Who is in Kill The Pain and what do they play?
We are a female post punk inspired duo : Phoebe Killdeer and Mélanie Pain.
How did you meet and start working together?
We met through the French band Nouvelle Vague in 2005. We shared the stage for 10 years, we did many many shows together. We started organically to write songs as we had a lot of time together on tour, and a lot of stories to tell… And we had the perfect band name which is the fusion of our names and the main topic of our motivation : Kill The Pain.
Your latest self-titled album is out now. How did you want to approach the making of this record?
During Covid, we finally got time to make it all happen. We had to work long distance with some amazing musicians in Paris, London and Berlin. Weirdly they never met. We wanted to have a certain spontaneity to the sound of the album, so we kept the first takes the musicians sent and it ended up making the album sound quite live, which fit to the project.
Where did you record it and who produced it?
We produced it ourselves and got it mixed and mastered by Tim Oliver at Real World Studios which was a dream experience.
Do you have any interesting, funny or memorable stories from the recording sessions?
The process of it was memorable, as we felt free to make all the decisions and having to select the takes or the grooves over the phone with our musicians, was quite hilarious, specially with a bad internet connection.
What is the story/inspiration behind the track ‘Zig Zag’?
This song is a nod towards Captain Beefheart’s free composition style. The sound was inspired by Talking Heads and Devo. Spontaneous zig zagging through the streets leads to an unpredictable encounter.
Where is your hometown and could you please describe it in five words?
Phoebe lives in Kreuzberg / Berlin and Mélanie lives in Montreuil / Paris; both places are : artistic, messy, vibrant, open minded and inspiring.
How do you look after your voices?
Ah ah ah… ginger tea and more ginger and some whisky.
Do you have any favoured stage instruments, effects, pedals, microphones?
Bass, Tambourine, Delay pedals are our basics.
Do you have any plans for any live dates in the UK/Europe in 2024?
We are going to tour the UK supporting Nouvelle Vague at the end of February : 21st in Leeds, 22nd in Liverpool, 23rd in Manchester, 24th in Glasgow, 25th in Edinburgh. Then on March, 4th and 5th in London and 7th in Brighton. On May, 29th in Guyancourt and 30th in Brussels.
Who created/designed the album cover?
Valerian Marguery designed the cover, he is a fantastic digital artist using collages a lot, mixing digital and handmade techniques, which echoes the music style of Kill The Pain : electro sounds meeting vintage grooves.
What makes Kill The Pain happy and what makes you unhappy?
Kill The Pain is all about having fun and enjoying life, working as a female duo and feeling the freedom to make our own choices definitely makes us happy and proud. We are unhappy when the bass isn’t loud enough.
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