Kissy Sell Out
[San City High, London, U.K]
www.myspace.com/kissysellout
Kissy Sell Out is an electro-pop prodigy. Initially the new DJ kid on the block, he became the remixer du jour for everyone from Groove Armada and Chromeo to Gwen Stefani. Now he’s about to unleash a debut album that will surprise everybody and take him to a whole new level. Heading up his band, not only does he write, produce and arrange all his own material, he also sings and performs on both guitar and keytar. Oh- and he has his own show on Radio 1…
Kissy Sell Out wasn’t your average kid. His manic musical eclecticism derives from the twists and turns of his youth. Kissy was born 23 years ago and spent his early years in Cambridge where he developed a precocious interest in Nirvana. He tells a funny story about his first encounter with Kurt Cobain’s outfit: “At primary school a friend told me that his brother had received a Nirvana video for his birthday. I knowingly said, ‘Oh, yeah,’ because I thought it sounded so mysterious; I actually thought it was porn…”
It wasn’t long before this misunderstanding was cleared up and by the time he moved to Colchester in Essex a few years later, he was a fully fledged junior grunger. This, however, was not the thing to be in Essex… Speed garage ruled and, while he secretly listened to Smashing Pumpkins, Kissy outwardly transformed himself into brash Tommy B who DJed speed garage and prog house at his mates’ parties.
Then he headed for London to attend St Martins, the famous Art College, where he accidentally became a nouveau East Londoner without even realising it. He did graphic design for the ultra-cool POP magazine, created his own tee-shirts featuring a typically offbeat collection of his influences (eg. Japanese techno experimentalist Susumo Yokota and folk artist John Martyn). He painted, grew a mullet and turned his attentions to music.
New albums by Mylo and Felix Da Housecat hinted at a place where his interest in grunge dynamics could co-exist with his DJ/club sounds. He knew his way round a computer and, in 2006, created the stomping electro-rave anthem ‘Her’ along with the persona of Kissy Sell Out. Packaged in a self-designed sleeve on his own San City High imprint, he persuaded Rough Trade to take 100 copies and, since it contained just the right combination of raw sweaty energy and snappy electro pizzazz, it soon started a clubland buzz.
Word spread and, before long, Kissy was DJing all over the globe and remixing a mass of artists (Calvin Harris, Human League, All Saints, Mark Ronson, Sugababes, GoodBooks, etc, etc). He became known for having a new attitude to partying; raving behind the decks on a diet of chocolate and his own endless gusto rather than the powders and pills of an older jaded generation. Towards the end of 2007 he decided to devote himself to his own music and has upped his musicality, playing all sorts of instruments and learning about singing techniques and live recording.
This festival season has borne witness to Kissy Sell Out as a band that has taken revellers’ breath away. Inspired by Spank Rock’s show and the performance example of Mark Ronson, it became clear that Kissy could take a ringmaster role, playing guitar and keyboards, hyping the crowd and leading a show that would rock the crowd.
“When I started talking about a band,” says Kissy, “lots of people were throwing around words like Groove Armada and Basement Jaxx but they’re much more pure dancey than we’re going to be. It won’t be rock or indie, though, definitely not.”
Kissy Sell Out is a guy whose favourite band is ‘80s New York avant-noise outfit SWANS, but who’s happy dissecting the latest cuts from Sinden or High Contrast. He loves dance music but isn’t ruled by it.His oddball obsessions fly by – from Capri Sun drinks to beef jerky - but a hardy perennial is the cult 1989 film ‘Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure’. He’s even put the tribal ‘80s pop of Big Pig’s ‘Breakaway’, featured heavily in the movie, on his new Australian Ministry Of Sound mix CD.
“Keanu Reeves was at his best as Ted - young Keanu Reeves is my ideal,” Kissy laughs, “Not ‘Matrix’ Keanu but ‘River’s Edge’ Keanu, ‘Bill And Ted’ Keanu – a grungey guy who never grew up. All he wants to do is play music and have fun – that’s my ideal.”
And when Kissy has fun he wants everyone else to have fun too.
His DJ spots are notorious for his use of airhorn, his 2 Unlimited mash-ups and his crowd interaction. Now he’s taking this to an exhilarating new level with his band, it seems likely a whole lot more people are going to be embracing Kissy’s idea of fun.
