Kill Hannah
Don't let the name scare you
Penn Ave - Washington, DC
July 12, 2003
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The latest Camp Mojo field trip took us to a weekly summer music festival on Pennsylvania Avenue in DC aptly titled. . . Live on Penn. Although the show was an all afternoon event, we only went to see one band in particular, Kill Hannah. The band, while not well known in the DC area, is actually quite popular in their home town of Chicago, IL where they are kings of The Metro. They have what we would describe as a half-punk, half Euro-trash feel to them (think Orgy meets The Cure, although the band says "Smashing Pumpkins meets Garbage"), and their "image" definitely has a certain, "je ne sais quoi". . . But, they certainly seem to be having fun. And, they're pretty good at it too!
Starting out to a life less crowd (about 100 people, 90 of which were sitting on the pavement) Mat Devine(lead vocals, guitar. . . and yes, that's his real name) caught the crowd off gaurd. Here was the second band out of four with a sound that deserved headliner status for such a small show. The crowd filled up over the next few songs including a Chicago favorite, "10 More Minutes With You." The beats of Garret Hammond and bass grooves of Greg Corner were definetly carried over to the crowd of now 300 bopping and tapping away. Add to that the lix of Jon Radtke(lead guitar, keyboards, vocals), Dan Wiese(guitar, vocals) and Mat for an intense set full of melodies your ears have never heard. The band incorporates some edgy programming (much done by drummer Hammond, former collaborater with Kevin McMahon(Prick, Lucky Pierre))can be a bit much at times since the band has drums, bass and three guitars, but it does it's purpose for now.
Their most popular song and last song of the day, "I wanna be a Kennedy," had the otherwise lifeless crowd up and swingin'. Did we mention that it was 90 degrees out and the sun was in the band's eyes? If they're that intense outside, we can't wait to see how they do in a club setting. The crowd itself was definetly into the new sounds as told by the line of new fans at the meet and greet by their merchandise tent.
If KH isn't playing a venue near you in the near future, then you'll have to wait until October when their major label debut comes out courtesy of Atlantic. You can catch a couple tracks from the new album on their website, http://killhannah.com. And if you can't wait that long then check this souvenir we got for you from the concert.
Mike J.
Staff Writer
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Download from iTunes or buy from Amazon.
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Or vote to see Kill Hannah LIVE!
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