[Editor's note: This video interview previews Kill County's album release show, this Friday, April 5 at The Sydney in Omaha. Electric Chamber Music and Outlaw Con Bandana open the concert starting at 9 p.m. Cover is $5. RSVP here.]
Amid cat skulls, scorpion skeletons and air plants that grow without soil, Kill County's Ringo and Josh James are right at home in the Hunter Gatherer gift shop in the northeast corner of the Parrish Project in downtown Lincoln. After all, their brand of stark, rustic indie folk is as melancholy as it is hopeful — it reflects upon death as much as it celebrates life — and the two songwriters are well akin to picking up and transplanting their roots. (Ringo lives near Ann Arbor, Mich., while James now claims Austin as his home.)
When Hear Nebraska spoke with the two in October, during their last return to the state, they were in the midst of one of their nontraditional mini tours — meeting their fellow band members to practice and squeeze as many shows as possible into their respective vacation time. Their new album, Dust in Wire, was recorded, but hadn't yet been funded through Kickstarter or produced. And the album art hadn't yet been created by sometime Kill County drummer and Doe Eyed designer Eric Nyffeler.
At the time, their original drummer, Brad Kindler, was in Malawi serving in the Peace Corps. But Brad is back — for a bit — and the new record is on pure-white vinyl and will be in hand when the band plays two shows this weekend.
Ringo and Josh spoke with Hear Nebraska about how they make the band work remotely, what's different about their new album and what "Nebraska music" means to them in this video interview.
Video production:? Angie Norman and Andrew Norman
Video editing: ?Andrew Norman
Songs: "Shitty Truck," "The Train, the Drink and the Dawn" and "Southwind" by Kill County.
Additional footage used with permission from LoveDrunkStudio.com, and Sam Palmer of Music Crossroads.
Andrew Norman is Hear Nebraska's director. Only during editing did he realize that Josh is framed perfectly under a pair of antlers during much of the video. Contact him at andrewn@hearnebraska.org.