We’ve been following the progress of Italian post punk dark wave outfit Kill Your Boyfriend with interest for some while now here at Say Psych and with the release of their second album Killadelica just past, we decided it was time we caught up with them to see how their story has developed.
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Thanks for speaking with me again guys, its been a while! We last spoke to you in December 2017 after you had released ‘Ulrich’ (read here), can you tell us a bit about what you have been up to in the in between period?
It’s really nice to talk to you again. There are many things to tell in recent years. We can start from the end: recently, on November 6th to be precise, we released a new album Killadelica, one of our best works. It has been published by Sister9 Recordings (UK), Little Cloud Records (US) and Shyrec (IT) which we want to thank. In the meantime between Killadelica and the last time we talked, we played a lot around Europe and finally in the UK too. In December 2019 we released the first single of Killadelica, Elizabeth on Depths Records (UK), a limited edition 7″ red vinyl that includes a wonderful remix of Danny Christ, the guitarist of Preoccupation (ex Viet-Cong).
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Killadelica has all female names for tracks, which we understand to be the names of killers; was there a particular selection process you went through to choose the names? There are obviously many more female killers than those listed…
It was really difficult to choose the names. As you said, there are a lot of killer women. We started studying all the stories we found and decided to keep the ones that gave us strong feelings. So, among those chosen, we ignored similar stories. We want to emphasize that our intentions are not to show these crimes in a positive way but we want to describe the madness and “stormy” feelings that prompted these women to commit murder. In conclusion we also want to say that not all ladies are “real” murderers; some have been taken from mythological poems, comics and novels.
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Do you each have a favourite ‘killer’ from the album and if so, is this reflected in the song?
Matteo: I love all the songs on the album but if I have to choose one as a favorite it’s probably Belle. Belle (Gunness) is clearly a reflection of modern society always looking for riches. He killed over 40 men just to steal their money. Speaking of the song, her mood changes in the meantime, starting with a chilling soundscape and ending with a wall of percussive sounds to explain Belle’s metamorphosis. It is probably the “lightest” song on the album.
Tony: Repeating what we wrote earlier, our goal is not to give these killers a good point of view. Starting from this, I can honestly say that my favourite is Agave. It was taken from the ancient mythological story of the Bacchantes, something I loved studying during my time at the University. The cover of Killadelica is based on the Pompeii mural “Agave with the Bacchantes kills her son Pentheus” in the House of the Vettii. Like the story, I like that the song is so hard and intense that it tries to show the feelings of a mother who went mad by murdering her beloved son.
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COVID-19 has hit musicians really hard worldwide, have you been able to keep productive in the absence of being able to play live?
Honestly, this second wave is more difficult both physically and mentally but luckily we have a lot of inspiration. We are working on new things but not only for this project. So we are trying to keep our minds busy, hoping this “dark” period will soon end. We really miss playing live.
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What else have you been listening too (new or old)? Who can you recommend to BSM readers?
Matteo: Speaking of new listenings, I love the new Spectres album, It’s never going to happen and this is why … I suggest you give a spin.
Tony: In this last period I have often listened to the records of Snapped Ankles, a band that I discovered during the last tour in the UK but I would like to recommend to BSM readers an old Italian punk band called CCCP … one of my first loves since childhood.
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Obviously understanding the current situation, what’s next for KYB? Are you planning on releasing any more material?
We are currently making a new video for a new single from “Killadelica”. We are also working on a new EP on dead Rock’n’Roll singers but we can’t say more or we have to kill you …
