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“The Kickback’s notoriously raging live shows have seen broken chairs, bloody knuckles, and the exorcism-like fury of a band who are in love with what they do.”
Zack Daggy: Who all makes up The Kickback?
The Kickback: The Kickback are brothers Billy Yost (vocals/guitar) and Danny Yost (drums), Zachariah Verdoorn (vocals/bass), and Cody Raterman (guitar).
ZD: How/when did you form as a band?
TK: The band formed loosely in 2006 as Billy’s first attempt to get a “college band” going. The two other original members are no longer in the group (graduation), and things didn’t get serious until the current lineup was made about a year ago and we started playing outside of South Dakota.
ZD: How would you describe your style?
TK: Our style has been shifting pretty heavily with a recent foray into samplers and electric pianos, but at the end of the day, everything we do is a slave to melody. Every song is built on something you can sing with or without the additional instruments. Harmonies are the basis of most of our songs. We hear everything from Jeff Buckley, The Police, and Radiohead (“wannabe” gets appropriately thrown around in those cases) to The Strokes, The Hives, and, in a moment that prompted a lot of unnerving self-examination, The Mars Volta. The music we are listening to at the time definitely affects our approach to new material; the variation among our iPods can be both inspiring and terrifying at times.
ZD: Where have you recently played and where do you plan on playing next?
TK: We were lucky enough to touch both coasts this year. We recently moved to Chicago to hopefully make music a more full-time arrangement. We’re focusing on really building something in the Midwest. It’s our home and is incredibly important to us both in terms of how we define ourselves and by the audiences that seem to identify with us.
ZD: Your site mentions that your live shows have included “broken chairs, bloody knuckles, and the exorcism-like fury of a band who are in love with what they do.” Can you elaborate about this?
TK: Heh…it’s more or less as written. Last winter, I was enjoying one of our newer songs a bit too much and wound up going all the way through the chair I was sitting on while playing the piano. Cody and I usually both wind up with bloody hands by the time we get done playing be it broken strings or just being stupid. I think one thing most people remember from our shows is that we go for broke. We go for all the marbles. Especially when you’re traveling, 23-hours of your day is spent in preparation for the 40-minutes you get onstage. That is time to release everything you’ve kept pent up all day. If I don’t feel on the verge of passing out at the end of a show, I feel cheap. Like I could have given more and didn’t. There are fewer feelings worse than thinking you could have done more and didn’t. That’s not to say that bands that don’t get worked up during a show aren’t good or doing their part. I just need the personal validation to feel like I’ve done something of substance. Insecurity more than anything, I’m sure.
ZD: What is your favorite song to play live?
TK: A newer song of ours called “Snuff Film Credits” is a blast if you can get people to buy into it. It’s sort of an outlier in our set that hasn’t found a proper home yet. That was the song in which I found myself wrapped up in the remains of a folding chair.
ZD: If you could open for any band, which band would it be and why?
TK: A band with fans that love opening acts. And dancing. And Western literature references.
ZD: What has been the best part of being in a band?
TK: You feel like you know what you should be doing with your life.
ZD: What has been the hardest part of being in a band?
TK: Trying to make what you feel you should be doing what you are doing all of the time.
ZD: If The Kickback had never formed, what would you be doing right now?
TK: 3-5 for something Cody got me involved in.
Mothpod 151 (Available August 24th, 2009 at Mothpod.com)
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