Das Debütalbum der britischen Band King Hannah ist eine der bemerkenswertesten Veröffentlichtungen des noch jungen Jahres. Mit ihrer Mischung aus Portishead, Smog und PJ Harvey gelingt Hannah Merrick und Craig Whittle ein durchgehend starkes Album, das sich atmosphärisch auch gut als Twin-Peaks-Soundtrack machen würde – und das obwohl die Band sogar darauf verzichtet hat, ihre beiden Vor-Album-Hits „State Trooper“ und „Crème Brûlée“ mit auf die Platte zu nehmen.

*Your three favourite Punk singles/songs?

We always struggle with what exactly ‘punk’ is! Whether it’s an ideology or strictly a musical thing. But we love everything on ’13 Songs’ by Fugazi, ’Sports’ by Viagra Boys and ‘Marquee Moon’ by Television. Some of these might be more art-punk or post-punk or not even punk at all, who knows.

* A record that will make you dance?

‘Lost in Music’ by Sister Sledge, the greatest song ever recorded.

* Your favourite song lyrics?

Craig: This is so tough! Almost impossible to say what our favourite lyrics are, but it would probably be something by Bill Callahan or Mark Kozelek or David Berman at the minute. We love the opening to ‘Pigeons’ by Bill Callahan, which goes, ‘Well, the pigeons ate the wedding rice / And exploded somewhere over San Antonio.’

Hannah: I also really like ‚And I hope you find your husband and a father to your children‘ from Smog’s ‚Left Only With Love‘. I think the melody plays such a part though. A lyric might be brilliant but if it’s not teamed with a great melody, it can get lost somehow. Finding that melody and lyric that fit together magically is golden.

* The best “new” artist / band right now?

Well anything that came out post-2010 seems ‘new’ to us! We love Pom Pom Squad’s debut album, our fellow City Slangers are smashing it.
Pom Pom Squad are great, so much energy and angst and loudness.

Also, although we think they’ve been going a few years, we recently caught Meril Wubslin at a festival we were playing, and they were incredible. Meril Wubslin are a Swiss trio that make repetitive, hypnotic music that is super atmospheric full of space and tension. Their live set was so ridiculously good.

* Slowdive, Echo & The Bunnymen or Portishead – which one do you prefer and why?

As a Liverpool-based band we really should say The Bunnymen, but it’s Portishead all the way for us.

* Your favourite song about rebellion/revolution?

Has to be ‘Ohio’ by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, written by Neil Young. It captures that late 60’s/early 70’s counterculture thing so perfectly, and the guitar sound that they managed to get in the recording is one of the best we’ve ever heard.

* Your favourite song 2021?

Craig – Probably ‘White Horses’ by Low, that entire album blew my mind a little bit.
Hannah – Hard to say as I tend to listen to stuff from years back. The song I listened to most in 2021 was PJ Harvey’s ‚The Wind‘, so I’m going to say that!

* Your favourite artist from Liverpool (who isn’t called The Beatles)?

Bill Ryder-Jones! He consistently makes brilliant, honest music.

* Your favourite movie about music – and why?

We rewatched Almost Famous recently and forgot how much we loved that film. It’s got such a wonderful, nostalgic feel to it, it really captures the feeling of being young and misunderstood and loving music. Inside Llewyn Davis is another one that we watch a lot, the soundtrack, New York in the 60s in winter, the cat, it’s the best.

* The best song you’ve ever written / recorded?

Craig: I think we may have differing opinions here slightly, but there is a song on the new album called „Go-Kart Kid (HELL NO!)“ that I’m super proud of and excited for people to hear. I think Hannah’s lyrics are always incredible, but this song in particular makes me feel all nostalgic and warm, it just gets to me.

Hannah: I do love this song an awful lot too, but I’m most proud of „Crème Brûlée“. I wrote that song years before King Hannah was properly King Hannah at my desk in my bedroom before a night shift, I can remember it like it was yesterday. I was fiercely determined to write something good and I had to fight my corner to prove it. I remember bringing it to practice for the first time and no one (bar Craig, who had already put the end in place) felt it, which really annoyed me. I’m proud of releasing it pre-label and I’m proud of not changing it the second time around, I’m proud of playing it to empty rooms, I’m proud of the whole thing. I’ve been writing songs for as long as I can remember and this was the first one I ever wanted to release. I’m proud of being stubborn and powering through and not releasing earlier stuff, despite every single person around me telling me to and I’m proud of the hard, hard work it took to get to that song. I’ll sing that song forever, it just makes me feel determined and strong and fearless and defensive, which I love. Plus it takes me back to the very early days, which I love also.

* Your favourite german song/record?

Has to be ‘Tago Mago’ by Can! We listened to it a lot while recording the album. We love how trashy and industrial and live it feels, how the songs go on forever. It’s so good, it’s hard to believe it came out so long ago.

* Your favourite record of all time?

Again almost impossible to say! One that we consistently come back to is ‘On The Beach’ by Neil Young, so that would be up there. Also ‘Benji’ by Sun Kil Moon, ‘Knock Knock’ by Smog and ‘To Bring You My Love’ by PJ Harvey. It all depends what side of the bed you wake up on.

Das neue Album von King Hannah erscheint am 25. Februar 2022.