The Kill Devil Hills
Cockfighter
1 Track, Single (2009, Torn & Frayed/Shock)
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With each record, Perth psycho-country collective The Kill Devil Hills get a little more fire in their swelling, hairy bellies. Heathen Songs (2005) was largely dreary; The Drought (2007) had about 30 percent more pep; and if ‘Cockfighter’ – the band’s punkest song to date – is any indication, their next album Man, You Should Explode, due this month, will be the hoedown they should always have been hosting.
An ugly, clumsy riff starts us off, joined by a bassline tripping over itself. Singer Brendon Humphries jumps in, telling the story about a man called Pancho with only three days left to live. It’s quickly cut off by a knife of feedback before a brawling chorus – “Cockfighter, cock-cockfighter!” – that draws together the influences that chart their new direction: the Birthday Party, their old friends The Drones, The Stooges, even a touch of rockabilly.
It’s a big, modern shake-up for The Kill Devil Hills, who often strike out into middling honky-tonk territory for the sake of authenticity. I just hope the album isn’t this one and a bunch of yawners.
by Matt Giles
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this is great.
interviewing these lads tomorrow night (thursday 17th sept) at 7.15 on PBS 106.7 FM. should be able to ask them...and preview a few more tracks!
as always, will be archived on the webbo.