MishMash Magazine was welcomed into a quaint North Hollywood apartment for a sit-down with the L.A. punk band, Killola. Huddled around a faded, square coffee table, which would soon become littered with a steadily increasing number of beer cans as the interview progressed, we let the digital recorder roll for a two hour free-for-all covering not only the band’s history, future and the ingenuity of their fans, but we also learned a thing or two about random free deliveries of El Pollo Loco, a drinking game called “Flippy Cup” and the remarkable achievement of R. Kelly’s tour de force, Trapped In the Closet.
The all-over-the-map vibe was set in high-spirited stone by the fact that everybody was gearing up for frontwoman, Lisa Rieffel’s, birthday bash following the interview. The party would be a brief respite from the constantly evolving self-promotion for which Killola is becoming known. The reprieve, however, would ultimately be short-lived as plans quickly called for a webcam of the event so as to let the fans in on the celebration.
“We’re relentless. We live, breathe, sleep, bleed Killola,” Rieffel would remark as the group outlined their agenda for what would seem like an all-media blitz of world domination.
You name it, Killola’s doing it. Website? Check. MySpace page (updated daily)? Check. Albums, videos, promotional art, webcast? Check, check… yeah, you get the point. The list goes on. Relentless doesn’t even begin to describe their determination.
So who or what is Killola?
If you listen to bassist, Johnny Dunn, it has something to do with farming. If you ask the band as a whole and they’ll tell you Killola was a group of friends singing, hanging out and riffing off each other until the senses-numbing hours of the early morning. Guitarist Mike Ball and Rieffel were the original instigators, but it wasn’t until Rieffel suggested to the group of friends, since they do it all the time, they make it official.
Convincing drummer Dan Grody wasn’t as easy.
“But I don’t want to be in a band with a girl,” the man would say in his best mock-whine, but the others are quick to point out the tenacity of Rieffel can be quite convincing. If you’ve seen Rieffel onstage, you’d know the New Jersey bred starlet could woo you into complacency one second and just as quick, hock a jag into your eye the next.
Killola
“Lisa’s not your typical girl . . . and as soon as I walked in that door…” The holdouts never stood a chance. And with the addition of Johnny, the band had their first unofficial gig two weeks later. From that point on, you could say the individuals of the band ceased to be. They were now Killola and that camaraderie was never more apparent than in the band’s collaborative techniques towards songwriting.
“We get into a room and just do what feels right,” Rieffel states with no vanity, no jealousy or self-aggrandizing her role, although the boys credit her with whipping out the lyrics. “I love making records and having them unfold themselves to you.”
In regards to the almost socialistic form of creativity in the studio, Johnny calls it, “An utter cacophony of noise.”
Of course, with their process, that beautiful noise (thank you Neil Diamond) would quickly be winnowed down to the latest bit of music with no ego clashes, no time wasted and as Mike Ball puts it, no whiny “I wrote that song! This is my band!”
With a lot of bands, once the egos begin to inflate, you’ll see an implosion after the release of a debut album, but with Killola, that energy is folded right back into the group and to say “it shows” would be an understatement. With no one vying for absolute control and everyone having a say, Killola has kicked open the door and thrown into the world their style of ethereal melodies with a guttural twist. In the short time they’ve been together they’ve even garnered accolades from heavy hitters such as Dave Navarro and his SpreadRadioLive by becoming the first Indie Artist of the Month. Needless to say, the response has been phenomenal, a sold-out album (the debut Louder! Louder!), the aforementioned DVD (produced by the always outstanding Baked Good Productions team) and finally the upcoming I am the Messer.
So what kind of audio kick-to-the-head can fans expect with their latest album? As of this interview, the band was still writing for the follow-up, however Rieffel assured us, if anything, the soul of the album would be open to everybody, no matter how raw, painful or explosive the emotions it may elicit.
“Music for me is so healing and going through so much crap over the last few months, I just hope it can help people,” Rieffel notes. With emails and fan letters running the gamut of emotion, it’s no wonder a band that fits so well together wants to extend that collaborative experience to the fans. And as Rieffel puts it, “Hopefully we’ll be able to give some people a light at the end of the tunnel.”
“And some fun,” Mike points out.
“Fuck yeah!” The birthday girl retorts.
So if you happened to catch Louder! Louder! you’ll know what to expect with I am the Messer, which by the band’s standards, is a good thing.
“I think people try to quantify the number,” Johnny goes on to explain the formulaic by-the-numbers approach the industry equates to the artistry of the first, second and third album. “I think we’re just trying to do the same thing we did the last time . . . write killer songs and have fun.”
It’s a pretty profound statement coming from a man who admits to having never set foot inside a studio prior to their first album. A statement which goes on to reveal the playful atmosphere the band embraces.
“If the guys were going to punk me at the first recording session, they could’ve been like, Okay, Johnny, get on the roof now. And I would’ve been like, oh alright.” Rumor has it, the higher you get the better the sound.
“I wish I’d known that,” Rieffel kicks herself at the lost opportunity.
And knowing the band, they probably would have filmed it.
Killola
It’s that willingness to open everything about their lives and put it all out there for the fans to embrace, refuse and even ridicule that sets them apart from most others. In an era where your audience demands so much more than a page of CD liner notes, Killola isn’t content to sit back and wait for permission to send you info, their approach is to grab you by the collar and drag you into embracing their world. But with the band hitting everything from downloads to video, webchats to terrestrial radio and even a print campaign that taps into everything from 70′s-style showbooks to the “re-sampling” of artistic promos (a shout-out goes to Gnarls Barkley on that one), is there a fear of creative burn-out? A worry of constantly trying to keep the fans inundated with new content?
Rieffel puts it best, “I don’t know what we would do otherwise.”
When the band is not thinking of ways to further their presence out there in the ether, they’re hitting the So-Cal scene for what they refer to as their strongest point. The live show. Rieffel notes it’s the energy of their live performance that prompted them to create the DVD, Live in Hollywood. The band views the event as not only a great bit of recorded history for those who were there, but also to the people in Texas or Australia or anywhere else Killola hasn’t been able to hit with a live show. In the short term, the fans will have the DVD, however the reality of seeing them live throughout the U.S. is moving closer through plans for SXSW and an increasing number of one-off shows. And when everything from touring to merchandise is coming out of your own pocket, you want to make sure the end product is of the best quality.
“If anybody ever says you need money to start a band, tell ‘em to look under Killola,” the bassist is quick to point out.
“Also filed under broke,” Rieffel adds.
It is a statement which also makes the band’s idea for random free food deliveries all the more appealing. That’s right, at one point in the evening, after what was seemingly an out of the blue visit by El Pollo Loco, the talk turned to how great the world would be if there was a food lottery . . . Picture this, it’s a night just like any other. There’s a knock at the door . . . Domino’s Lottery!
“Turn off that stove, we’re not cooking tonight!” Mike Ball shouts in what they would anticipate would be a moment of pure excitement. Truly, for one evening and one family anyway, the world would be a better place. Unless of course, you didn’t like El Pollo Loco.
So aside from bringing the world together through music and the random free meal, what does Killola do in their downtime? Or should we say, what does Killola do in those two-to-three minute breaks when they’re not spreading the word?
Enter R. Kelly’s Trapped in the Closet.
Seriously?
“First time I saw it, I was like, this is a joke,” Johnny goes on to explain. “Eight minutes in I couldn’t believe someone would seriously put this together as a piece of music . . . Fifteen minutes in I was like, that is a remarkable achievement . . . I was done, he resolved everything, there was a character arc for everyone.”
You may laugh, but if you haven’t experienced the stream of conscience R & B masterpiece, do yourself a favor. It, along with any drinking game you devise for the event, will quickly become a party favorite.
And as the interview wound down with the first appearance of what would be a healthy number of guests for the birthday bash and as thoughts and action turned to the revelry of an alcohol-induced Guitar Hero tournament, we questioned what was on the horizon for the band? Along with the new album, a steadily increasing number of local shows and the never-ending onslaught of updates and downloads, the question we should have really asked was: what’s NOT on the horizon?
Wait, we never answered why IS this called “Tea Time with Killola?” Sadly, you’re going to have to wait until their UK tour for the answer to that one.
Coming this summer.
And that, my friends, if you’re a fan of Trapped in the Closet, is what’s called a cliffhanger.
For music downloads, videos, photos and everything else Killola, visit killola.com and myspace.com/killola.
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