Photo by Shoshana Ehrenkranz / Words by Willa Rudolph
New York City based punk band, The Dutch Kills, who lie in the vein of Bikini Kill and PJ Harvey, are releasing their debut EP, The Rot, produced by Aleksi Godard and Gordon Raphael (Regina Spektor, The Strokes, Blonde Redhead) at The Hit Factory and Electric Lady Studios. Their first birthday as a band coincides pretty closely with this release, as well, so Happy Band Birthday <3
The 5-track collection is about the fun and misery that coincide post-breakup. Lead singer Julia Kley elaborates, “After getting out of a relationship, starting over felt volatile. I was happy to feel free, but then you forget about all the feelings of wanting people you can’t have, going on mindless dates, and feeling naked…” She attempted to make each song dynamic in tempo and energy, to accurately portray that rollercoaster between elation and grief.
Listeners are eased into the The Rot, dipping a toe in the water with a bass line that instantly causes your heart to join in the beat, but 13 seconds later, lead track “Dangerous” comes crashing in, with cymbals, a stirring guitar riff, and Julia sings, “Don’t disturb the creature in her bed / Don’t delete the monster, she’s still sleeping / Cause I’m hiding again cause it’s painfully simple / Starting again cause it’s painfully simple…”
We’re introduced here, to a Dangerous girl, the girl “you thought you wanted”. Guitarist Alec Berry was in full support of “Dangerous” being the lead single–it was released January 20th–“It feels like a really solid representation of our sound as a whole,” he says. “We have moments on the EP that are heavier, and some that are softer, but “Dangerous” just really seemed to capture a bit of everything that makes us sound like us.”
The following song, “Counter”, is a favorite of mine. It’s a little grungier, a little angrier, and Julia expresses the feeling of not being chosen, but what she does about it is dance on the counter and adopt a –Whatever, eff you– kind of attitude about the situation. Her lyricism is accessible in a pop sense, but the songs are still very well written, and say things that I don’t believe have been said before! Not just new words, but a new attitude, and it seems The Dutch Kills are bringing something new altogether to the scene.
“Counter” has a slow breakdown towards the end of the song, and that always really gets me when I’m listening to a song– that’s when I start really banging my head and then when the song comes back in, I’ll really start jumping around!
In the namesake song, “The Rot,” we finally get that Courtney Love gravelly scream we all know and love from Julia, who also has such a ribbon-y smooth and deep velvety voice when she’s actually singing. This one’s definitely my favorite–the band doesn’t hold back, pushing Julia’s voice forward with their tight syncopation.
Bassist Maxine McCormick tells the Deli, “Getting to play together and build a song is like magic. I feel like I did when I was a kid and I could see the fairy castle in my backyard, and I could fly and stuff. But then you get older and you don’t really see that stuff anymore and the magic kind of dies. And now with the band and this shared experience, it’s like I can see the fairy castle again!” This was just about the cutest quote I ever did see!
Photo by Isabelle Perkins
WR: What does your band name mean to you?
Maxine McCormick: Dutch Kills is a stop on the N train, so we have that New York representation. Specifically Queens rep, which is important because Queens is awesome. Plus it sounds cool. We did not know it was also a bar until much later, and now they are our greatest enemy. Just kidding, we should play there.
Alec Berry: Ever since the first time Max and Julia proposed the name to me, I’ve always been a fan. Specifically because my favorite guitarist is Edward Van Halen. And since he was Dutch, and lived in the Netherlands for a few years before moving to America as a kid, I’ve always thought that little connection was pretty special.
Heather Jensen: My mom told me that a “kill” means a stream or body of water in Dutch. Fun fact!
WR: How long have you all been working on this EP?
Alec Berry: Recording for the EP started back in October. The bulk of the music was recorded over a weekend at The Hit Factory, here in New York. It was seriously a dream come true for me to crank up my guitar through a Marshall amp and hear it played back immediately sounding great. I think getting to record live amps was really important in getting the big guitar sounds that we got. And recording mostly all together with no click track really helped us keep a live, off the wall feel in the studio environment. I’m so happy with the sound and guitar tones across the EP, and so thankful for Aleksi Godard and Reed Seely for helping set everything up just right that weekend. Since then, there were a few vocal sessions at Mercy Sound Studios with Gordon Raphael and one at Electric Lady with Aleksi to really capture the vocal sound you hear on the EP.
Julia Kley: I wrote all of the songs on the EP last spring, and we continued to tweak them at live shows and band practices over the summer. We finally started recording in October at The Hit Factory, recording the instruments for all five songs in two days. We were a bit ambitious reaching out to Gordon Raphael to produce our vocals, but he had a band cancel at the last minute and we were in the studio later that afternoon. Working with Gordon and our engineer, Aleksi Godard, was incredible, they totally saw the vision from the start and were amazing to work with.
WR: What are some of your 2024 goals as a band?
Julia Kley: Right now, the dream is to tour and record a full length album. We’re sitting on a lot of fun songs and we’re hoping to get in the studio and share our music with new audiences. We love performing live and would love to play some shows outside the NYC area.
Maxine McCormick: Tour of the American South. I want to go to Graceland, baby.
The Dutch Kills are Julia Kley (guitar, vocals), Alec Berry (guitar), Maxine McCormick (bass), and Heather Jensen (drums). Julia, Alex, and Maxine started playing together in January of 2023, all having met each other in college at NYU, and Heather joined later.
Photo by Shoshana Ehrenkranz: (Left to right: Heather Jensen, Julia Kley, Alec Berry, and Maxine McCormick)
Dutch Kills celebrate The Rot’s release tonight (1/27) at The Broadway (take the J train) with help fromDrop Dead Gorgeous and Laurel Canyon. Book them at thedutchkillsband@gmail.com…
THE ROT: Credits
Mixing & Mastering Engineer – @aleksi.godard
Vocal Producer – @gordonraphael
Recording Engineer – @rseely5
Assistant Engineer – @laurenmzz
Assistant Sound – @mattdemusic
Drums – @cakeatjobs
Vocals/Rhythm Guitar/Songwriter – @juuuuuliaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Bass – @ridgewoodbanshee
Lead Guitar- @jalecberry
Arrangements – @the.dutch.kills