by Jonathan Williams
From the February 2004 issue of Prick Magazine.
Kill Hannah.
The first time I heard Kill Hannah, my initial reaction was, "This chick's got a unique voice." The singer's seductive and pouty style had a hint of huskiness that reminded me a lot of Shirley Manson from Garbage. But when I took a look at the promo shot of the band that was sent with the CD, I made a startling discovery: there were no females in Kill Hannah.
While the smudged eyeliner and impeccable sense of style might throw some people off, there's no mistaking these guys for girls, no matter how effeminate they may be. So, I guess the girl ripping her shirt open to show a tattoo of a heart in a crosshairs on the cover of the band's major label debut For Never & Ever isn't in the band. Nor is she named Hannah.
The band has been around for almost ten years and it's taken me almost as long to arrive at a logo we can be proud of," says frontman Mat Devine referring to the cover art. "It's very simplistic and direct, but unbelievably I haven't seen it used before. The band began as a result of my first teenage tragic heartache drama, so it's very fitting."
And since many of Kill Hannah's songs still deal with heartbreak and other such melancholic subjects, it seems that thoughts of Hannah (or her successors) continue to haunt Devine. But that doesn't keep songs like "Boys and Girls" and "Unwanted" from being celebratory, sugary-sweet anthems for misanthropes of all kinds.
The powerfully catchy guitar hooks and undeniable glam rock bounciness of songs like "10 More Minutes With You" and "From Now On," as well as more somber odes to loneliness such as "New Heart For Xmas" and "No One Dreams Anyway," combined with Devine's nasally, sexually ambiguous intonations bring to mind bands like The Cure, Depeche Mode and fellow Chicagoans Smashing Pumpkins. But it's the underlying electronic loops and sequences that truly tie Kill Hannah to its hometown, which is known for having a strong industrial underground.
"When Mat writes a song, he kind of programs some stuff on his own on a cheap keyboard," says guitarist Dan Wiese. "People always assume that the producer puts all that stuff in."
Even though Kill Hannah's music often begins on a keyboard or drum machine, the band actually tried to steer clear of the industrial tag when recording For Never & Ever, despite working with Nine Inch Nails/Marilyn Manson producer Sean Beavan and early Ministry engineer Critter.
"We wanted real guitars and we wanted all the electronics in our music to be back kind of in support of our guitars," says Wiese. "We didn't want it to be huge and we didn't want to sample guitars or anything."
