Kitchens of Distinction

Kitchens of Distinction

Kitchens of Distinction (often shortened colloquially to KOD) were a three-person alternative rock/dream pop band from South London, England, active from 1986 to 1996.

History

Dan Goodwin (drums) met Julian Swales (guitar) at college in 1980, and Swales met Patrick Fitzgerald (vocals/bass guitar) at a party in 1985. The trio began rehearsing together that same year, taking their name from a company of the same name that specialized in home decor and kitchen & plumbing fixtures, after Swales spotted one of their advertisements on the side of a bus while riding his bike. Kitchens' first single, "The Last Gasp Death Shuffle" b/w "Escape"(which actually featured Swales on lead vocals and bass, as well as guitar), was recorded in just one day on an eight-track in a Kennington basement, and was released in 1987 on the band's own Gold Rush Records. It was named a single of the week in NME,, and led to the band signing with the UK indie label One Little Indian Records; it was around this time that Fitzgerald, a medical doctor, put his career on hold to devote himself fully to the band. Their first singles for One Little Indian, 1988's "Prize" and "The 3rd Time We Opened the Capsule", went on to collect more praise for the group.

Their first full-length album, Love Is Hell, was released in 1989. Fitzgerald's impassioned, wordy, often bluntly-personal vocals careened over what sounded like a mass of swirling guitars, though the band only had one guitarist. Swales' chiming, effects-laden style of playing drew him comparisons to the guitarists of The Chameleons, Cocteau Twins, U2, and A R Kane. KOD's melodic yet abstract sound was a precursor to the shoegazing scene of the late 1980s/early 1990s.

Despite the promising start, the band faced a subdued reception from the mainstream music industry, generally due to their lyrical content. For instance, "Margaret's Injection", on the 1989 Elephantine EP, was a fantasy about killing then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Also, Fitzgerald was openly gay, and his lyrics dealt with that topic in a frank, no-nonsense and non-vulgar way, especially on tracks like "Prize" and "Within the Daze of Passion". Even the more indie-focused television programs like Snub TV and Rapido failed to give them much coverage, although Snub TV played the video for their 1991 single "Drive That Fast". Likewise, they were not offered a John Peel session, although they eventually did one after asking Peel personally.

In 1990, they signed with A&M Records in the US, and went into the studio with acclaimed producer Hugh Jones (Simple Minds, Echo & the Bunnymen, The Undertones). Their second album, Strange Free World, was released in 1991, and spawned some moderately-successful singles in "Drive That Fast" and "Quick as Rainbows", both of which were very well-received by college radio in the US. The band went back into the studio in 1992, again with Jones at the helm, and their album The Death of Cool came out later that year; it was named in honor of the passing of Miles Davis, who had released an influential album titled Birth of the Cool in 1950. A&M balked at the band's choice of "Breathing Fear" for the first single, due to its touchy subject matter (gay bashing), so "Smiling" became the album's initial single in the US. The band toured extensively, including a high-profile slot opening for their US labelmate Suzanne Vega, whose album 99.9F° came out within a few weeks of theirs.

Later in 1993, KOD began work on their fourth album, having decided to co-produce it themselves with engineer Pete Bartlett. One Little Indian rejected the album twice, and eventually, both label and band agreed to bring in up-and-coming producer Pascal Gabriel to work on a couple of tracks. One of the label's complaints about the album as the band originally submitted it was that they felt it lacked a potential hit single, so Gabriel produced a new song ("Come on Now") that the band had written after the rest of the album had already been recorded; Gabriel also remixed two of the album's other tracks (the opener "Sand on Fire" and first single "Now It's Time to Say Goodbye"). The resulting album, Cowboys and Aliens, was released in the UK in late 1994, and although the band admitted that they enjoyed working with Gabriel, the label's meddling ultimately did nothing to help the album's dismal sales, and many fans were nonplussed with the results. When the album saw its US release in early 1995, it was met with an equally ambivalent reception, and largely ignored by the same alternative rock radio and media that had championed them just a few years before. By the end of 1995, both A&M and OLI had dropped the band.

Shortening their name to Kitchens O.D. and signing to the London-based indie label Fierce Panda Records, they issued a 1996 single, "Feel My Genie", which was named Melody Maker's Single of the Week, but they officially disbanded that summer after a farewell gig at London's Kings Cross.

Fitzgerald initially continued to record and release music under the name Fruit (not to be confused with the Australian band of the same name), a project that also featured guest vocals from Miki Berenyi of Lush and Isabel Monteiro of Drugstore. He also formed Lost Girls, a project with 4AD recording artist Heidi Berry. A CD EP was released (Bad Parents Records 1998 bp001), containing the tracks 'Needle's Eye', 'A Reason to Live' and 'Seen Before'. Since 2000, he has been recording as Stephen Hero, and has put out several releases under that name.

Despite rumors of a collaboration with Terry Bickers (of The House of Love and Levitation), Swales moved into writing scores for TV, film, theatre, and dance. Work includes the soundtrack to a dramatised documentary, on the life of writer John Wyndham (Part of BBC4's 'Lost Decade 1945-1955').

Trivia

• Kitchens of Distinction sometimes performed "secret" gigs under the alter ego Toilets of Destruction. An example was at The Bull & Gate in Kentish Town on August 6, 1990, where the band appeared in drag and played ABBA, Bowie and Bauhaus covers.

• "The 3rd Time We Opened the Capsule" made it onto the "NME Writers' 100 Best Indie Singles Ever" list, published July 25, 1992.

• Kitchens covered the theme song from the 1960s' television series The White Horses (originally performed by Jackie Lee, it was a UK top 10 hit during April 1968). Featuring a rare lead vocal by Swales, it was first included on a free cassette given away with a UK music paper, and later used as a b-side (on the UK single of "Now It's Time to Say Goodbye" and the US single for the song "Cowboys and Aliens").

• Bands whose sound has been influenced by the Kitchens include Interpol, The Verve, Mansun, Longpigs, and Springhouse.

Members

• Patrick Fitzgerald (vocals, bass guitar)
• Dan Goodwin (drums)
• Julian Swales (guitar)

Discography

Albums

• Love Is Hell (1989, One Little Indian/ A&M) (CD copies contained Elephantine EP on U.S. [A&M] CD version)
• Strange Free World (1991, One Little Indian/ A&M) (UK #45)
• The Death of Cool (1992, One Little Indian/ A&M) (UK #72)
• Cowboys And Aliens (1994, One Little Indian; 1995, A&M)

Best-of compilation

• Capsule - The Best Of KOD: 1988-1994 (2003, One Little Indian) (first 2500 copies have bonus disc of rarities/ acoustic versions)

Singles, EPs

• "Last Gasp Death Shuffle"/ "Escape" 7" (1987, Gold Rush)
• "Prize" (1988, One Little Indian)
• "The 3rd Time We Opened The Capsule" (1988, One Little Indian)
• Elephantine EP (1989, One Little Indian)
• Gorgeous Love CD EP (1990, A&M)
• "Quick As Rainbows" (1990, One Little Indian)
• Drive That Fast EP (1991, One Little Indian) (UK #93)
• "Innocent" 3-inch CD single (1991, Rough Trade)
• Breathing Fear EP (1992, One Little Indian)
• 4 Men CD EP (1992, A&M) (promotional only)
• When In Heaven EP (1992, One Little Indian)
• "Smiling" CD single (1992, A&M)
• Cowboys And Aliens CD EP (1994, One Little Indian)
• "Now It's Time To Say Goodbye" (1994, One Little Indian)
• "Feel My Genie"/ "To Love A Star" CD single (1996, Fierce Panda) (as "Kitchens O.D.")

Charting singles

Year	Title	Chart positions	Album
		US Modern Rock
1991	"Drive That Fast"	#12	Strange Free World
1991	"Quick As Rainbows"	#18	Strange Free World
1992	"Smiling"	#15	The Death Of Cool
1992	"4 Men"	#28	The Death Of Cool

External links

• Stephen Hero site
• The Death of Cool KOD fansite
• Trouser Press entry