Show Review: The Kills and The Paranoyds take Boston.
written and photographed by hunter astrid b.
more photos + rest of the gallery can be found here.
The Paranoyds -
The Paranoyds are a four piece based in Los Angeles and their bond is long and strong. Meeting in preschool, vocalist and pianist Laila Hashemi and vocalist and guitarist Lexi Funston have been practically sisters their whole lives; they met their other "sister" bassist and vocalist in ninth grade. After they had started to make music in a friend's laundry room, drummer David Ruiz joined in 2015.
Since 2019 they've released their albums Carnage Bargain in 2019 and Talk Talk Talk in 2022. They released an Audiotree Live album in 2023 as well as on EP titled I Liked It Here. Their music includes elements of vintage synthesizers, multilayered drum tracks, tongue-in-cheek lyrics, and more. Their lo-fi punk, R&B, and fuzz-pop influences are very prevalent in their music.
The girls in The Paranoyds are the type that if I knew them in my formative years I absolutely would want to be as cool as them. That being said at 23 seeing Staz Lindes come out on stage with a checkered skirt, a hoodie with a hood up banging out on a green bass, I thought she was the coolest person. Their music and sound really set the mood for the evening. They have playful songs that match well with their playful and spunky personalities. Their lights were bright and saturated and helped give an art/dreamy pop vibe. It was easy to get lost in their set and the atmosphere that they had created. As a Los Angeles born person, it's always refreshing to see LA based musicians in Boston and the sound and influences in their music brought me back to the feeling of sitting on Venice Beach. Their music has definitely now been added to my library.
MY FAVORITE SONG: “Girlfriend Degree” off of Carnage Bargain (2019)
The Kills -
Talking about looking up to someone at a formative age — The Kills. There's similarities in their sound to The White stripes, and my dad being a massive Stripes fan in the early 2000s only made it make sense that I would find The Kills when finding my own taste in music. Alison Mosshart was one of those people that I was astonished by as a kid — you could be someone as cool, talented and mysterious as her? Well, maybe not to the same level but technically, yes.
The Kills are an American-English band that was formed in 2001 by members Alison “VV” Mosshart and Jamie “Hotel” Hince. The duo met in 2000 when Alison Mosshart’s band Discount was touring England and a chance encounter brought them together; Jamie was staying in the flat upstairs of her and after intense persistence from Alison, they started to write together. After Discount disbanded in 2000, Alison moved to London to continue working with Jamie Hince. Before the two of them decided on The Kills (because it “sounded like a band that could exist in any decade”), the duo performed under “VV” and “Hotel,” nicknames from off the top of their heads as a "stupid romantic ode to the pop art scene."
The Kills started their music writing process by sending each other music ideas by tape recordings. They took those recordings and started using a drum machine; their debut release was the Black Rooster EP in May of 2002. The sound and style of the ep is a lo-fi and garage rock mix and like most of their music it takes inspiration from LCD Soundsystem, The Velvet Underground, Patti Smith and the like. Their sound can be described as a lo-fi take on garage and blues rock with indie rock elements. Their first studio album Keep on Your Mean Side was released through Toe Rag Studios in March of 2003 and due to the timing and the studio itself, they were very often compared to The White Stripes - The White Stripes, another rock duo, released their fourth studio album in Elephant in April of 2003 also through Toe Rag Studios.
Known for their antics and theatrics on stage that make them stand out in the music scene, “VV” is remembered for chainsmoking while singing in New York following the ban on public smoking. She had gone on stage with water and lit up a cigarette, smoking consistently from the first song until the last second of the show. Many of their songs have been featured in movies and tv shows like Peaky Blinders, The Good Wife, True Blood and more. Their most recent release was album God Games that was released at the end of October in 2023 and features songs "New York” and “103.”
The second Alison and Jamie took the stage, you could tell how much they wanted to be there and to be performing. Their energy and joy was extremely contagious. The duo started their set by taking the first five seconds of their song “Kissy Kissy" off of Keep On Your Mean Side and had it looped in the background as they walked out on stage for their set. The droning effect the loop made gave a feeling of tension in the air, but not a dreadful tension but one of excitement and anticipation. Even after two decades of being a band their new music is extremely strong, layered, and distinct in their style. Their show showed off their sheer talent as musicians and that all of their music from the 2000s still most definitely holds up.
Although their meeting was one of chance, I'm so incredibly glad that the universe lined up for them to meet. They were born to make music together, and you can tell the two of them just like each other’s company. It was extremely warming to see the two of them sharing looks with smiles plastered across their faces throughout their entire set. I'm so grateful that I got to experience seeing them live.
MY FAVORITE SONG: “New York” off of God Games (2023)
