Kix (band)

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Kix
Kix in Baltimore (2009)
Kix in Baltimore (2009)
General information
origin Hagerstown , Maryland , United States
Genre (s) Hard rock
founding 1980, 2003
resolution 1995
Website www.kixband.com
Current occupation
singing
 Steve Whiteman
guitar
 Ronnie "10/10" Younkins (until 1982, since 1983)
guitar
 Brian "Demage" Forsythe (1980–1993, since 2003)
bass
 Mark Schenker (since 2003)
Drums
 Jimmy "Chocolate" Chalfant
former members
guitar
 Brad Divens (1982-1983)
guitar
 Jimi K. Bones (1988-1992, 1993-1995)
guitar
 Andrew "Danger" Johnson (1995)
bass
 Donnie Purnell (until 1995)

Kix is a hard rock band from Hagerstown (Maryland) in the United States . It was founded in 1977 under the name "The Shooze" and renamed itself to Kix in 1980 after several line-up changes. After a reunification in 2003, the band still exists today.

history

In December 1977, Ronnie "10/10" Younkins (guitar) and Donnie Purnell (bass) formed the band The Shooze. They played with musicians from Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania . Because they lived too far away, the local guitarist Brian "Demage" Forsythe joined the band. Donnie Spence played the drums. Soon Steve Whiteman also joined the band. The band invited him after they saw him play with his solo band. He should take turns drumming with Donnie Spence and they should both sing. Steve Whiteman moved to Hagerstown for this purpose. 1979 Donnie Spence was replaced by Donnie Purnell's old bandmate Jimmy "Chocolate" Chalfant. First the band renamed itself "The Generators" because the name "The Shooze" already existed. The band then recorded their debut album in 1980 under the name "Kix" on Atlantic Records , which was released in 1981. A year later, Ronnie Younkins left the band due to drug problems and was replaced by Brad Divens. However, he returned after just a year. In 1983 the group released their album Cool Kids , which hit the Billboard charts for the first time at number 177 . After the next album, Midnite Dynamite , they went on a big tour with Aerosmith . In 1988, Ronnie Younkin's drug problem got so bad that he went through a successful withdrawal. With the follow-up album Blow My Fuse Kix experienced a high-altitude flight. 850,000 units were sold, which was also thanks to the single Don't Close Your Eyes , and the total of the live performances reached the 1,000 mark. In 1991 the band performed at The Marquee in New York City, among others . In 1993, however, Brian Forsythe left the band. The time at Atlantic was also over. After the album $ how Bu $ ine $$ and some quarrels, the group broke up. In 2003, however, she went on tour again. All of the original cast were there except Donnie Purnell. He was replaced by Mark Schenker.

Steve Whiteman (September 2010)

Almost 20 years after the release of “Show Business”, their comeback album “Rock Your Face Off” was released in 2014. In 2015 Forsythe, who himself suffered from heroin and alcohol addiction, reported that Ronnie Younkins was again in a rehab for about 2 months. He is doing a refresher there as he has relapsed alcohol. However, further activities of the band are planned.

style

Matthias Herr describes the style as a mixture of AC / DC , Mötley Crüe and Kiss . The rock-hard encyclopedia differs only slightly from its comparison bands: AC / DC, Mötley Crüe and Ratt . AC / DC is tried again and again as a comparison, with Georg Loegler emphasizing in Break Out that the nasal singing and the ballad competence are decisive advantages of Kix compared to AC / DC. In the Musikexpress , Whiteman's variable voice and the broader musical spectrum are also mentioned as distinguishing features with regard to Hot Wire . Two years later, the review of the live album criticized the lack of these distinguishing features. In the book Kerrang! The Director of Heavy Metal by Neil Jeffries, he compared the music of Kix with that of AC / DC, while the vocals are cartoon-like . According to Tony Jasper and Derek Oliver in The International Encyclopedia of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal, the band, based on Atomic Bomb and Cool Kids , play aggressive rock, comparable to the music of Riot and Kiss. According to Martin Popoff in his book The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal Volume 2: The Eighties, the band played Metal on their self-titled album, which was quite aggressive for 1981. In addition, the band exudes an attitude that is comparable to that of Kiss or Cheap Trick . In addition, the album is far more aggressive than the successor Cool Kids . He described the album as "Kiddie Metal". It is less metallic than its predecessor, it is more oriented towards rock 'n' roll , which you can also play to your parents without offending. Midnite Dynamite managed to build a bridge between Kiss and Helix . It is hard rock to be heard, which is slow, stupid and aware of its chutzpah . Popoff called the music mainstream , with the music being about five years behind in its development. Blow My Fuse is "party metal" and more aggressive than most melodic hard rock bands. The music is simple, effective and gets to the point, with influences from AC / DC and LA Guns being audible. The singing is comparable to that of Helix and Metal Church . In The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal Volume 3: The Nineties , Popoff referred to the music on Hot Wire as blues metal influenced by AC / DC. In addition, there are now no more melodic surprises. The songs on Live could also come directly from Powerage , according to Popoff , with the music sounding like helix with harmonies . On $ how Bu $ ine $$ influences from blues rock , glam rock and pop music can be heard, whereby the songs would sound like perfect copies of AC / DC. There is also party metal again, which sounds like "third-rate Aerosmith ". According to Charly Rinne from Metal Hammer , the music on Midnite Dynamite is very reminiscent of Ratt's, although Kix would never come close to it. According to Oliver Klemm from Metal Hammer , the band is largely devoid of identity and ideas on Blow My Fuse , although the group often reminds of AC / DC. According to Jörg Staude, the comparison on Hot Wire from Metal Hammer to AC / DC is obvious, although Kix rarely falls into complicated song structures. According to Staude, music can be heard on $ how Bu $ ine $$ that "can be described as party metal on an average AC / DC level, but never quite comes close to the class of those mentioned above".

The sole copywriter for the first phase was Donnie Purnell, so content is repeated every now and then (electricity and explosions are common) or just favorite words ( cool kids , cold shower , cold blood , cold chills ). Political statements should be avoided, the fun is in the foreground, said Younkins at the time.

Discography

Studio albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
US US
1983 Cool kids US177 (8 weeks)
US
First published: March 7, 1983
1988 Blow my fuse US46 (60 weeks)
US
First published: September 12, 1988
1991 Hot wire US64 (11 weeks)
US
First published: July 9, 1991
2014 Rock Your Face Off US49 (2 weeks)
US
First published: August 5, 2014

more publishments

  • 1981: Kix
  • 1985: Midnite Dynamite
  • 1989: Blow My Fuse: The Videos (video collection)
  • 1993: Live
  • 1995: $ how Bu $ ine $$
  • 2002: The Essentials
  • 2004: Thunderground
  • 2006: Rhino Hi-Five
  • 2012: Live In Baltimore

Singles

year Title
album 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
US US
1989 Don't Close Your Eyes
Blow My Fuse 		US11 (23 weeks)
US
First published: August 1989

More singles

  • 1983: Body Talk
  • 1985: Midnite Dynamite
  • 1985: Cold Shower
  • 1989: Get It While It's Hot
  • 1989: Cold Blood
  • 1989: Blow My Fuse
  • 1991: Girl Money

swell

  1. ↑ a b c Matthias Herr: (Matthias Herr's) Heavy Metal Lexicon . Vol. 5. Verlag Matthias Herr, Berlin October 1996, DNB  980283353 , p. 108-110 .
  2. ↑ a b Holger Stratmann (Ed.): Rock-Hard-Enzyklopädie . 700 of the most interesting rock bands from the last 30 years. Rock Hard GmbH, Dortmund 1998, ISBN 3-9805171-0-1 , p. 199 .
  3. ↑ a b Georg Loegler: Kix . Tired old men. In: Break Out . No. 10/91 , October 1991, pp. 24 f .
  4. ↑ Jeff Kitts: Kix . New York The Marquee. In: Metal Hammer . October 1991, p. 172 .
  5. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from December 25, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kix-band.com
  6. ↑ http://www.mtv.com/artists/kix/biography/
  7. ↑ http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/kixs-brian-forsythe-confirms-bandmate-ronnie-younkins-went-back-to-rehab/
  8. ↑ Georg Loegler: Kix . Hot wire. In: Break Out . No. 9/91 , September 1991, pp. 28 .
  9. ↑ (hr): Kix . Hot wire. In: Musikexpress / Sounds . No. 9/91 , September 1991, pp. 92 .
  10. ↑ (hr): Kix . In: Musikexpress / Sounds . No. 10/91 , October 1991, pp. 76 .
  11. ↑ Neil Jeffries: Kerrang! The Directory of Heavy Metal . Virgin Books, London 1993, ISBN 0-86369-761-5 , pp. 121 .
  12. ↑ Tony Jasper, Derek Oliver: The International Encyclopedia of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal . Facts on File Inc., New York 1983, ISBN 0-8160-1100-1 , pp. 181 .
  13. ↑ Martin Popoff : The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal Volume 2: The Eighties . Collectors Guide Ltd, Burlington, Ontario, Canada 2005, ISBN 978-1-894959-31-5 , pp. 188 f .
  14. ↑ Martin Popoff: The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal Volume 3: The Nineties . Collectors Guide Ltd, Burlington, Ontario, Canada 2007, ISBN 978-1-894959-62-9 , pp. 231 .
  15. ↑ Charly Rinne: Kix . Midnite Dynamite. In: Metal Hammer . October 1985, p. 84 .
  16. ↑ Oliver Klemm: Kix . Blow my fuse. In: Metal Hammer / Crash . October 1988, p. 61 .
  17. ↑ Jörg Staude: Kix . Hot wire. In: Metal Hammer . August 1991, p. 57 .
  18. ↑ Jörg Staude: Kix . Show business. In: Metal Hammer . June 1995, p. 54 .
  19. ↑ a b Chart sources: US

Web links