The Kill Devil Hills are an Australian acoustic,

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, whil ...

-tinged rock band formed in 2003 in

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

by founding mainstays Brendan Humphries and Steve Joines. They have released four studio albums, '' Heathen Songs'' (August 2004), '' The Drought'' (October 2006), ''

Man, You Should Explode ''Man, You Should Explode'' is the third album from The Kill Devil Hills, released on 25 September 2009. The album was recorded in January 2009 at Poons Head Studio, Fremantle, with producer Burke Reid Burke Reid is an Australian–Canadian ...

'' (September 2009) and ''In on Under near Water'' (March 2016).

History

The Kill Devil Hills were formed in Fremantle in early 2003 by Brendan Humphries on lead vocals and guitars, Lachlan Gurr on mandolin and banjo, and Steve Joines on vocals and guitar. Initially the trio played "bushranger rock" and "cowpunk". The name of the band is derived from the title of a chapter, written by Harry Smith in a book, '' Invisible Republic: Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes'' by US music critic Greil Marcus, about Bob Dylan and The Band. In the late 1990s Humphries had been a member of Gutterville Splendour Six, alongside

Gareth Liddiard Gareth Liddiard (born 20 November 1975) is an Australian musician, best known as a founding member of both The Drones and Tropical Fuck Storm. Musically active since 1997, he has also released a solo album titled '' Strange Tourist'' in 2010 ...

and Rui Pereira of the Drones, which issued a self-titled extended play in 1998. The Kill Devil Hills were soon joined by Steve Gibson on percussion and drums. The Kill Devil Hills released their debut album, ''Heathen Songs'', in August 2004 and nationally in February 2005 on the

Reverberation Reverberation (also known as reverb), in acoustics, is a persistence of sound, after a sound is produced. Reverberation is created when a sound or signal is reflected causing numerous reflections to build up and then decay as the sound is abs ...

label. Michael Inglis of '' FasterLouder'' felt that "While the album has its dull moments, the Kill Devil Hills have come up with a coherant debut album that asserts the band's identity. At the same time, there are enough standout tracks to make this disc worth your hard-earned dollars." In the same month they were nominated for six WAMi Awards, taking home "Best Blues/Roots Act" and "Best Country Music Act". National youth radio station,

Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greater emphasis on broad ...

, picked up the album, with ''Heathen Songs'' receiving a lot of airplay on a variety of shows. They were chosen as one of their 'fresh Crop' Artists of 2005. The group featured on Triple J's "Like a Version" segment and its JTV. They appeared on the

Lonely Planet Lonely Planet is a travel guide book publisher. Founded in Australia in 1973, the company has printed over 150 million books. History Early years Lonely Planet was founded by married couple Maureen Wheeler, Maureen and Tony Wheeler. In 19 ...

documentary series, "

Six Degrees Six degrees may refer to: *Six degrees of separation, the theory that anyone on earth can be connected to any other person on the planet through a chain of acquaintances that has no more than five intermediaries *Six degrees of freedom, motion in t ...

", broadcast on SBS. The band performed at The

West Coast Blues & Roots Festival The West Coast Blues 'n' Roots Festival is an annual music festival held in Fremantle, Western Australia, Fremantle, Western Australia. It features many blues and American roots music, roots performers, both international and local. History T ...

2005. Also that year they appeared at

Bridgetown Bridgetown (UN/LOCODE: BB BGI) is the capital and largest city of Barbados. Formerly The Town of Saint Michael, the Greater Bridgetown area is located within the parish of Saint Michael. Bridgetown is sometimes locally referred to as "The Cit ...

Blues Festival, where they played on stages supporting

The Black Keys The Black Keys are an American rock duo formed in Akron, Ohio, in 2001. The group consists of Dan Auerbach (guitar, vocals) and Patrick Carney (drums). The duo began as an independent act, recording music in basements and self-producing thei ...

, The Mountain Goats, The Living End, Dallas Crane, The Mess Hall, Kim Salmon, Jebediah, The Panics and The Drones. The band undertook a short tour of the east coast in May and were invited back to Sydney for shows in November the same year. 2006 saw the band taking time to record a new album, spending most of this year in the studio, with plans to release the new record in October. They were also nominated for another 4 WAMi Awards (winning for the second year in a row – "Best Blues/Roots Act" and "Best Country Music Act"), they performed on the local stage at The Big Day Out, were asked to record a live set for

's 'Home and Hosed', and were invited back to The

Blues Festiva

where they played with The Beasts of Bourbon and Dirty Three. The band's second album, '' The Drought'' was released 7 October 2006 and was followed by a national tour. The Kill Devil Hills also released a limited edition vinyl import version of ''Heathen Songs'' through Spanish record label Bang! Records (a Spanish label which has many other underground Australian bands on its roster). The Kill Devil Hills returned to the studio in early 2009 to record their third studio album, ''

'', produced by Burke Reid. It was released nationally on 5 September 2009 on Torn and Frayed (distributed by Shock). The album was given a four-star review in ''Rolling Stone'' magazine, where it was described as "a new flawless record" and "one of the best of 2010". The band also embarked on a two-month European tour in late 2010 with the European release of ''Man, You Should Explode'' on vinyl through the Spanish label,

Bang! Records Bang! Records is a Spanish label from Basque Country formed in 1998 by Gorka Munster and Juan-Mari Iturrarte. The label has a primary focus on artists from Melbourne, Australia and New York City's swamp, noise and punk blues music scene. Ac ...

. In October 2013 the band released its first live album, ''Past and Future Ghosts'', which was recorded in March that year at the Fremantle Arts Centre. The album contained songs from their first three albums, together with two previously unreleased songs. In March 2016, they issued their fourth studio album, ''In on Under near Water'', which Kate Hennessy of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'' listed as one of ten "essential releases from the Australian underground". She described it as "a brilliant showcase of what the Devils do best... No one wrings a ballad dry quite like Humphries, and his lyrics, always good, have slimmed into sleek, allusive poetry."

Members

Current members * Brendon Humphries (vocals, steel/acoustic guitar, electric guitar banjo, piano) * Luke Dux (acoustic/electric guitar, slide guitar) * Todd Pickett (vocals, drums, percussion) * Alex Archer (violin, piano, electric guitar, clarinet, slide guitar, organ) * Ryan Dux (vocals, bass) * Ex-members * Steve Joines (acoustic/electric guitar, vocals) Guitar Maestro and founding member * Justin Castley (electric bass, double bass, tin whistle) * Lachlan Gurr (vocals, mandolin, banjo) * Michael de Grussa (piano, double bass, banjo, vocals) * Steve Gibson (vocals, drums, percussion, xylophone) *Timothy Nelson (keyboards, vocals)

Discography

Albums

live albums

Awards

West Australian Music Industry Awards

The

West Australian Music Industry Awards The Western Australian Music Industry Awards (commonly known as WAMis) are annual awards presented to the local contemporary music industry, put on by the Western Australian Music Industry Association Inc (WAM). The WAMi Awards are Western Aust ...

(WAMIs) are annual awards presented to the local contemporary music industry, put on annually by the Western Australian Music Industry Association Inc (WAM).2005 West Australian Music Industry Award Winners

(wins only) , - , rowspan="2", 2005 , rowspan="2", The Kill Devil Hills , Best Blues/Roots Act , , - , Best Country Music Act , , - , rowspan="2", 2006 , rowspan="2", The Kill Devil Hills , Best Blues/Roots Act , , - , Best Country Music Act , , - , 2007 , The Kill Devil Hills , Best Blues/Roots Act , , - , rowspan="3", 2008 , rowspan="2", The Kill Devil Hills , Best Blues/Roots Act , , - , Best Country Music Act , , - , Brendon Humphries , Best Male Vocalist (The Kill Devil Hills) , , - , 2009 , The Kill Devil Hills , Best Country Act , , - , 2010 , The Kill Devil Hills , Best Rock Act , , -

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kill Devil Hills, The Australian folk music groups Western Australian musical groups Musical groups established in 2003