Kill The Lights: Bringing The Band Together

Since their formation in 2019, KILL THE LIGHTS have been working towards finding their sound. With their second full-length album, Death Melodies, founder Moose is convinced that they’re finally there. After leaving his position as drummer for BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE, he knew he wanted to create a band with an entirely unique sound, and thus KILL THE LIGHTS was born. He knew that it would take some time for that to fully materialise, and this is their first album with their full lineup, which solidified that this band would be everything that Moose hoped it would be. While they are working against distance, with some of the members in Wales and the rest in various states of America, they defeated the odds to make this album happen, and discussing this with Moose, he states, “it’s about having fun, because feel that’s when the best stuff comes out, and when we put the band together.”

While Death Melodies is KILL THE LIGHTS’ second album, it’s been a long time coming, and they started writing it when they formed in 2019. When COVID broke out, the band took the opportunity to meet up and stay together in Canada, where they wrote the majority of the album, with the shared agreement that they had to write some of the absolute best songs they could. Determined to not let the distance between them hinder their process, they knew they had to physically be in the same place for it to work, with Moose stating, “it’s kind of tricky, so when we do get together, we just cram as much as we possibly can in the allocated time that we have.” 

That isn’t limited to just their song writing, and Moose explains that in the space of two days, they filmed five music videos, wrote three songs for the next album, shot a documentary, and a photo shoot. It’s very clear that they’re not slowing down, and that each member is completely dedicated to putting everything they can into this band. The pride of what they’ve created is palpable when hearing about the process. “I’m more excited than anything,” he says. “Nevertheless, it’s still quite nerve racking to release the whole album. We’ll see if people like it. I hope they do.”

One of the main motivations for KILL THE LIGHTS is to give each member the place and freedom to express everything that they need to, and a huge aspect of this is giving vocalist James Clark the opportunity to write lyrics that are deeply personal to him. Moose explains, “I know James has definitely got a lot of, not demons he likes to exercise, I guess that’s the right word. He writes. These lyrics are like a therapy for himself. He hopes, because I think he struggles with a lot of anxiety and depression, he wants these lyrics to help other people going through the same issues.” This reflects heavily in the content of the album, and where it is very vulnerable at points, it is easy to understand that listeners would be able to relate, and find comfort in knowing that somebody else is going through the same kind of hard times. “I know his lyrics help, and we’re just glad that we’re there to provide the music for his therapy.” Something that feels like an important element to the music is the bonds that each members of the band have with each other, and how they are more than happy to support and uplift each other whenever needed.

When it came to recording Death Melodies, the band were fairly separate, recording their own parts in their own cities. While Moose acknowledges that this gave him the freedom to do his own thing, he is determined that their next album will be done all together, in the same place. They seem to have found a formula that really works, which involves pushing each other to make their own decisions and let their individual personalities impact the sound, and this involved absolutely everybody, as Moose cites producer Chris Clancy for helping them develop many of the songs. “We just want to be ourselves and have fun doing it. There’s no point sounding like someone else who’s doing really well at this time, because they’re already doing it, so you just gotta try and make your own thing be yours, and be unique to yourself.” With new members joining the process for this album, Moose felt like it was important for everybody to have a strong bond, and everybody that joins the band is somebody he knows and trusts. “I didn’t want to be in a band with a complete stranger because they might not like me, and I might not like them, and they would have been doomed for the start. That’s why we started this band.”

While for Moose, Death Melodies is more about expressing himself and making music he loves, he is aware that for other members of the band it might mean something different, and could mean a lot to anybody listening. “If James’ message can get across and help, if anyone is struggling, hopefully this album will ensure them that they’re not alone and they shouldn’t struggle on their own.” 

Also, he’s just very excited to tour. Because their debut was released mid-lockdown, they didn’t have much of a chance to play live, and this will be their first real opportunity to do that. “I saw Jay today, and he said it was almost eleven years since he’s toured. So, we’re just really excited and hope the shows go really well and everyone has a good time.” For KILL THE LIGHTS, touring means something else as well. Moose explains that they are already in conversation about the next album, and that as soon as they’re together again, they’re keen to start writing. “As soon as we’re on tour, we get so bored and it just flows out for us. We’re lucky enough to carry a recording laptop with us, so as soon as we’re not performing and playing songs live, we’ll definitely be writing, yeah.”

Death Melodies is out now via Fearless Records.

Like KILL THE LIGHTS on Facebook.