try and blend in with the other bands on the bill.
Bruce: Yea, and Free even pumped up quite a bit for the tour. (Laughs)
Sean: Lot’s of ‘roids!
Free: ‘Roids!?
Bruce: Hemorrhoids!
Sean: No, steroids. Not hemorrhoids. (All laugh)
CC: Well it just goes to show that music is meant for the stage. Like when I get a new cd and then go to the show I always wonder how the band whittles the new songs down to what’s gonna be played live. I figure if I’m gonna write a song then I wanna play it in front of an audience.
Sean: Playing live is definitely half the fun.
Free: Well a lot of that comes from the live translation. Obviously we want it to sound good as a song whether it’s on the cd or live. So certain modifications have to occur in order for the song to be suitable for a live performance.
CC: Billboard magazine stated that, “Kidney Thieves don’t fit modern rock standards because they don’t appeal to typical chain-wallet banality.” While I felt that to be quite apt, I was wondering how you felt about it. Do you feel that that type of attitude could alienate some of your fans?
Bruce: I don’t know I but I love that statement. I think it was Larry Fleck who wrote that and he’s just been great.
Free: We should make t-shirts outta that.
CC: I repeatedly read comparisons between Kidney Thieves and Snake River Conspiracy. How does this strike you?
Free: I think people just wanna be able to connect something to something else and their singer happens to be a female. I don’t really see much of a connection. It’s a different sound and a different energy.
Sean: I actually like the song ‘Vulcan’ and the video is really cool, too.
CC: Yea that is a cool song but that album seemed contrived for radio whereas Zerospace appears to be a much more honest approach to this type of music.
Bruce: It’s interesting on that end because there’s so much pressure with a band’s 2nd release. From every angle it’s a battle. We really had to fight the radio thing and just do what we do.
CC: Most contrived records or acts just don’t have any longevity. Sometimes they’re good but the output is generally very limited.
Bruce: For the most part I hate those types of acts or records but I do like Linkin Park and that thing is really geared towards radio. It’s just the thing with this type of music you’ve got to be honest with it.
CC: Do you feel that having a female as a front person and lead vocalist is advantageous to the group or is it a hindrance?
Christian “Fidget” Dorris: It definitely helps. We really stand out by having Free fronting us.
Sean: It gives us a lot more room and allows us the opportunity to explore certain dynamics that wouldn’t always be possible with a male vocalist.
Bruce: It’s a great balancing. We can do these full-throttle testosterone scratchy guitar riffs and then Free will come in and sing this beautiful lyric over it. It’s really cool plus she’s one powerful bitch live.
CC: Any interesting anecdotes from the tour this time around?
Free: Ha! Well Fidget stage dove in Tampa during KMFDM and no one caught him. (All laugh)
Fidget: I’m not real happy with Tampa right now, so catch me next time will ya?
Bruce: The tour has been great. The crew is very cool and we’ve been treated exceptionally well. We just wish that the tour was going to go on a lot longer.
CC: Yea and while it may be cool to have a connection to Nine Inch Nails, KMFDM are altogether different. I mean even Reznor was weaned on that stuff, as all of us were. So it must be a real buzz to be touring with them.
Bruce: It’s amazing. Sascha has been doing this for so long and to be a part of it has just been great. Plus to be able to play to that crowd has been especially cool too.
Free: Right and the crowd vary so much too. You really get an expansive audience when you play with KMFDM. You get the goth kids and tech-geeks and normal people and so on. It’s just a great mix of people.
Bruce: Even she-males! (Laughs)
Free: It’s a crowd that searches for music. It’s a crowd that doesn’t just swallow the flavor of the week. So as you can imagine it’s been really great for us.
Bruce: We get a strong feeling that we’re reaching people. Reaching people much more on this tour than any other tour we’ve been on.
CC: You covered the Patsy Cline/Willie Nelson tune “Crazy”. Do you sight her as a vocal influence at all?
Free: No. We were actually asked to do that song for the Bride of Chucky soundtrack. We then felt that it fit the context of this record so we included it.
CC: Lastly, my stock question. If someone only had 10 minutes to live and they wanted to hear Kidney Thieves what song would you play for them?
Free: I can’t believe you just asked that question after what happened last night. I had a mother come up with her 2 sons after the show and she said, “I just have to tell you that I’m here because my daughter listened to Trickster for like 3 1/2 years and she died in a car wreck a week before your new one came out. When we got the car back Trickster was still in the cd player. So we’re here for her. She loved the record and she loved Kidney Thieves.” It was a really intense situation. So like I said before it’s really strange of you to ask that.
CC: Very intense. Let’s rephrase that. What’s the definitive Kidney Thieves tune?
Bruce: I don’t know I guess I’d have to leave it up to the listener. Whichever song touches them the most I suppose. Personally I really dig ‘Arsenal’.
Free: I like ‘Placebo’.
Fidget: I’m leaning towards ‘Before I die’.
Sean: I’m gonna go with ‘Glitter Girl’. That always gets a great crowd reaction.
CC: ‘Glitter Girl’ is my personal fave.
Bruce: Bingo! There’s the correct answer. ‘Glitter Girl’ it is!
Posted by Alex Zander at November 1, 2003 12:00 AM