Name: Kentucky Knife Fight
From: St. Louis
Label: Throwing Things Records (Vinyl)
Genre: Dirty dynamic twang fusing dark bluegrass, blues, rock, & punk
Members: Jason Holler (vocals), Curt Brewer (guitar 1), Nate Jones (guitar 2), Jason Koenig (bass), James Baker (drums), Nathan Jatcko (keys)

MUSIC

PRESS PHOTOS (credit: Corey Woodruff)

VIDEOS

BIOGRAPHY
As the Gateway to the West, the promise of leaving St. Louis was built into the prospect of arriving here; her arch functions as an ironic symbol of something to pass through, that which you don’t look at but look beyond. But for those who stay, like the five-piece punk-blues wrecking crew Kentucky Knife Fight, this unswept city itself finds a voice in their sound. Like the dark side of a postcard, unfamiliar unless you live there, their newest songs are inhabited by the city’s criminals and carrion – its lonely, displaced, and desperate. Their city is poised on the precarious edge between southern hospitality and northern cynicism, between bourbon in a pitcher and lukewarm beers that you have to open yourself.

Kentucky Knife Fight have grown along with the city, returning after relentless touring with an increasingly acute perspective of the hardships inherent in St. Louis life. Like the scene itself, they have seen their own youthful angst become introspection and insight; what were once accidental riffs have become anthems; and opening for national acts have yielded performances that were not only memorable, but mattered. Their music is world-weary but hopeful; grace is never enough to save the unsavory; and just because you love something doesn’t mean that it’s good for you.

Pulling St. Louis with them like an always-almost-broke-down trailer across the country, the band is but one of a growing armada of ambassadors in every medium, renewing the city’s vital voice in American art. The city’s community-based initiatives, collective spaces, and galleries are fostering progressive ways to imagine performance-based art. Newly influential again, St. Louis is listening to Kentucky Knife Fight tell its story; they were named “Best Rock Band” four times by the Riverfront Times, but that feels less like an award than an announcement. Because Kentucky Knife Fight are too hungry to be tired; too restless to rest; and too stubborn to stop.

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PRAISE FOR KENTUCKY KNIFE FIGHT

Kentucky Knife Fight’s Classic revenge-therapy lyrics pierce the veil between alt-country and death metal. And that’s where Holler and company really hit their mark–this collection of tunes splits the difference between Nick Cave’s murder balladeering and Craig Finn of The Hold Steady’s seedy characterizations, knocking back stories of addiction, love, pain, death and all points in between. – Eleven Magazine

Kentucky Knife Fight offers up a sound full of razor-edged riffs, incendiary rhythms and enough darkly hopeless love stories to entertain even the most heartless bastards among us. – KDHX

Kentucky Knife Fight rips through vintage blues and primordial twang with an obsessive compulsion to play each show louder, harder and darker than the night before. Led by acidic vocalist Jason Holler, the band’s music is as serious as a homicide or a hanging, and yet it’s also wickedly fun, an overdriven blast of electric guitars and a floorboard breaking rhythm section. The band is ambitious: Its recent music video for “Love the Lonely” melds the lo-fi and brooding spirit of the music with…well-choreographed, surrealist-noir aesthetic. – Riverfront Times

Kentucky Knife Fight is evolving with a seriousness of intent more apparent with each and every move by the band. Videos are being made, touring continues, and the band’s third and newest album, Hush Hush, is the group’s best-sounding, most cohesive, and most original-sounding release to date. – St. Louis Magazine

On Hush Hush, their third long-player, Kentucky Knife Fight continue to mix dark country with even darker blues, and bring to mind bands like Gun Club, Gallon Drunk and Dream City Film Club, together with songwriters such as Nick Cave and Tom Waits. That’s good company to keep, and Kentucky Knife Fight show more than enough promise to hold their heads up amongst those esteemed names. Vocalist and wordsmith Jason Holler (the band write the music) delivers his lyrics with a dirty, unctuous snarl, whilst his bandmates whip up a boogie storm or keep it slow and sleazy. – Leicester Bangs

Every lyric, every lick on the guitar, and every single tattoo scattered throughout Kentucky Knife Fight screams about cutting the crap and getting down and dirty. Every song inspires you to be wild and free (and sometimes a little bit naughty), and at the end of “Love the Lonely,” I kind of want to be a vindictive bitch that steals souls and pours evil love potions everywhere. – KMNR

On their new single, ‘Misshapen Love,” Kentucky Knife Fight sweat and swagger through horn-drenched, guitar frenzied Soul Punk anthem that should have been the soundtrack to every road trip this past summer. Aptly named Jason Holler possesses a set of pipes that sound like Alice Cooper right about the time he was yowling about being 18, and the rest of the band burns like bourbon, sometimes as a drink in a glass to smooth out the rough spots and sometimes on rags and boxes as an accelerant in an insurance arson. Kentucky Knife Fight will raise a hot blister on the most jaded Punk ass. – Cincinnati Citybeat

2014 SUMMER TOUR DATES
6/20/14: Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue w/ Old 97’s
6/21/14: Chicago, IL – Hopefest w/ Old 97’s
6/22/14: Milwaukee, WI – Turner Hall w/ Old 97’s
7/19/14: St. Louis, MO – Plush
7/26/14: Springfield, IL – Donnie’s Homespun
7/31/14: Hot Springs, AR – Maxine’s
8/1/14: Dallas, TX – Double Wide
8/2/14: Tulsa, OK – Mercury Lounge
8/7/14: Little Rock, AR – White Water Tavern
8/8/14: Fayetteville, AR – George’s Majestic
8/9/14: Fort Worth, TX – Lola’s Saloon
8/14/14: Lexington, KY – Al’s Bar
8/15/14: Cincinnati, OH – MOTR Pub
8/21/14: Kansas City, MO – Riot Room
8/22/14: Wichita, KS – Crown Uptown
8/23/14: Springfield, MO – Outland Ballroom (downstairs)
8/28/14: Evansville, IN – Lamasco’s
8/29/14: Marion, IL – John Brown’s on the Square
8/30/14: Cape Girardeau – Pitter’s Lounge

2014 WINTER/SPRING TOUR DATES
1/17/14: Cincinnati, OH – The Drinkery
1/18/14: Louisville, KY – Zanzabar
1/19/14: Lexington, KY – Cosmic Charlie’s
1/21/14: Nashville, TN – The 5 Spot
1/22/14: Little Rock, AR – Stickyz
1/23/14: Hot Springs, AR – Maxine’s
1/24/14: Dallas, TX – The Double Wide
1/25/14: Fayetteville, AR – Smoke & Barrel Tavern
1/26/14: Wichita, KS – Lizard Lounge
1/29/14: Lincoln, NE – Duffy’s Tavern
1/30/14: Tulsa, OK – Mercury Lounge
1/31/14: Kansas City, MO – Record Bar
2/01/14: Springfield, MO – Outland Ballroom
2/06/14: Columbia, MO – Mojo’s
2/15/14: Carbondale, IL – Hangar 9
2/21/14: Chicago, IL – Martyrs’
3/25/14: Bloomington, IN – The Bishop
3/26/14: Evansville, IN – Lamasco
4/25/14: Marion, IL – John Brown’s
4/26/14: Quincy, IL – The State Room

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