The Meek Shall Inherit What’s Left: Kiss Kiss Prep to Take Over The Airways with New Abum
Photo and Story by Jessica Perl
Kiss Kiss’ second album, The Meek Shall Inherit What’s Left, is releasing in a week, and this is the first time the band has seen the final product. Jared Karns, the drummer, turns the hard copy of the CD over in his hands, admiring the artwork and commenting on various things. All the members are really excited, sitting in a hot, stone room in the basement of the Mercury Lounge in New York City. When I ask if they’ve played here before, they all look at each other, shake their heads, and laugh. The violinist, Rebecca Schlappich, explains that none of them are into football and thus, never pay attention to when Superbowl Sunday is. As luck would have it, they walked on stage at the Mercury Lounge on one particular Sunday in February to find an essentially empty venue due to “you guessed it Superbowl Sunday.” This day is now on the list of scheduling no-nos, right after Christmas. Here they are, though, back to rock the place once again.
The band is initially from the New York area, and Jared comments on how it is a little disorienting to come home in the middle of the tour, to have been away for so long and all of a sudden, find yourself back in your comfort zone, only to have to jet off again the next day. This is not a confession of dislike for life on the road, however. When asked how the band finds touring, the bassist, Patrick Southern, says, “It totally depends on when you ask a certain person at a certain time of day, we all kind of hate it and love it at the same time. But Jared just loves it.” Rebecca also admits her love for it, saying that “touring is what she lives for” and is where she finds herself “really happy.” Josh Benash, who plays guitar and synthesizer, exclaims that they “get to dance and wear diapers!” an event they put on view for the public in one of their tour videos on MySpace. Mike Abiuso, the other guitar and synthesizer player, says touring only becomes troublesome for him when other members are unhappy, specifically Josh. They all talk affectionately about their big, yellow school bus that serves as their touring vehicle.
Though the members of the group have very distinct personalities, it’s clear that they meld together really well, something that is certainly reflected in their music and on stage. Growing up, they all had varying musical influences, but what brings them together, Patrick says, is that “we all experienced some kind of musical descent into madness that brought us to this place.” Rebecca’s journey was particularly different from the others: “I had very specific plans, I was going to go to a conservatory, I was going to get into an orchestra, and that was going to be my life.” During her sophomore and junior year of college, however, she started realizing there might be another path to follow. “I started off going to an Improv for Strings class, and I was like, ‘Hey, this really cool!’ From there, I started playing a whole lot of 20th and 21st century music. By senior year, I was thinking, ‘I want to join a band.’ So I found one on Craig’s List, before [Kiss Kiss]. It was completely different, really fun, but definitely not going anywhere. So after that one, I found these guys.”
The release of this new album is a testament to their passion and commitment to their music and a “fuck-you” to the challenges they’ve encountered along the way. One major setback was having an incompetent manager who also happened to have a drug problem. “He stole our money and didn’t do any work,” Josh describes. Now that they have a new manager, however, Rebecca depicts a new experience: “This is actually the first time in the career of the band, and I’ve only been in for half of the rest of the band, that I feel we’ve had fewer challenges than normal. We finally have a booking agent, we have a manager that we trust, and we have people doing PR for us, which is incredible.” Jared also admits that it’s nice to have people helping with the workload. “We used to do everything ourselves now I don’t have to spend 10 hours at a computer everyday, I just shoot an email over to so-and-so, and it’s done.”
Talking about the sound and tone of The Meek Shall Inherit What’s Left, Rebecca says it’s “darker, heavier, and more orchestrated” than their previous album, Reality vs. The Optimist, which was more “pop-sounding.” The new album is also longer, due in part to a number of complaints from fans demanding a CD longer than 30 minutes. Naturally, the band acquiesced, but Josh is sure to remind folks of the familiar expression: “Quality, not quantity.” Despite these differences, Kiss Kiss still maintains their unique, abstract, often frenetic sounds, which have been described as “circus-y,” Rebecca recalls. The songs range in subject matter, going from one that was inspired by Josh’s reading of George Orwell’s 1984, to another that makes fun of the male sex drive and ego (Innocent 1, if you’re interested in knowing specifically), to those that evolved from various personal experiences.
Kiss Kiss has only just gotten started, and undoubtedly, they will continue to bring their talent and wild energy to many other venues across America. And if you happen to be driving along and see a big, yellow school bus with a bunch of people in diapers, you might want to take another look because, well, yes, it may simply be headed for a special ed school, but maybe, just maybe, it will be the members of Kiss Kiss, living it up and enjoying their journey on the road.
