We here at Amplify the Noise love us some Bitter Kisses. I’d say we have stanned them from the beginning, but I truly despise the word ‘stan’ as a word to describe obsession. The foursome hooked us from the beginning with their debut single “Pr*y” and we’ve been obsessed with them since.
When you’re good. You’re good. But Bitter Kisses are great.
On the heels of their second single “Doctor’s Note” being released on April 28th, we were thrilled to sit down with the band again and discuss “Doctor’s Note”, anxiety, and more.
ATN: First, we have to ask, have you guys earned enough in streaming for that band bowling game yet?
BK: We made it most of the way but were ultimately short. They let us pay in instalments though, so with this second release we may get there.
ATN: In all seriousness, how many streams would it take to actually make that happen?
BK: Well if the average bowling game is £7 per bowler and there’s 4 of us we’re going to need £28. If we take into account the average $0.004 payout per Spotify stream we would need in the ballpark of 8,000 streams. This bowling game is becoming less fictitious by the minute.
Let’s help get those streaming numbers up.
Listen to the band on Spotify or Apple Music.
ATN: You guys are back with another infectious track, “Doctor’s Note”, which has more of menacing and heavier sound to that of “Pr*y”, do the lyrics drive the sound of the song or does the sound drive the lyrics?
BK: Well, the sound was written prior to the lyrics so in that logic the lyrics were birthed from the sound. Probably explains why we were so angry with the words!
ATN: The bassier depths of Thomas’ vocals and his harsher vocals add an even more foreboding tone to the song as if he and Gemma are the yin and yang of the mind. Was that intentional to have his vocals feel as if it were from the point of view of anxiety and Gemma’s as the sufferer of the anxiety or was that a happy accident?
BK: You’ve worded it far more eloquently than we were able to ourselves, but essentially you’re spot on. We pictured the two vocals forming a victim (Gemma) and a perpetrator (Thomas) but we like the yin and yang so let’s say that was our plan from the beginning.
ATN: How did you choose/decide “Doctor’s Note” to be the follow up single to “Pr*y”?
BK: “Doctor’s Note” shows off the heavier side of our sound as opposition to “Pr*y”. With this pair of tracks we can introduce the world to the duality of the Bitter Kisses sound.
ATN: As a younger band, do you think your generation or age group faces anxiety differently than those who came musically before you?
BK: Well we’ve certainly got more medication these days. But joking aside, every generation has had its own anxieties, the only different factor is the context of the world those anxieties live in. On the whole our generation tends to be up front about our emotions so we are just good at expressing this.
ATN: Asking for a friend…will there be a Bitter Kisses EP or full length album this year?
BK: As to date an EP is not in the works. However, change is the only constant in this life and you’ll need to be ready to see a lot of us this year.
SAME 3 QUESTIONS WE ALWAYS ASK
ATN: We know we’ve asked you before…but we’re asking again, you know in case things have changed. Artist / band that you feel is the most underrated and why?
BK: Highly Suspect because “they are brilliant, have some absolute corkers, their songwriting skills are insane and not many people that I’ve come across seem to know about them, which is a massive shame”. ~Scarl
The rest of the band have moved onto The Cheeky Girls
ATN: Artist / band that you would like to collaborate with and why?
BK: PVRIS because we can’t get enough of everything they’re making right now.
ATN: Artist / band that you would like to tour with and why?
BK: I feel obliged to say Bring Me the Horizon because Scarl is holding a knife to my throat right now.
“Also they’re bloody fantastic” – Scarl
Watch “Pr*y” below
Discover Highly Suspect
Watch the latest from PVRIS
Watch the latest from Bring Me the Horizon
