The Kills

Delivering potent minimalism, the Kills distill rock 'n' roll to its purest form and refresh it album after album. Emerging amid the garage rock resurgence of the early 2000s, Jamie Hince's sharply fragmented guitar work paired with Alison Mosshart's versatile vocals—capable of both growls and whispers—ignited immediate chemistry. This dynamic helped the duo outlast and outcreate peers, as evidenced by their progression from the raw blues-punk energy on Keep on Your Mean Side in 2003, through the innovative blend of garage, hip-hop, and electro elements on Midnight Boom in 2008, to the darker tones of Ash & Ice in 2016. With the release of God Games in 2023, which featured bold dramatic flair, they had honed a signature style that was both raw and sophisticated yet resisted simple categorization.

The Kills trace their beginnings to 2000, when Mosshart crossed paths with Hince during her time in London with Discount, the Florida-based punk outfit she had launched at age 13. Hince, already experienced from stints in Scarfo and Blyth Power, was practicing guitar in the apartment overhead, and his broken-up approach immediately drew her interest. After Discount disbanded later that year, Mosshart and Hince began collaborating musically. Initially Mosshart composed tracks on a four-track recorder Hince supplied, and the two swapped cassettes through the mail.

Once Mosshart had accumulated sufficient funds to relocate to England, their remote exchanges developed into a proper band. Working together in person, Hince and Mosshart expanded their rough ideas, employing a Roland 880 sequencer to layer polished beats over their gritty, sensual textures. Adopting the name the Kills and performing under the pseudonyms Hotel for Hince and VV for Mosshart, they put out a self-released demo in early 2001 that drew positive notices from outlets including TapeOp Magazine. In 2002 they supplied the track "Restaurant Blouse" to 5 Rue Christine's If the Twenty-First Century Did Not Exist It Would Be Necessary to Invent It, after which their debut EP Black Rooster appeared on Domino Records (with Dim Mak handling U.S. distribution). Following performances at the London and Glasgow LadyFests plus dates alongside Le Tigre, the Kills spent eight weeks touring the U.S. before returning to London to complete their debut full-length Keep on Your Mean Side. Cut in two weeks at London's Toe Rag Studios, the album surfaced in March 2003, climbing to number 47 on the U.K. Albums Chart, while the singles "Fried My Little Brains" and "Pull A U" registered on the U.K. Singles and Independent Singles charts.

Midway through 2004 the Kills began sessions for their follow-up. Although their intention to center the record on Hince's Moog was thwarted when the vintage instrument malfunctioned beyond repair ahead of recording, February 2005's No Wow emerged as an even rawer and more streamlined set, revealing a growing electronic presence alongside the blues and post-punk foundations of their first effort. The single "The Good Ones" reached number 23 on the U.K. Singles chart, while the album itself attained number 56 on the U.K. Albums Chart and number 18 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart in the U.S. By then Mosshart had become a sought-after guest vocalist, teaming with Placebo on the title track of their 2006 album Meds and with Primal Scream on Riot City Blues.

For their third album the Kills reshaped their approach. Teaming with Spank Rock producer Alex Epton at Key Club Recording Company in Benton Harbor, Michigan, Mosshart and Hince incorporated additional electronic beats and pop hooks. Titled after their most fertile creative window, March 2008's Midnight Boom landed at number 47 on the U.K. Albums Chart; all five of its singles charted on the U.K. Independent Singles Chart. It also performed strongly across Europe and earned silver certification. In the U.S. it topped the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart and marked the Kills' first entry on the Billboard 200 Albums chart.

While on tour with the Raconteurs behind Midnight Boom, Mosshart developed a rapport with frontman Jack White that led them to form the supergroup the Dead Weather in 2009. As that project rapidly produced its potent fusion of garage, blues, punk, and rock & roll across two albums—Horehound in 2009 and Sea of Cowards in 2010—Mosshart still carved out time to write and record the Kills' fourth album with Hince. Again tracked at Key Club, April 2011's Blood Pressures leaned into more direct rock 'n' roll and ranked among the duo's strongest commercial showings: a top-ten release in France, it reached number 40 on the U.K. Albums Chart and number 37 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart in the U.S., later peaking at 133.

In 2012 the Kills marked their tenth anniversary with Dream & Drive, a photo book by Kenneth Capello—who had also helmed several of their videos—alongside a cover of "Dreams" for the Fleetwood Mac tribute Just Tell Me That You Want Me. Over the ensuing years Mosshart relocated to Nashville to focus on visual art and her Dead Weather commitments, which yielded Dodge & Burn in 2015. Meanwhile Hince rehabilitated from a left-hand injury that necessitated five surgeries and a complete relearning of guitar technique. The duo tracked their fifth album in a rented Los Angeles house plus New York City's Electric Lady Studios, with Hince co-producing alongside John O'Mahony. Ash & Ice, among their most somber collections, arrived in June 2016; it became a top-20 hit in the U.K. and peaked at number 45 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart.

After mounting an extensive tour behind Ash & Ice that included shows with Guns N' Roses, the Kills sustained their momentum via the 2017 acoustic EP Echo Home - Non Electric and two 2018 covers: Saul Williams' "List of Demands" and Peter Tosh's "Stepping Razor." In 2020 Mosshart issued several solo projects, among them the track "Rise," recorded with Lawrence Rothman and Hince for the Facebook Watch series Sacred Lies, plus Sound Wheel, a spoken-word collection of poems and stories centered on her passion for automobiles and highways. That December the Kills released Little Bastards, a compilation of B-sides and rarities from the 2000s. In June 2022 they reissued No Wow to mark its seventeenth anniversary, pairing the original with a remix by Grammy Award-winner Tchad Blake. The Kills resurfaced in October 2023 with God Games. Co-produced with longtime collaborator Paul Epworth, the album's "godless spirituals" were primarily written on piano rather than guitar and featured brass plus choral vocals from the Compton Kidz Club Choir.