Kissers and Killers

Description

Kissers and Killers is an eight-track mini-album by the American alternative rock band The Choir, independently released by the band in 1993. This is the last album that the band would record in California, before band members Derri Daugherty, Steve Hindalong and Dan Michaels decided to uproot their families and move across the country to Nashville, Tennessee in the latter part of 1993. All of the songs on this album were either re-recorded or remixed for release as part of the band’s next studio album Speckled Bird, with the exception of “Let the Sky Fall,” a track featuring Mark Heard on accordion (a song that was originally recorded for the Circle Slide album but didn’t quite fit the vibe).

The band later recorded and released Kissers and Killers: The Acoustic Sessions featuring all new acoustic versions of each song.

Kissers and Killers was our last album recorded in Los Angeles before we moved to Nashville. It was a turbulent time for The Choir. No longer signed to a record label, we produced and financed this project on our own. Originally, our intent was to shop these songs for a mainstream record deal; but we printed up a limited amount of CDs and cassettes to sell while we toured, mainly playing clubs around town. [The Choir]

Kissers and Killers started out as a demo to be shopped chiefly to mainstream labels, then became a souvenir of the band’s spring tour; now it’s decided to make it available to the general public. With eight songs clocking in at 32 minutes, this is more than an EP and less than an album; it’s a transitional work, probably more indicative of where the band is headed than where it is at the moment. Since its 1990 album, Circle Slide, the band has started its own record company (which is unfortunately in suspended animation at the moment); guitarist/vocalist Derri Daugherty, drummer Steve Hindalong and sax/lyricon man Dan Michaels have moved lock, stock and studio to Nashville, more victims of California’s distance from of the rest of the industry. That upheaval has probably led to mood swing on the new record, which contains no extended pieces like «Circle Slide» and «Restore My Soul» or folk/rock numbers such as «Merciful Eyes» and «About Love».

Don’t let the “demo” designation throw you; these are fully realized songs, as good as any the band sneaks up on you, led by Daugherty’s late ’60s period psychedelic guitar figures; on most of the tracks, Daugherty’s distortion-soaked guitar is right in your face, a counterpoint to his mellow voice. The runaway title tune and Neil Young-influenced «Weather Girl» are about as close to hard rock as anything The Choir has ever played. But there are subtleties to be enjoyed as well; the delicate wordplay of «Grace» and the Mark Heard‘s accordion flourishes on «Let the Sky Fall». Please guys, don’t make us wait three more years for stuff this good! Order directly from The Choir (CDs $ 15, cassettes $ 10), 711 Fair Oaks Ave. Ste. 176, South Pasadena, CA 91030. [Bruce A. Brown, CCM, August 1993]

> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/25-year-anniversary-remaster/1519130917)

CD tracklist:

01. Gripped – 4:25
02. Amazing – 3:49
03. Kissers And Killers – 3:00
04. Weather Girl – 6:00
05. Yellow Skies – 3:54
06. Grace – 3:13
07. Let The Sky Fall – 3:32
08. Love Your Mind – 5:12

Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD. Only 6300 CD copies were ever pressed. Later re-issued as Kissers and Killers: 25 Year Anniversary Remaster on both CD and 12-inch vinyl LP. Note: Available at Bandcamp: https://thechoir1.bandcamp.com/album/kissers-and-killers-25-year-anniversary-remaster-acoustic-sessions

The Choir: (L-R) Dan Michaels, Derri Daugherty, Steve Hindalong, Tim Chandler.