Kill Matilda is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

female-fronted, four-piece

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 Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

/ punk/

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

musical group formed in 2009 in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

.Amery, Richard
"Kill Matilda Bring Female-Powered Rock"
''L.A. Beat'', 5 September 2010Peebles, Frank
"From Burns Lake With A Bullet"
''

The Prince George Citizen The ''Prince George Citizen'' is a weekly newspaper located in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada. It is owned by Glacier Media. In addition to Prince George, the ''Citizen'' also covers the outlying communities of Fort St. James, Fraser ...

'', Prince George, 4 March 2010. Retrieved 2011-02-13. The group was recognized for its unique, loud and energetic live stage performancesArgento, Evi
"The Sexy Bitches of Kill matilda"
"Yell Magazine", January 2010 and an ability to engage with fans during live shows. The band has established themselves through their use of horror punk imagery and zombie-related themes Kill Matilda is fronted by Dusty Exner. Exner's singing and screaming were noted in reviews and her personality was described as "enchanting",Nara A
"Live Review: NEARLY FAMOUS MUSIC FESTIVAL - Ready Rabbit and Jones Bones with the Fight United and Kill Matilda"
"Abort Magazine", 15 November 2008 akin to a " punky snarl",
and "like Joan Jett on

steroids A steroid is a biologically active organic compound with four rings arranged in a specific molecular configuration. Steroids have two principal biological functions: as important components of cell membranes that alter membrane fluidity; and a ...

". Exner, originally of

Burns Lake Burns Lake is a rural village in the North-western-Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada, incorporated in 1923. The village had a population of 1,779 as of the 2016 Census. The village is known for its rich First Nations heritage, and ...

and Prince George, is also noted for extreme stage behaviour (

sporadic In mathematics, a sporadic group is one of the 26 exceptional groups found in the classification of finite simple groups. A simple group is a group ''G'' that does not have any normal subgroups except for the trivial group and ''G'' itself. Th ...

), a love of beer (the singer is reported to have offered beer to fans prior to Kill Matilda shows),Swanson, Samue
"More Music This Week"
"The Uniter", 2 September 2010 and a frequent use of

profanity Profanity, also known as cursing, cussing, swearing, bad language, foul language, obscenities, expletives or vulgarism, is a socially offensive use of language. Accordingly, profanity is language use that is sometimes deemed impolite, rud ...

during live shows.

Band history

Early years (2006-2008)

Exner moved from her hometown of Prince George to Vancouver in 2005 and formed an all-girl project featuring Marlene Lau on guitar, Kyla Rockingham on drums, and Marla McQueen on bass. The lineup went through several changes until Exner's boyfriend at the time, Mykel Exner, became the full-time bass player.

Self-titled EP and early touring

The band replaced drummer Nate Pole with Marcus Luk and officially released their first self-titled EP and music video for the single "She's A Killer" in 2009. The band embarked on their first western Canadian tour in mid-2009. In 2010 the band toured cross-Canada and relocated to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, Quebec. "She's A Killer" was entered into light rotation on the MuchLoud channel.

"Songs of Survival" and "Zombie Apocalypse USA" Tour

Between 2011 & 2014 Kill Matilda released the 'Zombie Apocalypse' album (2011) and later re-released 5 songs from the same album plus a bonus acoustic version of the track 'Geisha with a Switchblade' in 2014 and released the tracks as the '#PUNK#ZOMBIE#ROCKNROLL' album. After taking time off in 2011 so that bass player Mykel Exner could recover from surgery for a rare carotid-body tumor known as a paraganglioma, the band recorded a 6-song EP with producer Garth Richardson and toured across Canada, resettling in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Ontario. In late 2014, the band undertook their first US tour and largest tour to date, consisting of six continuous months of touring the US, Canada and Mexico. In order to finance the tour the band ran a successful indiegogo campaign. The band remained in the US until early 2015 and released 'Songs of Survival' in August 2015 on

Little Heart Records Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt * ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film *The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...

. After only seven months off the road, with the exception of the short 'Tabarnak & Back' tour) the band began their 'Punk Survival' North American tour in support of the 'Songs of Survival' album. 'Songs of Survival' was well received in the underground punk media, with reviews calling the album 'aggressive pop punk', 'powerful and focussed' and "leav(es) you wanting more". In December 2015 the band parted ways with drummer Luk and the tour was cancelled, though Exner & Exner played some January 2016 dates with fill-in drummer Mitchell Schols. Since January 2016 the band has been on

hiatus Hiatus may refer to: *Hiatus (anatomy), a natural fissure in a structure *Hiatus (stratigraphy), a discontinuity in the age of strata in stratigraphy *''Hiatus'', a genus of picture-winged flies with sole member species ''Hiatus fulvipes'' *Globa ...

Personal life

Exner is married to Kill Matilda's bass player, Mykel Exner, who is also noted for his "exaggerated

mannerisms Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, ...

" and boisterous personality on-stage. Exner is also a published writer who has had opinion pieces and poems featured in print and online blogs such as Addicted Magazine Missy Ink and Discorder Magazine. Prior to their 2014 cross-Canada 'Zombie Apocalypse' tour, Exner suffered an

ectopic pregnancy Ectopic pregnancy is a complication of pregnancy in which the embryo attaches outside the uterus. Signs and symptoms classically include abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding, but fewer than 50 percent of affected women have both of these symptoms. ...

. The band still managed to fulfill a show obligation at Rent Cheque in Vancouver BC one week after her emergency surgery and did not cancel their tour. After Dusty Exner and Mykel Exner struggled to conceive it was announced that Exner was pregnant in July 2016, coinciding with the band's hiatus. In late 2015 the band donated a portion of the proceeds of online album sales to help a Syrian refugee come to Canada.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.killmatilda.com Musical groups established in 2009 Musical groups from Vancouver Canadian punk rock groups 2007 establishments in British Columbia