From Black to Blond

 When Alison Mosshart first debuted her blond locks a while ago I was a little shocked.  Soon after, I wasn't. 

She is part of the reason why I started this blog.  The intersection of music and fashion, most importantly rocker style, was what I saw in her.  Her torn jeans, perfect worn tees, and leather jackets were down to earth, yet performance ready.  Those were the days when I shunned make up and only wore pants, much like Miss Mosshart.  Like Alison, I later came to embrace make up and wear something besides pants, though I had declared that I never would. 

Even through the changes, she is still an icon who I admire.  I still scour thirft shops for perfectly worn in tees, or wear my own until their just right.  Though I've replaced jeans with leggings, I can't help but covet her green leather motorcycle pants. 

To my young ears and eyes, the music of The Kills, like her on-stage presence, was shocking .  So, Alison Mosshart making a statement is really no big.  It's just her.  For that, she is inspirational.

Something Rockin' This Way Comes...

From Kenneth Cappello's blog

I never do get enough of Alison Mosshart (or the Kills in general).

Keep On Your Mean Side.....

"Normally it takes us longer to put the artwork together than the actual recording of the record and we have to wade through roomfulls of photographs and paintings and scribbled rantings and collages made from napkins and matchbooks or whatever. So yeah, mostly we’ve been buried under a mountain of art junk, trying to condense it into a booklet."

"We wrote and wrote until the music sounded ugly to us. That was the moment we felt like we were on to something. "

"Jamie was messing around with the MPC 60 for the first time, so it was cool what he came up with naively. Usually to be naive is a great thing ‘cause you come up with stranger stuff."

"The internet changed all that. It took all the secrets and myths away and turned everything into gossip.....There's not any room for myth building or word of mouth anymore."

-'Sup Magazine

The rest is here.

Black Dreams

Photo by Ben Corrigan

Picture this: two bedraggled, yet beaming, best friends in bed using a tea cup saucer as an ashtray. Here's their story.

"...I said to a friend of mine, 'I want to be in a band with her.'"

"I was staying in this flat, below the flat that he lived in and I'd be asleep on the couch and I could hear him playing guitar through the ceiling"

You're Boring Baby When Your Sane

Watch the Kills get all trash and glamour in Cheap and Cheerful.

Check out that bass line and try not to dance.

New Year, New You

Some people party, some people watch a slew of artistic movies (raises hand) but both of these people reflect. I look at what opinions have changed and which ones have proven solid. I see the way new experiences have forever changed me and wonder which ones will dawn in the coming year.

This time of year I also settle into a monochrome mood. I wear mostly the aforementioned shade and white and grey. And wear one piece of jewelry almost constantly (this year its a ribbon tied around my finger.) The inevitability of being snowed in can drive me absolutely mad but in those unbelievably bored days I discovered some amazing things: Placebo, The Mystery Jets, Hysteric Glamour clothes and The Kills.

Last New Years Eve I went to the mall and purchased The Kills record No Wow. I'd been on their myspace constantly and had to have the record. The weirdly monochrme effect and vacant feel of the music fit into the cold temperatures and blank landscape. Placebo's music also complemented the mood. Lyrically and sonically their music delves into the nether reaches of despair and expresses it with an honesty that turns into a bitter sweet beauty. At any given time this past year whenever I listened to Placebo I was taken back to the first moment that their work sunk in. No matter what season it was I felt as if it is was snowing and no one has dared venture outdoors to disturb the misleading white blanket on the street.

But one particularly dark day "Diamonds in the Dark" by The Mystery Jets took my mood to exciting heights. I feel that I can't justifiably discribe their music. You just have to hear it yourself.

So tell me, what's new for you?

Are You a Fever?

Check out the stylish Kills in U R A Fever. They ain't born typical.

Icon: Jamie Hince

I started off this blog writing about Alison Mosshart (the Kills) for her tough girl style. Jamie Hince (Her bandmate) is the neater half of the group. He seems to favor a sweater layered over a button up but carries it in a way that is far from faux preppy. When he's on stage your attention is divided between Alison and his guitar.

They're first two releases "Black Rooster EP" and "Keep On Your Mean Side" are riddled with a raw bluesy sound. "No Wow", they're third release, is more streamlined and artistically incorporates they're signature growl. Alison carries that heavy rocker element of the first two records while Jamie's style favors the streamline appeal of "No Wow."

Style-wise he manages to add a rock n' roll boy element but remains a guitarist you could bring home to mom. But sorry girls, he currently belongs to model Valentine Fillol-Cordier. Sometimes a pair of shredded black jeans or a motorcycle jacket will make an appearance but most of the time he looks ready to teach a beatnik english class. That's something I'd like to see in a guy more often.

http://www.thekills.tv/

Edit

Hours after I wrote this I found out that Jamie is now tied to Miss Moss herself. She must dig his cleaned up rocker look. Don't get too distracted Jamie, I want a new record!

Icon:Alison Mosshart

The title of this blog is pretty in black because there isn't a color edgier than that. Alison Mosshart realizes this (black hair, black nails, quintessential black jackets)and has become an icon in my world.

I remember the first time I saw her. I was blown away by her onstage swagger and intensity that makes any other musician look like spinal tap. When it came to rock n' roll I realised that she's the real deal. She is my definition of cool.

When she was fifteen she fronted the punk outfit Discount and opened for Fugazi. Upon the groups closure she met Jaime Hince in England and moved in with him to form the Kills (http://www.thekills.tv/). When they perform they often lock eyes as if they are starring each other down. They seen unaware of the audience of bystanders as they're actions scream, "This stage ain't big enough for the both of us." Despite this they are not lovers, but friends intellectual equals. The way she purrs into the mike through a curtain of raven locks will revitalize anyone feels that rock n' roll has died.


She balances all of that fabulous black with some killer tapered jeans and boots that were made for stomping.