Kiss Me Deadly brings Midd to life Montreal quartet joins The Easy Answers to rock out

Author: Melissa Marshall

Emily Elizabeth, the gender-bending lead singer of Kiss Me Deadly, had the audience chanting "We are all alone" at the end of their show last Friday night. However, no one was alone in the sweltering Coltrane Lounge where music lovers and intoxicated undergraduates, looking to shake off their stress through music and dance, filled the small social space.

Even if the crowd did somewhat thin after student band The Easy Answer's surprisingly stellar performance, the energized audience was in grand company throughout the entire show. The Easy Answers, comprised of Perry Blackshear '05, Jay Harbison '05, JJ Hurvich '08.5, Lucas Kavner '06.5 and Duncan Cooper '06, started the night off well. Their mix of strong riffs and captivating vocals had the audience enthralled and bopping in turns.

An obvious crowd favorite was their cover of The Arcade Fire's "Rebellion (Lies)," a track off of the Montreal band's debut album "Funeral" which enjoyed great popularity on college radio since its release in 2004. Emily Temple '08.5 said of the opening act, "They're an awesome student band, and they know what songs to play to please the crowd."

What the feature band lacked in conventionally crowd-pleasing tunes, they made up for in stage presence. The Montreal based quartet, comprised of Emily Elizabeth (vocals and guitar), Adam Poulin (guitar and vocals), Mathieu de Montier (bass and vocals) and Erik Peterson (drums), had a noticeable connection with each other - maybe due to the fact Elizabeth and Poulin used to be high school sweethearts - and with the audience. Elizabeth joked with the crowd, explaining her orange, skin-tight outfit as an attempt to win a costume contest and even invited a student up on stage to sing with her. While still professional, they exhibited the inherent, unpretentious grunginess that comes from the fresh memory of having to practice in laundry rooms - as could be seen when Elizabeth climbed to the top of a speaker and leaped back onto the stage.

Not all was fun and games as early sound problems, including massive feedback and an inability to hear Elizabeth's haunting vocals, plagued the band all through their set. However, not everyone in the audience was overly pleased to have Elizabeth's microphone turned back on, especially when she would go into high-pitched screaming fits at the end of numbers.

Amanda Kleinman '09 said, "I didn't think Kiss Me Deadly performed particularly innovative music, and they didn't showcase any range of songs. The musicians, particularly the vocalist, relied heavily on their volume. It was hard to recognize the talent of each performer or to enjoy the music. Each performer played (or sang) so loudly that my ears hurt, and I had a lot of difficulty trying to decipher the melodies or the lyrics." Thomas Carroll, a visiting student from Occidental College in Los Angeles, agreed that "the vocals were definitely hit or miss," but added that "they had killer stage presence."

Critics compare the band, which was named after a 1955 film noir, to such acts as Echo and the Bunnymen, The Sugarcubes, and Sonic Youth, while Elizabeth claims such influences as Kim Deal, Kate Bush, and Madonna's "The Immaculate Collection."

But Kiss Me Deadly certainly has a sound all their own. When asked what they would like to accomplish in the music industry, Elizabeth answered, "world domination," without hesitation. Guitarist Poulin added, "Have you ever seen 'Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure,' and the only way the world could communicate was through music? That's what I want to do. I want to communicate through my music."

Communication may have been an issue on Friday night, whether it was faulty mikes or incoherent vocals, but Elizabeth summed the experience up correctly when she asked the audience to "get out of their heads and into their hearts." Music is meant to be felt and not understood-and by looking at the contorted expression on Elizabeth's face as she screamed/sung through the set, the audience was forced to feel. When asked for closing remarks, Peterson lightheartedly added, "play hard and have fun." Well, the band played hard, and the concert-goers had fun.