Kill The Silence: Hide & Seek
Punk Head: “Hide & Seek” is inspired by Ready or Not. Why did that film’s story feel like the right spark for your comeback?
Kill The Silence: It's a story of persistence and survival. We’ve stuck around for longer than even we thought we’d be able to, and not only that but I believe we’ve come out of the last few years stronger. In a way, the work we've put into both the band and ourselves mirrored the story of the film. We’re here to stay, ready or not.
Punk Head: You’ve always injected pop-culture obsessions into your songwriting. What makes horror the perfect vehicle for emotional storytelling?
Kill The Silence: There's a close relationship between Metal and Horror. The themes and vibes can be quite similar, lyrically and visually. A lot of the emotions in horror are very fast, adrenaline fuelled and heart pumping so it aligns with our kind of sound. Drawing inspiration from those kinds of stories helps the lyrics and music just flow quite naturally.
Punk Head: Sonically, where does “Hide & Seek” sit in your evolution?
Kill The Silence: It's probably the biggest sounding chorus we've written in a while. Having a huge sound is something we've always strived for, so we're always trying to improve on what came before. Hide & Seek is definitely indicative of how much we've grown as musicians since those earlier releases. Choppier riffs, more fleshed-out production and song structures, getting a real ear-worm of a hook. We didn't want to just keep writing the same thing over and over again. There's still that through-line of our Post-Hardcore roots in the new material, but our sound is so much broader than that now. Hide & Seek is kind of a statement about this brand new chapter for the band and our sound.
Punk Head: After years of experimentation in singles, how did you define the “new era” sound? What needed to stay — and what needed to burn?
Kill The Silence: I think the main thing we’ve worked on is our songwriting process; finding what works best for us, how we can get the best results out of each other, not necessarily throwing ideas out but spending more time in the important areas and going through the tracks with a fine tooth comb. If something doesn't work in one song, maybe it'll work in another. We learned to let go of trying to force our songs into a box and just see where the ideas would lead, asking ourselves what the song needs and how best to serve it. Blending genres and pooling our influences has been, creatively, really rewarding. We’ve discovered a lot about ourselves over the past 2 years and there will be more to learn, for sure. The important thing is to keep improving, and we feel like Hide & Seek is representative of a huge period of growth for the band.
Punk Head: Leeds has a fierce rock lineage. How much did that scene shape the music you’re returning with now?
Kill The Silence: We’ve always felt that the Leeds music scene has such a wealth of talent that has tended to be overlooked on the national stage for a long time, especially on the heavier side. Recently we have bands like Caskets, Static Dress, Artio… each with their own completely individual flavour of metal tearing apart the UK scene and beyond over the past couple of years. There's an incredible camaraderie between the bands in the small venue circuit. Everyone just wants to build each other up. It's great being able to share feedback and support with our peers, and given how critical we are of ourselves, we're always open to suggestions from other bands on how to improve. We’ve always been proud of having our own style, and we've spent a lot of time over the last few years really honing it. We feel like we’re ready to put forward the best version of Kill The Silence we can.
