My Life with The Kills

By Alexander Laurence

I went on tour with The Kills for a week. I have seen them a bunch of times. I saw their first tour in 2002. I have written about them. I have met them a few times, but I wouldn't say that I knew them at all. All that changed when I got a call from Dex from Magic Wands. Magic Wands were on a month-long tour which started at Coachella in mid-April, and ended on May 22nd, 2009. The Kills played most of the shows with The Horrors, and Magic Wands.

The tour manager of the Magic Wands had to head back to Tennessee, to go to a wedding. I was supposed to meet the bands in Portland, and tour manage the Magic Wands for the last part of the tour, and the west coast. I had done interviews with bands. Some friends of mine were presently tour managers. How hard could it be. I have been to all these venues. It just seemed natural.

When you think of The Kills and The Horrors, you can imagine some wild nights and wild partying. Maybe some celebrities or models hanging around. When I met up with the bands Jamie had an ear infection. He had seen a doctor. Both he and Allison were ill. Jamie spent most of his time sleeping on the bus or in dressing rooms. Otherwise he would be on the phone or doing the soundcheck, then back to sleep. Allison was often the first person I saw each day when we got to a venue.

I met the managers of the other bands. They didn't look like tour managers so much as guys from other bands. Since I was in control of the merch, I would be seeing the other people who did the selling for the other bands. Emily was the merch girl for the Horrors, and Holli was the merch girl for The Kills. The merch girl is often a superfan of the band, or a close friend of the band or manager.

My day consisted of waking up and having breakfast. Checking messages. If I had a few hours I would visit some places in the city where the gig was. If I was with Magic Wands, we would be driving a lot. If we got to the venue early, we would go get lunch. When we got to the venue I would say hello to the other bands, and have a chat with whoever is in charge. Every venue has different rules. I would load in the gear myself. At places like the Fillmore, there are a bunch of guys there to help out. It was great when they had a dolly. Load in, and then park the car. We would wait for the other bands to soundcheck. Since we went on first, we would soundcheck last.

So there is a lot of down time. You load in at 5pm, and maybe the show doesn't start until 8pm or 9pm. You sit in the dressing room and make phone calls. Deal with the list. Do some interviews if there are any. Do a photo shoot. At the Fillmore, they have a kitchen and some great food. So you eat while you are waiting, to do sound check. The Fillmore is a great place, especially when you have to be there 8-10 hours.

Unfortunately, the night Magic Wands played there at the Fillmore. The Horrors and The Kills decided they wanted to do an extra soundcheck for a collaborations with both bands. They played a version of "Baby, Please Don't Go" while we watched the clock. Magic Wands had about 15 minutes to set up. People were about to come in. They eventually played two songs, and the sound person was a little eccentric.

I had seen The Kills and The Horrors play before. So I watched a little of their sets the first night. But most of the time I was watching the audience or hanging out backstage. I would watch most of the Magic Wands' set, and if there was a sound or lighting problem, I would run over and talk to the technican. At the Fillmore, they have a guy doing merch for all the bands, so I didn't have to worry about that.

Once the Magic Wands were offstage. I cleared the stage and hauled it back to the car. It took about 15 minutes. After that most of my job was done. I could sit back and watch the show. At the Fillmore show, the label, Bright Channel were there. I spent some time talking to them. After the show we stayed at a house in Mill Valley.

The next day I woke up, and had a coffee. We went to the nearby cafe and had breakfast. The other bands had to rush down to LA to do a TV show, and the Horrors were on KCRW. We took our time, and enjoyed having a day off. As we pulled in to Hollywood, we discussed what we should be doing. We went to get some burritos. Then we went home. I stayed in Hollywood at my friend's apartment next to the Whiskey. We ended up seeing the Walkmen at the El Rey.

All the bands were extremely professional. They had been on tours before and they know how to do it. If there is anything excitement of excessive behavior, it's all saved for the stage or days off. Between the Minneapolis and Seattle shows, there were three days off. I expected some craziness. We all often seemed like invading armies taking off these different towns. In San Francisco, there was a lot of Kills fans. In Pomona, it was like a Horrors fan club show. As we came by the Glasshouse, we saw some tour buses. Oh that must be the venue? It wasn't. Apparently Gogol Bordello was playing the Fox theater that was around the block.






The Glasshouse as a venue is not my favorite. It's out of the way. Nowhere to sit down. Always people telling you where to stand. But as a touring band it's great. The backstage area is cool. There are bars and restaurants nearby. You can go out in the back alley. When we got there, I realized I left a strobe light back in SF. We decided to use the bubble machine and some christmas lights. We waited around for a few hours. Dex and Chris of Magic Wands went to go get some food. We were hoping for a better sound check tonight. The guys at the Glasshouse are pretty young. We waited around an hour for Faris of the Horrors. They ended up not doing a soundcheck. And we had ten minutes to do onee. The angry throng of young goths were waiting outside for the show.

They have a merch table in the front of the Glasshouse, so much of my time was spent there. Me and Emily watched as security beat up some drunk fan. He fell right in front of the door. At this show there were some young kids. We had a open guest list so I invited a few people. The Magic Wands show was great. But they complained that they couldn't hear themselves. I told them it sounded great in the audience.

Magic Wands hung out for a while. I put all the gear in the car. I called up a friend to pick me up. The band went back to Hollywood, while I stuck around to sell merch. I was there until midnight or so, before I headed out. Great. Two shows down. Only the final show in Hollywood.