What do you do when you're a nobody writing songs and illegally living in a rented studio with no shower and using generic baby wipes to clean yourself up with? Well, if your name is Jeff Tucker, you form a new wave synth-based band called Rock Kills Kid and record an album with producer Mark Trombino of Jimmy Eat World and Blink-182, that's what you do. Rock Kills Kid is a five piece based in the OC that consists of members hailing from various bands like Bright Life and Stairwell, and relies on the early sounds of the '80's like The Cure, Joy Division, and The Smiths, but come across sounding more like The Killers and Interpol. Of course, The Killers and Interpol sound like the early '80's too, so who's imitating who? By now it's just a big jumbled mess with all of these post punk/rock new-wave bands popping out like pimples on a boy in puberty. One thing is certain though, if they keep producing, I'll keep listening.
Regardless of Tucker's success story, Rock Kills Kid seems to have the formula down pat already, mixing smooth and dark-tinged synth play with sharp vocals, fluid production, and simple yet catchy songwriting mainly depicting the struggles Tucker had while young and being isolated and trapped.
I'll admit, trying to distinguish the differences between all these types of bands can be sometimes futile, as they are all extremely similar on first listen. But I guess even parents of quintuplets eventually get to know each and every child by name. Rock Kills Kid is like that. Get to know them and they will start sounding quite unlike anything else out there.
