Killmama is the newest project by South Florida musician Sophie Sputnik who has traded in her acoustic guitar for a stripped down drum kit. Together with guitarist Rob Kingsley, she's spent the past few months crafting a more aggressive and infinitely louder sound. Drawing heavily on blues and rock influences, Killmama is far removed from the singer-songwriter mode of Sputnik's solo work. "Etta James is my woman," Sophie Sputnik says of Killmama's sound. "She's dirty, bluesy, and powerful, and that's exactly what I want Killmama to exemplify."
A recent late night show by Killmama at Fort Lauderdale's Poorhouse drew a considerable crowd who watched as Sputnik thrashed and sweat at the helm of a white drum set. Her normally metered voice rocketed out of some darker, more agitated place over Kingsley's grinding guitar. Comparisons to The White Stripes and PJ Harvey's early work would not be unreasonable.
"I've been singing the blues since I was three, and this has been a great opportunity to merge it with Robbie's hard rock influences," says Sputnik. The sentiment is echoed by guitarist Kingsley. "I was always into blues rock, but Killmama is definitely helping me to take it to the next level," he says.
The drums are a relatively new instrument to Sputnik, one she says was more or less taken up out of necessity. "It's been hard finding a consistent drummer for my solo gig, so I suppose I'm just filling a void by playing them myself," she says. "It's an incredible outlet for the weird angry stuff it turns out I have [inside]."
Check out the track "Beat the Cowboy" below and catch Killmama live at Speakeasy Lounge, 129 North Federal Highway, Lake Worth on June 30.
New Times on Facebook | County Grind on Facebook | Twitter | e-mail us |
