Kisschasy

I reminisce fondly about my primary school days when we used to play kiss chasey in the little kids yard and think that it was a lifetime ago. Then I think about the first time that I saw the band Kisschasy play and that too, seems like an eon ago. It's so strange to see that 4 years since I first saw the band live, these guys have grown and matured - from releasing 4 track EPs, to selling tens of thousands of albums across the country and beyond. Not only that but graduating from sell out shows at cosy stages like Enigma Bar and the Adelaide Uni Bar to their own show coming up soon at the generously sized Thebarton Theatre.

It couldn't be earned by anyone else more deserving though, as the 4 piece from the Mornington Peninsula have slogged their way across the country countless times playing their own shows and supporting some of the biggest bands in the world like Good Charlotte, Fall Out Boy and the not so welcoming Panic At The Disco. Enthusiastic drummer Karl Ammitzboll explains of the anticipation before they head out on their first (and possibly last) headlining tour of the year.

"It's about time! We're really excited in that some of these shows are going to be twice as big as the last tour we did. We've been living and breathing 'Hymns For The Non Believer' for the last 8 or 10 months and it would be good to see that we can do a tour of this magnitude. We've got The Donnas on board which is another thing to get excited about- bringing out an American band that rock, and they're girls which is cool and also gives our fans something different. And then, of course, we've got The Getaway Plan! It's really exciting because we're sort of making a statement playing these sorts of venues in a way that we've never gone out on a limb and said 'hey we reckon were going to be able to play to that many people', so yeah! It's pretty exciting."

As mentioned earlier, this tour may well be Kisschasy's last tour here for some time as they plan to take on the US market for the remainder of the year - somewhere that isn't familiar territory to the quartet, so it will be a matter of working from the ground up once again. "It's like were starting again and rewinding five years in a way - we're an unknown band over there and we're going to be driving around in a van, which was what we were doing in Australia a few years ago, and I guess that's why we appreciate where we are at today," Ammitzboll explains.

If anyone has access to Foxtel they would almost certainly have come across the video clip for Kisschasy's new single Strings And Drums - a satirical story of a benefit show for the environment with hippie kids floating around before Kisschasy emerge from a stretch hummer as a glam metal band who terrorise the stage in latex pants and big hair in front of a stunned crowd. This certainly isn't the first comical clip for the band - in fact, Strings And Drums is a follow up to their stab at the 'emo' generation in the song Spray On Pants. And who could forget the midgets in their breakthrough single Do Do's And Woah-Oh's?

"Every one of our film clips has been a piss take and we thought 'O.K. Lets make this one a serious video clip', and it didn't happen, did it?!" Ammitzbol laughs. "We can't do anything serious and although our band is deadly serious we thought 'oh well lets do this concept' because the band has quite an awareness when it comes to vegetarianism and veganism and environmental issues, so that's where that started. We then added some kind of benefit show for that and added some pyrotechnics and made it all extravagant," he states.

To coincide with the tour, Kisschasy have just released a special collection of songs called 'To B Or Not To B'. as Ammitzbol explains, "we've packaged our first two EPs 'Darkside/ Stay Awake' and 'Cara Sposa' together which you can't get any more...there was only 5000 printed and so the fans who have only picked up 'Hymns For The Non Believer' have no idea and they're like 'new band! Great!' but its like 'no, we've been a band for 6 years!' so basically it's like memorabilia for our older fans and an opportunity for the newer fans to catch up on the goss and pretend that they're old school," he laughs. "Then we've got the b-sides on there that are some of the songs that we couldn't fit on 'Hymns'."

So, with a huge tour about to commence, a new CD on the shelf, the interview ends with a promise that Kasschasy will be playing at least 3 of these earlier released songs and another thing to look out for - "Darren is going to do a back flip and spin his guitar at the same time!" Whether you believe that or not, make sure you don't miss your last chance to catch the boys in action before they jet off for the rest of the year. You'll regret it if you don't.

Fiona Stafford

Kisschasy play at Thebarton Theatre on Sat 31 May with The Donnas and Getaway Plan.

'Hymns For The Nonbeliever' is out now on Below Par Records through EMI.