Sunday, May 24, 2009

Kill Holiday - Somewhere Between the Wrong is Right


One of the things that initially drew me to Unbroken was how much they wore their non-hardcore influences on their sleeve. Having pompadours and a strong affinity for Morrissey, wearing Smiths, KMFDM, and Christian Death shirts in band photos and at shows, covering Joy Division and so on were not par for the course in 90's hardcore. However, all of these things set them apart from most hardcore bands I came across and admittedly, made me want to like them more. I could relate to wearing a KMFDM shirt, liking Morrissey and being a depressed teenager more than I could to things Youth of Today were talking about. Shortly after getting into Unbroken I discovered Steven Miller and Todd Beattie had a post-hardcore band called Kill Holiday who put out a record on Revelation. As it turned out, my friend James owned it and traded it to me for something he'd listen to more.

Somewhere Between the Wrong is Right is the bands final record and a drastic stylistic leap from their earlier, more Quicksand influenced material. For the LP, Kill Holiday ditched the heavy chug riffs and took a gamble on their version of brit-pop and yielded quality results. I often see this record compared to The Smiths because of the acknowledged influence, but I see far more similarity to bands like The Verve, The Lemonheads and later era Ride. Miller's voice is perfectly breathy and the songs have just the right amount of bouncy drumming and swirling reverb to set them apart from their contemporaries (especially in the realm of post-hardcore alumni). I often wonder if some of the more gripping lyrics about loss have something to do with the tragic suicide of Unbroken guitarist Eric Allen. Even if they are unrelated, there is a lot of introspection and brooding in some of the stand out tracks like "You're Taking it Well," "Know who your friends Are," and the title track.

I've heard a lot of discussion about Revelation's post-hardcore back catalog these past few years and it's a shame how little play this Kill Holiday record seems to get. It's easily in my top 3 non-hardcore records released by Rev (up there with the Texas is the Reason's Do You Know Who You Are and Elliott's False Cathedrals). It is a solid record by a severely overlooked band.

Kill Holiday - Somewhere Between the Wrong is Right

11 comments:

Chris said...

Steve, I'd never heard of Kill Holiday and I'm loving what I hear. DO you have any more?

Stephen said...

I do. It's definitely different, but I'll post it so you can check it out.

Unknown said...

These guys are awesome, I'd love to hear more too. Thanks for posting!

Christopher Z said...

Have you heard the Crushed On You demo?
It's pretty much Kill Holiday part 2.

Stephen said...

I have. It's pretty good. That song "Kissing is an Art form" is very good. I've been thinking about putting it up on my blog actually.

Thomas said...

Just came across this blog because I wanted a digital version of "Somewhere", and my CD is all scratched, so my computer won't read it. Thanks for a great write up on a criminally underrated band! I might post something on my blog about them as well one of these days, including old B/W photos from their Euro tour.

Anonymous said...

This album is so forgotten that this blog is like the third link that comes up when you google it. Shame, because it's pretty good. But this blog is cool.

Stephen said...

GLW/DRK- Definitely post those pics. I'd love to see them.

Anon - That's kind of crazy that this blog is the 3rd google listing when you search for that album. Thanks for the kind words. Hopefully everyone who comes across this thing checks out that record. It's so good!

KbR! said...

why doesn't anyone else know about killholiday???!!!!!
ugh! i go waaaay out of my way to learn and share great music.
i have only met ONE person who knew of kill holiday before i played or spoke of them, and yet everyone who's taken me up on my recommendation has followed up with a want for their next album. but there's nothng
thanks for giving them props!!! this album is so so so so very good and totes holds up aft all these years! i've had it since it was released and never heard of a follow up. such a shame.

KbR! said...

p.s. and yep. i found yr blog the same as anon 7june 305pm
holding strong on the google no. 3 spot

Stephen said...

KBR - I agree, definitely an underrated band. Have you heard the Crushed on You demo? If you like Kill Holiday, you'll like it.