INTERVIEW WITH KILL HANNAH VOCALIST
MAT DEVINE
We always try to answer the requests of our readers, and people have been requesting that we interview Kill Hannah for a long time. My first experience with them was back in 2004 when they were opening for HIM, and I really liked their song "Kennedy". The band is back on tour, now as a headliner in support of their new album Until There's Nothing Left Of Us and is quickly becoming one of the leaders of the techno/alternative movement. To hook our readers up, I had them submit questions and Kill Hannah vocalist Mat Devine called me up to answer them for you. Check it out!
Anarchy Music: How’s the tour going so far?
Mat Devine: This tour’s been going really well. A lot of the shows are selling out and we’re really happy. It’s been absolutely manic because we have shows every single night.
Anarchy: You’ve toured with everything from pop bands to metal bands. What are the crowds looking like? Are you bringing new fans in addition to the Kill Hannah die-hards?
Mat: It’s funny, there will be like 25% of the crowd will be fans of other bands that we had played with and won over on previous tours, but the majority of fans have been hardcore, street level Kill Hannah fans. Who know about us from word of mouth, from the albums and the internet.
Anarchy: Simay just saw just saw you in Philly and said it was insane. What’s the craziest crowd? I know your hometown is pretty crazy.
Mat: Our hometown is very crazy! There’s ambulances outside and stuff. People definitely need ambulances. We’ve been surprised by how crazy some other towns have been that we never expected. Des Moines, Iowa was complete pandemonium Places we’re on the radio like Florida or Dallas, those are always much bigger crowds. We played a show in Toledo where it was about 90 degrees when we went onstage and about 140 degrees when we went off stage just because of the friction of the crowd. Short answer, I’d say des Moines and Toledo were probably the two craziest crowds on the tour so far.
Anarchy: The latest cd has more of that live feel than previous albums. It’s a little more aggressive. What do you attribute that to?
Mat: I think mainly through what we saw as maybe a weakness of the last record was that it didn’t convey the energy of the live show. I attribute the sound of the new record to a decision we made early on to try to achieve that. Also I think the songs are written to be played live. They were written with that setting in mind…how will a live audience respond to this? They have aspects of that sing-along quality.
Anarchy: Traditionally you do most of the writing. Is that how it worked out this time as well?
Mat: Yeah, everybody sat down to write and work together on some stuff, everybody worked independently. As it turns out, the majority of the record is songs that I wrote, but a few of the songs are co-written. It was cool, we had six months and everybody’s definitely writing stuff. It was a really productive six months.
Anarchy: My buddy Bulletproof from the Forum wanted to know what is the collective influences of the band? I know you’re big into Morrissey and stuff. like that?
Mat: My heroes are Robert Smith, Michael Stipe, Morrissey. I think those influences combined with Johnny’s (Radtke: Guitar) heroes who are like Trent Reznor and Marilyn Manson. Greg (Corner: Bass) listens to British dance music, Depeche Mode and stuff. Dan (Wiese: Guitar) is all over the place. He likes The Pixies, Radiohead and Leonard Cohen, so our sound is kind of in the middle of all that.
Anarchy: You have a song called “The Songs That Saved My Life”. Did a song save your life?
Mat: Yeah, I think my entire record collection did. I know for a fact that being the only weirdo in my town. Those albums, those bands proved to me that I wasn’t the only one.
Anarchy: I’m sure this is an old story for you, but everyone wants to know how a relationship with a girl named Hannah turned into the band name Kill Hannah…
Mat: Well, she was just insane. It was just too much for me at that age to handle. It messed me up pretty severely. It was one of my first experiences with hating someone for the kind of power that they have over you. For someone to break you heart…instead of feeling sad I felt vengeful.
Anarchy: Was it also true that Hannah was a witch?
Mat: Yeah
Anarchy: Did she cast any spells? If so then they didn’t seem to work because you’re doing well.
Mat: She was the only weirdo in her high school and I think she cast spells on people who made fun of her. I think on her parents too.
Anarchy: Well, she’s got 2,000 people a night screaming “KILL HANNAH KILL HANNAH!”
Mat: (laughs) Which is what I wanted. I don’t feel that way anymore. It’s just a name that stuck.
Anarchy: Some of the bands that tread some of the same territory as you do seem to lack emotion, but your songs are very emotional. How do you tread that line between being emotional and also having those sort of techno aspects?
Mat: I don’t know. I guess whether there’s a sample, drum samples or programming, its just another color on the palette. It doesn’t define who we are. Usually the song starts with the emotion and then are constructed around that. Whatever tools we choose to use, it’s always to heighten the drama of the song.
Anarchy: Why does Dan sometimes call you Bones?
Mat: I think just because I’m real skinny, I guess.
Anarchy: There’s no story behind it?
Mat: He tried to originally call me Boner and I refused to let that stick.
Anarchy: “Boner”? There’s no Pam and Tommy Lee type video coming out is there?
Mat: (laughs) No, I think it would be great if it did. I don’t know. Maybe I should do that. We could use the publicity.
Anarchy: What’s the scoop on the Chicago Suicide Club? It must be hard to deal with that while touring and everything.
Mat: Yeah, that’s like a hobby for me. It’s a pet project for me. I’m focused on Kill Hannah all the time, and thankfully that’s a pet project that’s in the capable hands of other people right now. It’s more of a creative outlet for design and brainstorming for me outside of music. When I was in art school I was working on music at the same time I was working on films and working on paintings and sketches and stuff. Being in Kill Hannah I draw on all those things, but when we’re on tour for six months or so we play music every night. It’s just a creative outlet for me. Once in a while you’ve gotta switch gears.
Anarchy: Just to stay fresh.
Mat: Right, but never at the cost of any focus on the band though.
Anarchy: We interviewed ECW wrestler CM Punk on Halloween (which is right HERE ) and his backbreaker move has the same name as one of your EPs….Did he get that from you? Do you know him?
Mat: No, what was him name?
Anarchy: CM Punk, his move is called Welcome To Chicago, Mother Fucker
Mat: Shut up! Really?
Anarchy: He wrestles for ECW on Tuesday nights on the Sci-Fi channel
Mat: Do people know who he is?
Anarchy: Yeah, he’s getting to be a big star now. He’s not quite as famous as the rock or Stone Cold, but yeah, he’s pretty famous. I doubt that they let him use that name on TV, but that’s what he called it throughout his indy career. He’s from Chicago so I thought maybe you knew him.
Mat: No, that’s hilarious. Someone told me some female wrestler was going to use Lips Like Morphine as her entrance music.
Anarchy: Speaking of Chicago natives, I heard that you’ve heard some new Smashing Pumpkins songs.
Mat: Yeah, I heard two, and they were instrumentals. It was just Billy (Corgan) on guitar and Jimmy (Chamberlain) on drums. It was really, really good. If what I heard was any indication of where it’s going to go then it’s going to be an incredible record.
Anarchy: Cool.
Mat: We’ve been playing Cherub Rock on this tour too.
Anarchy: Yeah, Simay said that you played that! That’s awesome.
You’ve done a great job of spending time with fans and doing meet and greets. As you’ve gotten more popular, what do you do to keep that up?
Mat: It just takes longer. You pose for pictures for fans and sign stuff. We still do it, and we always will. It just takes longer to get through the crowd these days. Yes it’s harder, but we don’t really give ourselves the option. A lot of these fans have become friends and they do things for us. Every day we get a little food from somebody or a cool gift. Somebody just made us a huge Rice Krispies treat in the shape of our logo. Some fan gave us a plaque, like an award for being so cool to our fans. That just means so much.
Anarchy: You can’t eat that Rice Krispies treat can you? You’re going to keep that.
Mat: You know what, we’ll take a picture before we eat it!
Anarchy: That’s great that you haven’t lost that connection with your fans.
Mat: Especially now, as ridiculous as radio is and as unpredictable as record labels can be, your relationship with your fans is the most valuable thing you have.
Anarchy: Our resident Forum hottie Eva wants to know what’s going to happen to those old songs that never got a major release?
Mat: We’ll probably put it out on Itunes or something. We’re trying to figure it out. We could put it out on an Indie label. We own all of our back catalog, so it’s possible.
Anarchy: Good because you really do write A LOT! Do you just stay inspired all the time?
Mat: No, I do things in my life to fuck it up so that there’s usually something to write about.
Anarchy: Just unintentional blunders that end up as great songs huh?
Mat: I think that good songs come from interesting people, so I try to lead an interesting life. I try to take chances and seize the day. I don’t think our fans would be too intrigued by some guy who stays at home and watches American Idol or Desperate Housewives. It usually leads to my own peril, but good art is what matters the most to me.
Anarchy: It seems like after years of being the next big thing, it looks like the stars are finally aligning for you. What’s coming up on the road ahead?
Mat: We really want to figure out what the next single is will be and that’ll determine almost everything. It’ll determine who we tour with in the summer, what we push as a video and what outlets we choose to exploit. If it’s a pop song, for example the future’s going to be a little different than if we choose to go with a harder song. Or alternative. I know one thing, we’ll be touring forever. I have to go on our Myspace page to see where I’m going to be because I have no idea. People ask me what I’m doing in February and I’m like “I don’t know, let me go sign on and find out”.
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Thanks to Mat for checking in with us! For more info on Kill Hannah visit KillHannah.com and Kill Hannah on Myspace