EastScene

On June 17, 2009, EastScene got the chance to talk with Kiss Kiss after their set opening for Portugal. The Man. The band has a new album coming out July 7, 2009. They’re currently on tour with Fake Problems and the dates are listed here.

ES: We’re here at Southpaw in Brooklyn, New York with Kiss Kiss. Here with us tonight are:
RS: Rebecca Schlappich
JB: Josh Jellybeans [Benash]
JK: And Jared [Karns]

ES: You guys just played a great set and towards the end you mentioned you have a new album coming out. So why don’t you tell me a little about that. What’s the title?
JK: It’s called The Meek Shall Inherit What’s Left and it’s a little bit more mature than our last record.
JB: I think both records are fantastic, this is one is just as fantastic. (laughs)
RS: I’m really excited about it, this is actually the first album I’m technically on so.. fuck yeah!

ES: Really, this is just the first one?
RS: Yeah, the previous album was recorded just before I joined the band, so this one is all me.

ES: That’s something to look forward to. So what about the tracks? Titles, content and so forth.
JK: It’s a bigger sounding record, I guess bigger instrumentation. This time around the songs flow into each other a little better, it’s not like individual song, song song song song. I mean, the last album had a good flow too but this time it’s like we have songs that become other songs and just flow that way throughout.

ES: Almost like a story?
J: Kind of, the lyrics aren’t intertwined at all but the music is.

ES: Have you guys changed anything about the recording process at all this time around?
JB: It’s the same hellish nightmare it’s always been. (Laughs)
RS & JK: (Laugh)

ES: A hellish nightmare? Care to tell us about that?
JB: Uh yeah, really it’s just a bunch of equipment failures followed by the fetal position and watching some ALF.
RS: And we also figured out that the equipment failures because Josh is just so powerful that when negative energy pours from him, it just breaks shit! We figured this out yesterday because we had to fix Josh’s KORG before tonight’s show. He needs to be happy, because when he’s pissed off electronics just tend to cry.

MA: So this is where you guys are..I was wondering and everyone’s like ‘They’re outside!”

ES: And who’s joining us now?
MA: Mike!

ES: What would you guys say about the singles? Have you guys made any decisions about that yet?
JJ: I think ‘Innocent Part I’ is going to be the first single, seeing as we have a video for it and that should be out in like a month.

ES: And where do you think that’ll be coming out? YouTube, MySpace, etc.?
JB: No, no we’re gonna try and do it up! Probably MTV right next to .. I don’t know .. the Black Eyed Peas. (sarcastic)

(Laughs all around)
MA: ..Boom boom boom!
RS: Totally, MTV is just BEGGING us to debut on their channel. BEGGING us. (sarcastic)
JB: You’re gonna be writing this right? So you can put down “sarcastic” in quotes? Cause otherwise we’re gonna sound like complete assholes.

(More laughs)

ES: So to wrap things up lets end with promoting. What do you guys have planned for promoting the album and touring?
JK: We’re doing this tour with Fake Problems, and that starts in about a week. We’ll be out for around three weeks and then hopefully we’ll get another tour soon after that.

ES: Where does the tour hit up?
JK: This tour goes through the South, then comes back up through here [Northeast], then goes up into Canada and finally into the Midwest. And we’re hoping to get another tour right after that brings out to the West Coast, because we haven’t been out there for like three years.

ES: That’s a pretty long time. Do you guys have any other plans for international dates besides Canada?
JK: Well Canada is just the beginning. We just got our passports and everything like that and we’re all set to go. Who knows, maybe next is Europe or even Japan. Hopefully within the next year!