If making a sonic potion was ever a witch’s intention, then she would definitely have given it the name ‘Kiss The Anus Of A Black Cat’! You wonder what this potion would be made of? Let me enlighten you…It would contain the following ‘ingredients’ : the themes sang passionately by David Tibet of Current 93,the ritual and repetitive aspect of religious music worldwide, elements from country music, the atmosphere of the music of indigenous people all entwined with the attitude towards the world and its affairs that is characteristic of punk.
Kiss The Anus Of A Black Cat, a.k.a Stef Heeren, Matthias Debusshere and Rik de Maré, is a band that takes its name from a phrase that was used during the trials of the Templar Knights in France on 1308 in order to accuse them of being heretics and committing black magic! One of the plenty accusations during these trials, was that Templar knights worshipped an idol made of a cat which had a head with three faces. Many other accusations were added to this one but according to historians, none of these idols were ever produced.
Taking into account that ‘Kiss the anus of a black cat’ is a phrase that has been synonymous with ‘heresy’ since 1308, Stef Heeren couldn’t have chosen a more fitting name than K.T.A.O.A.B.C (abbreviation for Kiss The Anus Of A Black Cat) for his band that perceives itself as a heretic organism. Through this band Stef Heeren is giving a music form to his many influences (among which are the ethics of anarchism).
“…we chose the name because of my vision on the world, about how to make things better. I still believe in another (alternative) society…but for now I ‘m only a heretic…“ (excerpt from an interview with Steff Heeren)
The band was formed by Stef Heeren or Steff Irritant (a nickname that relates to the days Stef played in the punk band called Counter Attack ) and is based in Gent, Belgium. With a fascination for the melancholy and warmth of the guitar folk songs of the 1960s and with the aim of composing music that would reach out to the audience, the band focuses on captivating melodies with a rock/psych rock feel, backed up by a repetitive rhythm as the lyrics are sung with a quality that brings to mind Mr David Eugene Edwards of Wovenhand.
A few days ago K.T.A.O.A.B.C announced the release of a new album, the sixth of the band, entitled ‘To Live Vicariously’ that will be released on October 16. 2015 by the Belgian labels Zealrecords and Consouling Sounds. The first of the songs from this new album entitled ‘The Death Of Me’ has been offered a few months ago through soundcloud to the fans of the band and you can listen to it here: https://soundcloud.com/ktaoabc/be-the-death-of-me. A second song called ‘Drone For Conan’ was offered to the fans of the band a few days ago through spotify.
The band continues to build up the energy in each song and now has also incorporated the aesthetics and the rhythms of minimal electro music as well therefore we can only expect an album with different characteristics than the ones that preceded it.
As we are waiting for this album we remember the previous releases of this band by the enigmatic images of their covers and the spiritual impact of the titles of the songs even before listening to them. In the albums entitled ‘Weltuntergangsstimmung’ and ‘Hewers Of Wood And Drawers Of Water’ we also welcomed the addition of backing vocals by An Pierlé, a musician whose own songs are being performed with the warmth and aesthetics of blues’ singers. Her last two albums were released in 2013 and were entitled ‘Strange Days’ and ‘Strange Ways’. The music in those albums was more classical than in her first albums, were based on piano and the performance brought to our minds the voice of Kate Bush (i.e. ‘Strange Days‘) on several occasions.
K.T.A.O.A.B.C have opened for Peter Murphy in 2013 on a show in Brussels and played at the Incubate festival 2015 earlier this month. The setlist is available at the official page of the festival in soundcloud and can be accessed through this link https://soundcloud.com/incubate/kiss-the-anus-of-a-black-cat-07-live-at-incubated-01. The festival was carried out in Tilburg (Netherlands) and had a great line up this year with artists such as Cabaret Voltaire, Wire, Empyrium, King Dude, Merzbow, The Soft Moon, Alcest, Esplendor Geometrico, Of The Wand And The Moon, The Melvins, Mercury Rev, Burial Hex, East India Youth, among many others.
Kiss The Anus Of A Black Cat has increased our curiosity on what concerns the sound of their sixth album ‘Live Vicariously‘ and we can only be patient enough to listen to its entirety in a few days time. Until then…