Here is the English translated version of an interview I did with Matt K of Kitchen's Floor, recently printed in French news-print editorial "Freak Out!", and rescheduled for reprint in the next English lnaguage issue of "Ratcharge".
I first met Matt Kennedy sometime after the release of the second issue of my Brisbane based fanzine The Negative Guest List. He approached in a drunken stumble from an ill-lit corner of the room wearing a cardigan that looked like it had previously been used to shelter the homeless, and slurred a series of words that I eventually deciphered as "can I do an interview for your zine?'. Turns out Matt played guitar and sung for local band Kitchen's Floor, who I had seen a handful of times but never really taken to. We agreed anyway- considering his burgeoning female fan base- before taking him to a cruddy loft party that provided us w/ ample amounts of Smirnoff vodka, warm party pies and Champion tobbaco, before the night descended into a rampage of careless destruction in the suburb of Morningside. Seeing this shaggy haired indie scenester drunkenly spray white chemical powder from a fire extinguisher atop a railway bridge onto oncoming traffic was truly a sight to look at, and when I woke up the next day to see him sculling piss warm beer that we found in a nearby trash bin the night before, it made me think that not everybody in Brisbane's sharehouse rat circle was an insufferable, mincing twit.
Soon enough I asked Matt to play drums in a punk band I was putting together called WHITE COP, and he quickly adjusted to our ritualistic lifestyle; beer by the carton, MDMA, inhuman kebab consumption, and raising hell in Woolloongabba on the reg. Sometime along the way he suffered a back injury that he carries with him to this very day. After all, when it comes to punk, you must be prepared to suffer for your craft. WHITE COP recorded a tape called 'Smack Based' and filmed a music video for opening cut “Gambling Banshee”, and I enjoy revisiting them regularly as a reminder of better times, before hanging up the dishrag.
In the year or so since WHITE COP's decline, Matt has been refining his craft with Kitchen's Floor (who were by now one of my favorite bands in the country, live and on record), collaborating with Bedroom Suck Records to release local music and organize high profile tours (Thee Oh Sees, Eat Skull etc), and briefly form a one-off live project called Dirty Mattress that teamed him w/ Blank Realm and Per Purpose members to perform a mix of tunes by Kitchen's Floor and Look!Pond; Matt's pre-KF Gold Coast based deconstructionist art-punk band. Most recently, I put out Kitchen's Floor newest release, the live 'Too Dead To Notice' cassette, on NGL records. My favorite material from the group to date, '..Dead' combines the rustic, unhinged vibes of outsider Ohio w/ 1980's Dunedin pop charm. The tape sold out in a matter of weeks, and by the time this makes it to paper the tape will be in its second run, to eventually receive a 10” vinyl pressing mid-late 2010.
Intro and interview by Brendon Annesley.
Contact: dirtyalley @ msn . com
'TOO DEAD TO NOTICE' CS20 second press available now. Email to order.
How would you define the current status of Kitchen's Floor? Tell us about the upcoming tour.
The last 6 months have been rough, i kicked out my rhythm section who i had been playing with for 2 years and also decided to scrap a whole new album that had been recorded with that line up back in June. For a year now I've been suffering from chronic pain from a herniated disc in my back that i achieved during some forgotten drunken accident in 2009 and it has definitely made me an even more miserable bastard than i was before. I've got a new line up now though and I'm hopeful that 2011 will be a better year. Liam Kenny, who helms Adelaide's greatest band Bitch Prefect is playing bass and i have no doubt he can make shit shine. My house mate Joe is playing drums, he's also the main guy behind bedroom suck records. The tour is only 4 shows to test out the new line up, but we've also got studio time booked and we're going to record the next album in-between shows.
Whose idea was it to start playing shows as Dirty Mattress? Was it the in-band turmoil surrounding Kitchen's Floor at the time that made you decide to bring back the more angsty, pissed off Look!Pond tunes?
Circle Pit asked me to play a show with them in Sydney and i had no band together at the time but thought it'd be a worthy challenge to put something together within a few weeks, drive down there and do it. I ended up getting my house mate Joe on drums and Luke Walsh from Blank Realm on bass and they learnt my songs really quickly and i called the band 'Dirty Mattress'. Both those guys have put in the time to learn their craft well and i'm not used to playing with 'real' musicians so i thought it'd be interesting to dig up the Look!Pond songs, which are a bit more 'tech' than the K. Floor stuff. Considering how depressed i was at the time, doing this cheered me up a lot.
What have you been listening to lately? Got a favorite Shep tune? You should really try to find the Nudge Squidfish LP. He played in V-3, but the record sounds more like Mayo Thompson or Armand Schaubroeck than the Velvet Underground. It's one of my favourite reissues of last year.
I've been in a rut lately but Jim Shepard has definitely been a profound inspiration. At the moment as an example i find 'Caucasian White' off the Photograph Burns LP a great tune, it's the kind of direct and simple, honest rock n roll songwriting i'm always looking for and appreciate. That guy was really great.
Are there any plans to take Kitchen's Floor overseas?
There's some vague plans of going over to New Zealand in the first part of 2011, i toured there as a frisky 19 year old 5 years ago and haven't been back since which is weird because i was born there and the country is more than decent. When the next album gets released we'll be going to the USA for sure, probably in the second half of 2011.
What's coming up for Bedroom Suck?
we're gonna keep doing our 'Deadshits Festivals', the aim is to bring a whole bunch of decent acts to Brisbane that no one else will and hopefully defeat the flood of musical mediocrity that constantly ejaculates itself all over this city. We'll keep releasing records too, the Blank Realm 'Deja What?' album was damn exciting to release and hopefully we can release plenty more of that esteemed quality. We're also bringing USA band Eat Skull over in April for a national tour.
What are your thoughts on the tape virtually selling out in 3 weeks?
The last 6 months have been rough, i kicked out my rhythm section who i had been playing with for 2 years and also decided to scrap a whole new album that had been recorded with that line up back in June. For a year now I've been suffering from chronic pain from a herniated disc in my back that i achieved during some forgotten drunken accident in 2009 and it has definitely made me an even more miserable bastard than i was before. I've got a new line up now though and I'm hopeful that 2011 will be a better year. Liam Kenny, who helms Adelaide's greatest band Bitch Prefect is playing bass and i have no doubt he can make shit shine. My house mate Joe is playing drums, he's also the main guy behind bedroom suck records. The tour is only 4 shows to test out the new line up, but we've also got studio time booked and we're going to record the next album in-between shows.
Whose idea was it to start playing shows as Dirty Mattress? Was it the in-band turmoil surrounding Kitchen's Floor at the time that made you decide to bring back the more angsty, pissed off Look!Pond tunes?
Circle Pit asked me to play a show with them in Sydney and i had no band together at the time but thought it'd be a worthy challenge to put something together within a few weeks, drive down there and do it. I ended up getting my house mate Joe on drums and Luke Walsh from Blank Realm on bass and they learnt my songs really quickly and i called the band 'Dirty Mattress'. Both those guys have put in the time to learn their craft well and i'm not used to playing with 'real' musicians so i thought it'd be interesting to dig up the Look!Pond songs, which are a bit more 'tech' than the K. Floor stuff. Considering how depressed i was at the time, doing this cheered me up a lot.
What have you been listening to lately? Got a favorite Shep tune? You should really try to find the Nudge Squidfish LP. He played in V-3, but the record sounds more like Mayo Thompson or Armand Schaubroeck than the Velvet Underground. It's one of my favourite reissues of last year.
I've been in a rut lately but Jim Shepard has definitely been a profound inspiration. At the moment as an example i find 'Caucasian White' off the Photograph Burns LP a great tune, it's the kind of direct and simple, honest rock n roll songwriting i'm always looking for and appreciate. That guy was really great.
Are there any plans to take Kitchen's Floor overseas?
There's some vague plans of going over to New Zealand in the first part of 2011, i toured there as a frisky 19 year old 5 years ago and haven't been back since which is weird because i was born there and the country is more than decent. When the next album gets released we'll be going to the USA for sure, probably in the second half of 2011.
What's coming up for Bedroom Suck?
we're gonna keep doing our 'Deadshits Festivals', the aim is to bring a whole bunch of decent acts to Brisbane that no one else will and hopefully defeat the flood of musical mediocrity that constantly ejaculates itself all over this city. We'll keep releasing records too, the Blank Realm 'Deja What?' album was damn exciting to release and hopefully we can release plenty more of that esteemed quality. We're also bringing USA band Eat Skull over in April for a national tour.
What are your thoughts on the tape virtually selling out in 3 weeks?
I'm pretty happy about how the tape has turned out, people seem to like it etc. And as always when labels pay to put out my music, i'm glad that they make their money back. It's also cool that it's almost 2011 and cassettes are still ruling it.
