The Kill Devil Hills
| The Kill Devil Hills | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Labels | |
| Website | thekilldevilhills |
| Members |
|
| Past members |
|
The Kill Devil Hills are an Australian acoustic, country-tinged rock band formed in 2003 in Fremantle by founding mainstays Brendan Humphries and Steve Joines. They have released four studio albums, Heathen Songs (August 2004), The Drought(October 2006), Man, You Should Explode (September 2009) and In on Under near Water (March 2016).
The Kill Devil Hills were formed in Fremantle in early 2003 by Brendan Humphries on lead vocals and guitars, Lachlan Gurr on mandolin and banjo, and Steve Joines on vocals and guitar. Initially the trio played "bushranger rock" and "cowpunk". The name of the band is derived from the title of a chapter, written by Harry Smith in a book, Invisible Republic: Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes by US music critic Greil Marcus, about Bob Dylan and The Band. In the late 1990s Humphries had been a member of Gutterville Splendour Six, alongside Gareth Liddiard and Rui Pereira of the Drones, which issued a self-titled extended play in 1998. The Kill Devil Hills were soon joined by Steve Gibson on percussion and drums.
The Kill Devil Hills released their debut album, Heathen Songs, in August 2004 and nationally in February 2005 on the Reverberation label. Michael Inglis of FasterLouder felt that "While the album has its dull moments, the Kill Devil Hills have come up with a coherant [sic] debut album that asserts the band's identity. At the same time, there are enough standout tracks to make this disc worth your hard-earned dollars." In the same month they were nominated for six WAMi Awards, taking home "Best Blues/Roots Act" and "Best Country Music Act".
National youth radio station, Triple J, picked up the album, with Heathen Songs receiving a lot of airplay on a variety of shows. They were chosen as one of their 'fresh Crop' Artists of 2005. The group featured on Triple J's "Like a Version" segment and its JTV. They appeared on the Lonely Planet documentary series, "Six Degrees", broadcast on SBS. The band performed at The West Coast Blues & Roots Festival 2005. Also that year they appeared at Bridgetown Blues Festival, where they played on stages supporting The Black Keys, The Mountain Goats, The Living End, Dallas Crane, The Mess Hall, Kim Salmon, Jebediah, The Panics and The Drones. The band undertook a short tour of the east coast in May and were invited back to Sydney for shows in November the same year.
...
Wikipedia