The members of bi-costal trio Killer Hill have a number of recognisable and varied names in their prior history and present day band-dude-ology associations. Guitarist/vocalist Dan Beeman plays in Helmet alongside bassist Dave Case, who has split his time in brutal death metal crushers Afterbirth since the early ‘90s. Drummer (and Dan’s brother) Pete Beeman once pounded the skins in AmRep-approved noise rock miscreants Guzzard and used to be in Burning Brides who, during their heyday, would often find themselves sharing stages with Audioslave, A Perfect Circle, Mastodon, the Eagles of Death Metal, Peaches and/or performing in front of the cameras and live studio audience at Late Night with Conan O’Brien’s.
Now, I’m not saying you should dismiss all of the above in favour of diving deep into the trio’s latest project, Killer Hill and their new EP, Frozen Head, but if you like the sounds of noise rock, alt-rock and thrash metal colliding over a *ahem* black hole sun, then you should definitely forget about all of their priors for a little while and dive deep into Frozen Head.
Set for release tomorrow by the band itself, Frozen Head plays out as described above with the music emotionally gravitating between a bouncy playful noisy-ness, innate and furious metallic fire, and touches of moroseness that latcheonto Soundgarden’s more pensive moments. But why not hear for yourself via the stream of the EP we’ve provided for you this morning?
We asked the band for a bit of insight into the recording process and the background to some of their songs and Dan Beeman provided the details:
“The Frozen Head EP was recorded in two sessions. The first session, we did ‘Trash,’ ‘Frozen Head’ and ‘Laser Head Removal’ all of which we rehearsed extensively and were completely dialed in before we started tracking. Pete and I tracked everything in Los Angeles then Dave did his bass tracking in New York, but we had all played the songs together prior. Then, I did my vocals and some guitar overdubs.
“The second session, we did ‘Bent,’ ‘Bullshit Mountain’ and ‘Re Entry.’ These songs came together really quickly and we actually never played them together as a group. So, we did the tracking again in Los Angeles, but it was after the studio underwent renovations, so it sounded just a little bit different. Dave again did his bass tracking in New York, but this time I had to teach him the songs over video chatting and talking on the phone. So, we decided to put session one on side A and session two on side B, which is how it will be on the vinyl, and also we just thought the songs flowed well in that order. Try to notice how songs 1-3 and 4-6 sound different, if you can. Here’s a track-by-track breakdown of the EP:
“‘Trash’ is a thrashy metal song that you might think is about traditional heavy metal themes of death or a serial killer or whatever, but we feel that those themes have been overdone and are boring. So, this song I wrote about gardening. Specifically, the battle between gardener and typical garden pests, written in a way that you wouldn’t know that. It’s a subject I know about, since I’m into gardening. So, something different.
“The title track, ‘Frozen Head’ is about a meth head who lives in my neighborhood. Every now and then this guy goes on a drug bender and does something spectacular that ends with him being hauled away by the cops. I sort of wrote from his perspective, a person in their most manic, drug-fueled moment. I’ve heard of meth being called ‘ice,’ so I thought that someone who snorts ‘ice’ would then have a Frozen Head. That’s how I got the title, and I just like how it sounds.
“‘Laser Head Removal’ is an instrumental.
“‘Bent’ is sort of a narrative of a pickup truck I saw that was driving down the road but looked like it was going sideways, due to having a bent frame. It probably was in an accident but still worked enough to drive. I wrote from the truck’s perspective, as if I was the one who was all bent but still moving forward –– as we do, overcoming damage.
“‘Bullshit Mountain’ is about the amazing amount of bullshit we see when trying to find out what’s going on around us. People who are completely full of shit but spout nonsense via social media or whatever. The proliferation of ignorance, I suppose, which has gotten very out of hand. I’m making fun of ‘virtue signaling’ and the herd mentality that’s going on, but I’m making fun of all sides, every angle, not picking a side or an ideology. It was also partially inspired by an actual person I used to know who embodied this type of culture and was eventually cancelled by the very people who he sucked up to for attention. The angry internet mob ruined this person in amazing, public fashion.
“‘Re Entry’ is a stream-of-conscious-style song, about re-entering the world after the lockdown and insanity we’ve endured over the last couple years, and also about some social absurdities I’ve noticed that I like to make fun of.”
For copies, ordering and info:
*pic courtesy of Killer Hill
