kill devil hills
Formed as an acoustic, country-tinged 3-piece, Perth-based The KILL DEVIL HILLS have slowly swelled ranks to become a rambling 6-piece outfit, their sometimes rickety, sometimes dirty, frequently swampy and always intense take on country, folk, gospel blues and rock hearkening like some bawdy old Irish reel bashed out on a rusty banjo by a half-cut lumberjack, high on the music of moonshine.
Employing a wide range of instruments, the band centres around steel and acoustic guitars, strong percussion, violin, mandolin,banjo, harmonica and soaring 3 and 4 part vocal harmonies. At times chugging along in a rockabilly howl, then turning out heartwrenching ballads of loss and vengeance, the KILL DEVIL HILLS take a rolling, merry lunge at the heart of rock’n’roll.
After releasing their debut album “Heathen Songs” nationally in Febuary 2005, The Kill Devil Hills were nominated for 6 Wami (Western Australian music industry) Awards, and took home 2. Triple J picked up the album and loved it with The Kill Devil Hills receiving a lot of airplay on a variety of shows and then choosing The Kill Devil Hills as one of their ‘Fresh Crop’ Artists of 2005. The Hills were handpicked to perform at The WA Blues and Roots Festival 2005, were a favourite attraction at The Bridgetown Blues Festival 2005, played on stages with the likes of The Black Keys, Mountain Goats, The Living End, Dallas Crane, Kim Salmon, Jebediah, The Panics, The Drones and many others. They took in a tour of the east coast in May 2005, winning peoples hearts all over the country, and were invited back to Sydney for shows in November 2005.
2006 saw the gents deciding it was high time to record a new album spending most of this year in the recording studio. The new album, ‘The Drought’ will be released in October. They also managed to be nominated for another 4 Wami Awards, taking home again another 2, graced the local stage at The Big Day Out, were asked to record a live set for Triple J’s Home and Hosed, have been invited back to The Bridgetown Blues Festival and played with such legends as The Beasts of Bourbon and The Dirty Three. The Kill Devil Hills are in discussion with Spanish record label Bang! who will release “Heathen Songs” internationally. The Kill Devil Hills are planning a month long tour of Australia to promote the new album in October/November 2006.
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