Leeds/London duo Kamikaze Girls – guitarist Lucinda Livingstone and drummer Conor Dawson – release their debut EP ‘Sad’ later this week, on Friday 2nd September through Bearded Punk Records (UK/EU) and Wiretap Records (US) (pre-order at itsokaytobesad.com). Want to know what to expect? Brew yourself a coffee, as Lucinda talks us through the release, track by track.
1. Hexes
‘Hexes’ is a song we wrote about psychosis. It was something I struggled with for a while and it was triggered by depression. It was mainly the delusions that I had an issue with, believing that things that were obviously untrue were rationally true. For a lot of people, myself included, it comes in episodes and the music reflects that in a way. It’s very up and down, and eventually calms before kicking off again. Despite the sombre subject matter it’s a fun one to play live.
2. Stitches
‘Stitches’ is probably one of the more lighter songs to listen to on the record. It was actually the first ever song we wrote as a two-piece. It’s about anxiety towards settling down, packing up and moving away to live a little more freely. It’s been a year since we wrote it and I (Lucinda) went from being super settled in a relationship, living in the same place and working a 9-5 job to currently having no constant place to live, no job and just playing music and it was 100% the right thing for me. I guess the ‘Stitches’ part could be anything. It could be a good feeling or a bad one towards either aspect.
3. I Hate Funerals
We wrote this after the two of us both went to funerals within a couple of days of each other. It was written about when you’re stood outside before and after the service. The awkward small talk with people you may or may not know. Not knowing how to act, where to look, or what to say. Conor and myself can be quite socially awkward at the best of times, and putting us in an environment like this terrifies us. The ‘I hate everyone’ is us sort of throwing our hands up and saying ‘I want to be away from this, I don’t feel comfortable, but I want to pay my respects’ in short form. We played it in Birmingham once at a festival and the second I sung that line I saw a guy in the front shake his head and leave. It’s not an insult, we’re just useless in social situations, promise.
4. Ladyfuzz
‘Ladyfuzz’ was a nickname given to me by Conor and our old guitarist Andy because of my love for fuzz pedals. We have so many ridiculous private jokes as a band and they soon made a whole character / alter ego for me. The song is about an overdose, and I found it something very hard to write about at first. I used this stupid alter ego and wrote the lyrics as if this ridiculous character the guys has made for me was going to pull me out of the whole thing and rescue me, a little like a super hero. I feel like this doesn’t actually make sense when I write it down but this song played a small part in helping me get through a very strange time. When I recorded the vocals with Bob Cooper I had a bit of a melt-down in the booth and got a little embarrassed about it all, but I’m glad it’s done and out there now.
5. Black Coffee
Coffee is what this band runs on. I’m not sure there’s much else in us these days. This track is about an addiction; not necessarily to coffee, to anything. It consumes you. Conor and myself have so much fun playing this live. Sometimes it goes on for three minutes sometimes for 15. All of the extra noises in here I love on the record. After we recorded it I went into the live room and made as many ridiculous horrible noises with my guitar and pedals as I could over the whole track, every-time we play it live we’ll build up a huge wall of sound and it sounds different every show.
Kamikaze Girls’ EP ‘Sad’ is out 2nd September. They play Leeds’ Key Club on the 24th.