''Civilian'' is the debut album by Boy Kill Boy. It was released on 22 May 2006 and reached number 16 in the

UK Album Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

Background and production

Vocalist and guitarist Chris Peck spent three years playing in a

post-Britpop Post-Britpop is an alternative rock subgenre and is the period in the late 1990s and early 2000s, following Britpop, when the media were identifying a "new generation" or "second wave" of guitar bands influenced by acts like Oasis and Blur, but ...

band with his schoolfriend drummer Shaz Mahmood. After a few months of downtime, the pair formed Boy Kill Boy in 2004. The band, now with the addition of keyboardist Pete Carr, added bassist Kevin Chase to the line-up after meeting him at a house party. A month afterwards, the band were due to support another band in London; however, the show was cancelled, and was followed-up by another support slot, this time for

Hard-Fi Hard-Fi are an English indie rock band, formed in 2003 in Staines-upon-Thames, Surrey. The band's most recent lineup before going on hiatus consisted of Richard Archer ( lead vocals and guitar), Kai Stephens (bass guitar and backing vocals) an ...

, the week after. "Suzie", backed with "Last of the Great", was released as a single on 16 May 2005, through

Fierce Panda Records Fierce Panda Records is a London-based independent record label, with its first release in February 1994. It also produced a small number of releases that year by now famous artists such as Ash, The Bluetones, Baby Bird and Supergrass. Fierc ...

. Shortly after this, the band signed to

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...

, and toured throughout the rest of the year. "Civil Sin" was released as a single on 19 September 2005. ''Civilian'' was recorded

Sawmills Studios Sawmills Studios, founded in 1974 by record producer Tony Cox, is a recording studio near Golant on the banks of the River Fowey in Cornwall. The studio building is located on its own tidal creek on the banks of the Fowey. Sawmills was one ...

with producer

John Cornfield John Richard Cornfield (born 10 December 1958 in Epsom, Surrey) is a British record producer and sound engineer. He has been working from Sawmills Studios in Cornwall since 1982. Discography As sound engineer or sound assistant * The Dukes of S ...

, who later mixed the recordings at Landsdowne Recording Studios.

Composition

Musically, the sound of ''Civilian'' has been described as

dance-punk Dance-punk (also known as disco-punk, punk-funk or techno-punk) is a post-punk subgenre that emerged in the late 1970s, and is closely associated with the disco, post-disco and new wave movements.Rip It Up and Start Again: Post Punk 1978-1984 ...

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

, and synth-rock, with influences from new wave, drawing comparison to

the Killers The Killers are an American rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingd ...

, and

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...

. The opening punk rock track, "Back Again", sets the pace of the album, with an

up-tempo A variety of musical terms are likely to be encountered in printed scores, music reviews, and program notes. Most of the terms are Italian, in accordance with the Italian origins of many European musical conventions. Sometimes, the special mus ...

guitar riff and synthesizers, and is followed by the

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s ...

song "On and On". "Suzie" recalled " Seaside" (2004) by

the Ordinary Boys The Ordinary Boys are an English indie rock band from Worthing, West Sussex. Originally a hardcore outfit named Next in Line, they are influenced by punk rock and Britpop music, as well as the bands the Clash, the Specials, the Jam, the Kinks ...

, and is followed by the

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...

song "Six Minutes". "Ivy Parker" is a ballad that was reminiscent of " All These Things That I've Done" (2004) by

The Smiths The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. They comprised the singer Morrissey, the guitarist Johnny Marr, the bassist Andy Rourke and the drummer Mike Joyce. They are regarded as one of the most important acts to emerg ...

-indebted "Civil Sin" has a chorus section in the style of ''

Good Mourning ''Good Mourning'' is the fourth studio album by American punk rock band Alkaline Trio, released May 13, 2003 on Vagrant Records. Background and production Towards the end of May 2002, the band recorded their next album; they "decided that wait ...

'' (2003)-era

Alkaline Trio Alkaline Trio is an American punk rock band from Chicago, Illinois. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Matt Skiba (vocals, guitar), Dan Andriano (vocals, bass) and Derek Grant (drums, vocals). Founded in late 1996 by Skiba, bassist Rob Do ...

, and the

goth punk Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie an ...

My Chemical Romance My Chemical Romance (commonly abbreviated to MCR or My Chem) is an American rock band from Newark, New Jersey. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist Gerard Way, lead guitarist Ray Toro, rhythm guitarist Frank Iero, and bassist Mi ...

. "Friday – Friday" details violence in a small town, and features a pseudo-

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

drum pattern. "Shoot Me Down" is a ballad with a sparse arrangement, done in the vein of

Morrissey Steven Patrick Morrissey (; born 22 May 1959), known professionally as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. Since then ...

and

Simple Minds Simple Minds are a Scottish rock band formed in Glasgow in 1977. They have released a string of hit singles, becoming best known internationally for "Don't You (Forget About Me)" (1985), which topped the '' Billboard'' Hot 100 in the United St ...

; the album ends with the

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

-esque "Exit".

Release

"Back Again" was released as a single on 13 February 2006; the CD version included "Cheaper". Two versions were released on vinyl: The first included "Number One", while the second featured "In Disgrace". In March 2006, the band performed at the entertainment conference

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

in the United States. ''Civilian'' was released on 22 May 2006. "Suzie" was released as a single on 17 July 2006. Two versions were released on CD: The first featured "It's Different for Girls" as an extra track, while the second featured "Orphan" and a live version of "Six Minutes" as extra tracks. The vinyl version included "Last of the Great"; in Europe, "Suzie" was released as the EP ''Suzie EP'', which also featured "It's Different for Girls", "Last of the Great", the Fallout recording of "Civil Sin", and the Fierce Panda version of "Suzie". ''Civilian'' was released in the US in on 25 July 2006. "Civil Sin" was released as a single on 31 July 2006. Two versions were released on CD: The first included "Look Away", while the other featured "See Saw" and "Catch". In August 2006, they appeared at the

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991 but several years later made Chicago the permanent location for the annual music festival. Musi ...

festival. "Shoot Me Down" was released as a single on 6 November 2006; the CD version included a live version of "Maneater". Two versions were released on vinyl: The first included "Repair", while the other featured "Dukes of John Moon".

Reception

''Civilian'' was met with mixed reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

Track listing

All songs written by Boy Kill Boy. #"Back Again" – 3:06 #"On and On" – 3:48 #"Suzie" – 3:19 #"Six Minutes" – 4:17 #"On My Own" – 3:26 #"Ivy Parker" – 4:12 #"Civil Sin" – 3:55 #"Killer" – 3:11 #"Friday – Friday" – 2:03 #"Showdown" – 3:36 #"Shoot Me Down" – 10:16 (includes

hidden track In the field of recorded music, a hidden track (sometimes called a ghost track, secret track or unlisted track) is a song or a piece of audio that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, LP record, or other recorded medium, in such a way as t ...

"Exit", which starts at 5:37)

Personnel

Personnel per booklet. Boy Kill Boy * Chris Pack – vocals, guitar * Kevin Chase – bass * Peter Carr – keyboards * Shaz Mahmood – drums Production and design * John Cornfield – producer, mixing * Big Active – art direction * Markus Karlsson – design * Carina Jirsch – band photo

References

{{Authority control 2006 albums Boy Kill Boy albums Albums produced by John Cornfield Vertigo Records albums