Kitchens and bathrooms

kitchens & bathrooms formed in Hamilton, Ontario Canada in 1998 around the core of Adrian Murchison (bass), Lee Penrose (drums) and Phil Williams (guitar). they shared an affinity for complex indie rock deciding to start a band along with an additional guitarist. the band recorded briefly in January 1999 and self- released an EP. In January 2000 the band entered Hamilton¹s Catherine North studios with producer/ex-Junkhouse member Dan Achen recording a full-length record, "thousand yard stare." In early May 2002 they recorded their second full length CD "utter a sound" with producer Daniel L. Burton. Carl Saff, a former member of the band Neutrino, then mastered the record in Chicago IL. The band has played shows with the likes of the Constantines, Les Savy Fav, North of America, Shiner, The Plan, Kepler, Hot Needle, Weights & Measures, Grade, Oxes, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists and their label mates Chore.

Kitchens and Bathrooms (2002) kitchens & bathrooms formed in Hamilton, Ontario Canada in 1998 around the core of Adrian Murchison (bass), Lee Penrose (drums) and Phil Williams (guitar). After meeting in high school and discovering they shared an affinity for complex indie rock they decided to start a band along with an additional guitarist. After playing a number of all ages gigs in and around Hamilton, the band recorded briefly in January 1999 and self- released an EP. In January 2000 the band entered Hamilton¹s Catherine North studios with producer/ex-Junkhouse member Dan Achen and aspirations of recording a full-length record. After one year of tracking, they finally released "Thousand Year Stare". Shortly after its release, said second guitarist quit the band to join a Guns N Roses tribute act. I know what you¹re thinking, a Guns N Roses tribute act? I know, we couldn¹t believe it either. Some people. Anyhow, the now-trio partook in two Eastern Canadian tours following the album¹s release and made a few friends along the way. We¹re not sure about what happened to the guy who joined the G N R tribute bandŠ In early May 2002 they recorded their second full length CD Utter a Sound, at Grotto Home Studios in Bloomington, Indiana with producer Daniel L. Burton. Daniel has done work in the past with bands such as Ativin, earlydayminers, Songs:Ohia, Swearing At Motorists and Papa M. This time it only took the band five days what it took a year to do last time around; the results are better by a tenfold. Carl Saff, a former member of the band Neutrino, then mastered the record in Chicago IL. kitchens & bathrooms take influence from a wide range of musical artists, including Hum, Drive Like Jehu, Kill Sadie, Shipping News, Transistor Sound & Lighting Co., Pretty Girls Make Graves and Shellac to name a few. Their sound is math rock by nature, but straddles the line between heavy and melodic, fragmented and cohesive. The band has played shows with the likes of the Constantines, Les Savy Fav, North of America, Shiner, The Plan, Kepler, Weights & Measures, Grade, Oxes, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists and their new label mates Chore, just to give you an idea of the company they like to keep. In the next few weeks they are going to be playing with a whole bunch more bands as well, as they will be partaking in a five week tour of the US and Canada this summer and have plans to tour again this fall. kitchens and bathrooms August 13, 2002 @ Horseshoe Tavern Reviewed by: Deanna St.Croix This had to be one of the most unexpectedly amazing shows I have seen. In effect, I had gone expecting the kitchens and bathrooms of mellower days and what I heard absolutely blew me away! Once upon a time a struggling indie band, playing beautiful, melodic musical landscapes. Now a band with a major release on the mighty Sonic Unyon with a killer new album under their belts, these three guys are ready to tear down any and all illusions that beauty and extreme heaviness cannot be combined (okay forget any reference to Neurosis here). The label ‘math rock’ describes kitchens and bathrooms most aptly but they are oh so much more than that. They are a powerhouse of beautiful guitar work and heavy hitting powerful, and aggressive hard-hitting music. Think do make say think with extreme heaviness juxtaposed within their alluring musical tapestries. There is so much to get out of this band that it is almost impossible to describe the sounds. Spiritualized, Shellac, US Maple, a whole bunch of eclectic sounds make up the music that is kitchens and bathrooms. On a personal level, picture yourself sitting quietly, listening to some very melodic, yet eccentric music, thinking you had it all down, you had the music cornered, if for just a brief moment. Then wham! Your sense of what is no longer there and you are left wandering in a maze of music unlike anything you’ve experienced before. Well, that was my experience. It is likely that you will be staring in amazement and wonder and banging your head at the front of the stage after the first song. These talented musicians, and that is the right term for them, have put together an extremely unique experience. One I was very glad to be part of. Kitchens and bathrooms are currently touring NA, mainly Canada. Be on the look out for these guys as you are not likely to hear anything on the radio. Buy their CD and support this amazing band. Pictures to be developed soon. www.stonerrockchick.com Kitchens And Bathrooms Move Beyond Their Math Rock Roots Tuesday July 15, 2003 @ 11:30 AM By: ChartAttack.com Staff Math rock seems like an unlikely genre of music to come out of a city famous for doughnuts and steel mills, but for Kitchens And Bathrooms, Hamilton seems like the prefect prescription for shaping their unusual sound. The trio has been attracting audiences for a few years now with their art-rock texturing and their jagged approach to songwriting. And this despite living in the armpit of Ontario’s hockey love. Heck, bassist Adrian Murchison laces up the skates for Sonic Unyon’s hockey team. Hockey passions aside, the band will try to do some scoring of their own by showcasing new material from their third album, Vehicles Beyond (out July 29) on a huge Canadian tour. The album shows the band in a more delicate and quieter setting than on previous efforts. K&B has been through some line-up changes and even had a guitarist leave to join a Guns ‘N Roses tribute band. Despite the departure of the Slash wannabe, the trio has soldiered on, working with producer Daniel L. Burton. Check out Kitchens And Bathrooms on these Canadian dates: —Aaron Foster Kitchens & bathrooms: vehicles beyond Sonic Unyon Reviewed by James Hayashi-Tennant Word on the street is that Hamilton's math-rock kings, Kitchens & Bathrooms, have changed their sound on their second Sonic Unyon release, Vehicles Beyond. That is both true and untrue. Sonically, the band stomp on fewer distortion pedals and the production is slightly different, with vocals more up-front in the mix, so the album does sound different than their last release, Utter a Sound. On the other hand, the band haven't exactly dropped calculus and replaced it with auto shop. Vehicles Beyond features the same kind of angular arrangements, unexpected changes, and the same general mood of Utter a Sound, but it's testament to the band's creativity that it doesn't sound repetitive. K&B's music lacks obvious hooks and even an obvious points of reference, but this is what makes an album like Vehicles Beyond so good. Like the recent release by the Mars Volta (who aren't "math" but are equally likely to shift gears at any given time), Vehicles Beyond is better enjoyed in its entirety because the songs work better when they lay side by side. No track really stands above the rest, but single moments - a guitar part, a vocal phrase - can be striking, grabbing you and leading you through the music. The peaks and valleys aren't from song to song, but from moment to moment, so Vehicles Beyond is much more impressive when listened to from start to finish. The fact that the band change direction quickly and keep the lyrics fairly cryptic also works to their advantage, as it leaves much of the interpretation up to the listener. At times, you might not know what they're on about, but math is a mysterious science. That's what makes it so interesting. KITCHENS & BATHROOMS | VEHICLES BEYOND CD, Sonic Unyon Het slopen van keukens en badkamers is altijd het leukste aan het verbouwen van een huis. Kitchens & Bathrooms levert met Vehicles Beyond een aardige soundtrack voor dit werk. Het trio uit Amerika begeeft zich in de contreien van artrockers en powerhouses Don Caballero en Shellac. Na het uitbrengen van hun debuut Utter A Sound lieten de vergelijkingen met die twee bands ook niet lang op zich wachten. Vehicles Beyond is in vergelijking met hun debuut het rustige broertje. Alhoewel het trio zeker niet vergeten is wat beuken is, doen ze het wat rustiger aan deze keer. Nog steeds is er het krachtige drumwerk en de raggende gitaren maar het geheel is gevarieerder en door de tempowisselingen ook makkelijker te verteren. De nummers beginnen allemaal kalm om vervolgens een versnelling hoger erop te gooien en de boerenjongensemoties op de instrumenten bot te vieren. De zang van Williams komt in de buurt van Bob Pollard's geluid en zet een stemmigheid neer van aggressie en emotie. Kitchens & Bathrooms zal vele math- en noiserockfanaten kunnen bekoren. Voor niet iedereen weggelegd dus. tekst: Joris Heemskerk Kitchens & Bathrooms "Vehicles Beyond" (Sonic Unyon) Hamilton, Ontario trio Kitchens & Bathrooms celebrate rock with a thick, cerebral twist. Clambering across the shoulders of Q And Not U, a bass-focused Oxes and even The Mars Volta, their art-noise sprawls and tumbles against a wall of deliberated rock. Although noticeably mellower than their previous offerings, ŒVehicles Beyond¹ remains a brain frazzling assault from every conceivable angle. However difficult and fractious it is, it¹s rarely unlistenable, instead hugging the line neatly between isolating pretence and highbrow, metallic rock that¹s accessible to all but the verse-chorus-verse junkies amongst us. Prepare to be enlightened. Nat Carsley (logo magazine) INTRIPPA SHAKE FANZINE (italy) Kitchens & Bathrooms- "Vehicles Beyond"- (CD Sonic Unyon)-Terzo disco per la band canadese, sperimentale alla Sonic Youth e tanta personalità che si scorge all'ennesimo ascolto, bella Australian Council e Cold,Colder Envisionment. Un po' alla Tristan Psionic e roba alla Big Black, decisamente personali in alcuni casi, meno in altri, bel disco, come sempre firmato Sonic Unyon.Sbally Album review – Stylus Magazine, Winnipeg MB (Sept 2003) On their new full-length, Kitchens & Bathrooms’ crushing math metal of yore has come to be replaced by a more subdued sound that can shock just as well as it can soothe. Still enthusiasts of odd time signatures and dissonance, the K&B have toned down the heavy riffage that dominated 2002’s Utter A Sound and moved on to more sensitive ground. Along with this new found sensitivity has come a creative renaissance for the band, allowing more diverse arrangements to emerge through their newly exposed layers. The grinding guitar and machine-gun drumming are still present, but to a lesser extent, giving way to more textured, brooding songs. The vocals are rough but sincere, and often wax emotional. Overall, the record is a tight, focused effort that reveals a new dimension of the band. Kitchens & Bathrooms manage to make this departure an accessible one, which should win them new acclaim while still pleasing their existing fans. (Sonic Unyon, www.sonicunyon.com) Andrew Workman Interview – the Carillion, Regina SK (8/22/2003) "Alot of our jokes have to do with underage [...]. I don't know why they just do." These are the confessions of Phil Williams, the guitarist of one of Canada's best math-rock trios Kitchens and Bathrooms, about the groups famous onstage banter. "I wish we had a written schtick that we could roll into town with and use everynight but no. Somenights are [...] horrid when you are trying to crack something and nothing is working. You really want to make your own cricket noises." Underage [...] and cricket noises may be the topic of between song conversations but when the guys are playing their music some of their off sense of humor still shows through. "Our drummer [Lee] was a robot in Halifax the other night" says Phil "he was pounding on the drums with the stiff arms singing '[...] You' but he is funny, definitely funny" The band will have plenty of opportunites to flex their comedic muscle on their extensive cross-Canada tour that covers almost every city that would give them an opportunity to play. "So far the east coast has been the best. They are very generous to us. I don't know why, maybe its the scene there or the market but it is fun...Halifax has been the best on the entire tour so far. We've played there three times in two days and they have all been awesome, just great. That is the type of community they have there, it is all-embracing. We could have played with a hilarious comedy punk-rock band and it still would gave went over well. Thats just how it is." The tour is in support of Kitchens and Bathrooms new album Vehicles Beyond, which was just released on the Sonic Unyon label. The album brings on a new sound for the band, a self-proclaimed "more melodic and mellow" attempt at music. The band has gotten rid of their distortion heavy sound and is now focusing on the softer side of instrumental guitar rock. "A lot of this record was written by myself in my room in the winter. So basically this is a by yourself, in your room, in the dark, in the winter type record. So that was a huge influence. I guess another big reason for the change is that my distortion pedal broke while I was using is so I couldn't write any material with the pedal, Now I bought an overdrive pedal to compensate. I am never going back, its cleaner. Its nice." Kitchens and Bathrooms played The State August 15th. Show Preview – Georgia Straight, Vancouver BC (8/21/2003) K & B formula adds up to more than math rock By John Lucas Talk to enough musicians and you'll soon realize that few of them are keen to have what they do categorized. It only makes sense; after all, if you spent years developing a sound you consider unique and fresh, would you want to have it labelled electroclash or screamo? Kitchens & Bathrooms has its own cross to bear. The Hamilton-based trio has a hard time dodging the tag math rock. The band's latest CD, Vehicles Beyond, has plenty of stop-start riffs and algebra major-approved time signatures, and when it rocks out, it does so in a Slint-meets-the Minutemen fashion that would challenge any listener's attempts to dance along. Even so, K & B's guitarist and singer, Phil Williams, says that although he doesn't object to being called a math rocker, the tag isn't entirely accurate. "Lots of math-rock bands are concentrating on pushing the limits of what music actually is, but we're still within those limits and still writing songs in more conventional terms than most math-rock bands would be," he says, reached en route to Winnipeg. "Lots of our songs are still pretty easy to listen to." True enough. Vehicles Beyond selections such as "Alphabet Conscious" and the untitled sixth track prove that Williams and his bandmates--bassist Adrian Murchison and drummer Lee Penrose--do possess a strong melodic sensibility. Also aiding the album's considerable listenability is its ultraclean production. Williams reveals that he broke his Big Muff pedal on Kitchens & Bathrooms' last tour, which forced him to rely less on distortion and more on his chops when writing songs for the current record. In any case, the fact that he doesn't entirely shrug off the math-rock label suggests Williams isn't overly concerned about alienating folks daunted by the term and its implications that one requires a physics degree to get something out of the music. "I'm really not interested in having people out to see us who aren't exploratory," says the guitarist, whose band plays the Pic Pub on Friday (August 22). "They're not interested in music, actually, if they think it's something that they can't understand. I think everybody can understand any kind of music, but you have to give it a chance, right? So if people are scared, I'd rather have them stay at home." Album review – VIEW, Hamilton ON (8/21/2003) Word on the street is that Hamilton's math-rock kings, Kitchens & Bathrooms, have changed their sound on their second Sonic Unyon release, Vehicles Beyond. That is both true and untrue. Sonically, the band stomp on fewer distortion pedals and the production is slightly different, with vocals more up-front in the mix, so the album does sound different than their last release, Utter a Sound. On the other hand, the band haven't exactly dropped calculus and replaced it with auto shop. Vehicles Beyond features the same kind of angular arrangements, unexpected changes, and the same general mood of Utter a Sound, but it's testament to the band's creativity that it doesn't sound repetitive. K&B's music lacks obvious hooks and even an obvious points of reference, but this is what makes an album like Vehicles Beyond so good. Like the recent release by the Mars Volta (who aren't "math" but are equally likely to shift gears at any given time), Vehicles Beyond is better enjoyed in its entirety because the songs work better when they lay side by side. No track really stands above the rest, but single moments - a guitar part, a vocal phrase - can be striking, grabbing you and leading you through the music. The peaks and valleys aren't from song to song, but from moment to moment, so Vehicles Beyond is much more impressive when listened to from start to finish. The fact that the band change direction quickly and keep the lyrics fairly cryptic also works to their advantage, as it leaves much of the interpretation up to the listener. At times, you might not know what they're on about, but math is a mysterious science. That's what makes it so interesting. Show Preview – Vue Weekly, Edmonton AB (8/14/2003) A new equation Kitchens and Bathroom’s refine their math rock theorem For the uninitiated, math rock could be defined as the loner cousin of prog and art-rock–a music that shifts into unpredictable time signatures and experiments with bizarre tempos, while retaining an aggressive and raw nature. (Personally, though, I can’t get the image of my high school math teacher fronting some sort of perverse, lab-coated version of Metallica out of my head). It’s a genre that often causes a jarring and erratic listening experience. Kitchens and Bathrooms, a three-piece band from Hamilton who fall under the math-rock umbrella, formed five years ago. K&B singer/guitarist Phil Williams cites influences from classical to metal in the music and does the best he can to make sense of it all. "We definitely experiment with math-rock in that we use unconventional melodies," he says. "But fans of math rock might not find us as jarring as most bands in the genre are." Williams’ vocal style is as unconventional as the melodies that he explores. Shifting from occasional whispers, strange harmonies, and subdued monotony to sudden bursts of shouting, Williams provides an unpredictable listening experience. For a guy who explores such an intricate and arty sound, Williams is surprisingly down-to-earth. Perhaps that’s because he releases the tensions created from drafting indie-rock melodies in the form of physical aggression. Kitchens & Bathrooms are known as a band that is not afraid to get physical. "The last fight I got into was with a roadie. Basically, after he punched me in the jaw, I flipped him over and punched him a couple times in the [...]," Williams laughs. "We’re big guys," he says, adding that his band often "degenerates into horseplay." Kitchens & Bathrooms are now touring to promote their third album, Vehicles Beyond, which was released in late July by Sonic Unyon. Just by looking at the track listing on the back of the disc, you know you’re in for a potentially outlandish listening experience. Songs include "Catalyst Envisionment," "For Instance, Driving Blind" and one track that has a blank space in place of a name. Vehicles Beyond was originally slated to be an EP follow-up to their last album, 2002’s Utter a Sound, but it quickly grew into a full-length album in its own right, albeit one that was noticeably mellower than their previous work. "Aside from losing my distortion pedal, it was part of the natural progression of the band," Williams says of the group’s new, softer sound. "The songs were written in winter, which contributed to a feeling of melancholy on the recordings." Album review with interview – Exclaim!, Toronto ON, August 2003 “I can’t ignore the melodies that are in my head. I’ll sit in class and hum and most of the time I don’t take notes because of that. I have a 1982 Panasonic single deck tape recorder that I record IDeaS on at home and usually I’ll play through a 60-minute tape to work out one song. This stuff is all I think about.” Phil Williams is dedicated to making complicated music. Since Kitchens & Bathrooms started over a half-decade ago, Williams (alongside drummer Lee Penrose and bassist Adrian Murchison) has become obsessed with different time signatures and rhythms. Mainly attributing his exposure to math rock to late-night [...] smoking sessions with Chore’s Mike Bell, he’s excited that there has been a recent surge in bands interested in bizarre calculations. “It’s sort of catching on around here these days. Maybe together we can make five/four the new four/four. I don’t understand why people don’t use that time signature constantly. You can still dance to it and it’s just so much more interesting. It’s the best time signature there is.” But don’t be scared off by nerdy music talk. With Vehicles Beyond, the band’s second full-length for Sonic Unyon, Williams and company haven’t forgotten to throw in a couple hooks, a few driving parts and most surprising of all, actual singing. The Don Caballero/Shellac influence is still present but it’s nicely complemented with Sunny Day Real Estate-style crooning and grandiose gesturing à la Golden Lake Diner. “We’ve all learned how to play music in this band. We had just picked up the INSTRUMENTS when we started Kitchens & Bathrooms so we’ve developed our skills together. I used to just scream over the easy parts because that’s all I could do. I always wanted the melodies; I just didn’t know how to get to them before. I still sing over the easy parts on this record but the vocal lines are better. Next album I think I’ll try to sing over the hardest parts.” Album review – Fufkin.com, Ft. Lauderdale FL, August 2003 (review by someone outside the US on our promo list) Math-rock, post-rock, prog-rock, jazz-rock - it’s still rock ‘n’ roll to-brrrr. To be fair, Hamilton Ontario trio Kitchens & Bathrooms is not as cold, technical and clinical as perhaps its press may imply. Passion and emotion is after all, a key ingredient in rock and if one scratches beneath the calculative veneer of songs like “First One In, Last One Out,” “Australian Council,” “The Commodity” and “Desert Prophets” there is fervor to be discovered. Album review – McMaster Silhouette, Hamilton ON, August 1, 2003 Vehicles Beyond, the third full length record from Hamilton natives Kitchens and Bathrooms, is a solid little entry in the indie rock arena, although the first couple of tracks are a bit bumpy. The various sound elements are all over the map and the lyrics are a tad puerile (“Would it be better/To tell her/How you feel?”). But the musicians’ skills soon emerge. Lee Penrose has a good instinct for punctuating Phil Williams’ guitars with snare clips and cymbal washes, and Williams shows promise with some truly aggressive vocals. At times I was reminded of the dynamic energy of Remy Zero, only Kitchens do not yet have the confidence and unity to fully gel in such a way. The core problem here is the band’s tendency towards long, drawn out instrumental bridges. The bass plucking and staccato drum beats go on far too long and without any of those lively vocals to offset the monotony, the songs start to feel bland and stranded. Hopefully, on further efforts, they will find a way to even out their skills. Show Preview – See Magazine, Edmonton AB (8/15/2003) A new equation Kitchens and Bathroom’s refine their math rock theorem For the uninitiated, math rock could be defined as the loner cousin of prog and art-rock–a music that shifts into unpredictable time signatures and experiments with bizarre tempos, while retaining an aggressive and raw nature. (Personally, though, I can’t get the image of my high school math teacher fronting some sort of perverse, lab-coated version of Metallica out of my head). It’s a genre that often causes a jarring and erratic listening experience. Kitchens and Bathrooms, a three-piece band from Hamilton who fall under the math-rock umbrella, formed five years ago. K&B singer/guitarist Phil Williams cites influences from classical to metal in the music and does the best he can to make sense of it all. "We definitely experiment with math-rock in that we use unconventional melodies," he says. "But fans of math rock might not find us as jarring as most bands in the genre are." Williams’ vocal style is as unconventional as the melodies that he explores. Shifting from occasional whispers, strange harmonies, and subdued monotony to sudden bursts of shouting, Williams provides an unpredictable listening experience. For a guy who explores such an intricate and arty sound, Williams is surprisingly down-to-earth. Perhaps that’s because he releases the tensions created from drafting indie-rock melodies in the form of physical aggression. Kitchens & Bathrooms are known as a band that is not afraid to get physical. "The last fight I got into was with a roadie. Basically, after he punched me in the jaw, I flipped him over and punched him a couple times in the [...]," Williams laughs. "We’re big guys," he says, adding that his band often "degenerates into horseplay." Kitchens & Bathrooms are now touring to promote their third album, Vehicles Beyond, which was released in late July by Sonic Unyon. Just by looking at the track listing on the back of the disc, you know you’re in for a potentially outlandish listening experience. Songs include "Catalyst Envisionment," "For Instance, Driving Blind" and one track that has a blank space in place of a name. Vehicles Beyond was originally slated to be an EP follow-up to their last album, 2002’s Utter a Sound, but it quickly grew into a full-length album in its own right, albeit one that was noticeably mellower than their previous work. "Aside from losing my distortion pedal, it was part of the natural progression of the band," Williams says of the group’s new, softer sound. "The songs were written in winter, which contributed to a feeling of melancholy on the recordings." So should Edmonton expect a solemn, placid show? "Our live show is still loud as hell," Williams reassures. "We’re told that we were the loudest band to ever play The Paramount in Moncton, New Brunswick, and plenty of [...] loud bands play there." JAMES LAMBERT Album review – Winnipeg Sun, Winnipeg MB (8/11/2003) Rating: 3 out of 5 Anybody who's spent any quality time with HGTV knows two things: 1) Kitchens and bathrooms are the two most popular rooms to renovate in the home; 2) They are also the hardest to renovate. Perhaps that explains why Hamilton math-rock power trio Kitchens & Bathrooms have gone to such lengths to spruce up their sound on their third album Vehicles and Beyond. Most of their musical structure is still recognizably intact: The prime-number time signatures, angular guitar chords, syncopated rhythmic interplay and Bob Pollardesque vocals that won them comparison to Shellac and Don Caballero haven't been painted over. But they have been muted somewhat; most of these 11 sonic constructs are slower, quieter and more thoughtful than their predecessors, making more extensive use of mood lighting, negative space and shadow. No doubt Debbie Travis and Martha Stewart would both approve. For what it's worth, you probably will too. Album review – The Coast, Halifax NS (August 7, 2003) For its third release, Hamilton’s math-rock trio Kitchens & Bathrooms steps down a notch or two on the feedback meter without compromising the dynamic strength for which it has become known. Like Slint or June of 44, K&B build complexity that burns with the intensity of 1,000 suns through simple arpeggio and time signature shifts. Although intended as a quieter album, Vehicles Beyond is easily the band’s most interesting and effective release to date. Preview interview – Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa ON (July 31, 2003) Winter music on a summer night Wes Smiderle Phil Williams is trying to come up with a delicate way of saying that he's the guy who writes the songs in Kitchens & Bathrooms. First he stumbles through an awkward statement on how everyone in the group writes parts and contributes here and there. After much stumbling and stammering, he says the guitarist tends to be the main songwriter in most bands and Kitchens & Bathrooms is no different. "I'm just trying to avoid that question as best as I can," the band's guitarist finally admits. Delicacy is not a strong point for Williams, except when it comes to songwriting. The Hamilton trio's latest album, Vehicles Beyond, has been hailed as sensitive, quiet, mellow and, yes, delicate. Those are all surprising adjectives for a band that prides itself on delivering a wall of sound-style "sonic assault." Williams, speaking on the phone from Hamilton, believes his band's new delicacy comes from a lack of distortion. "We turned down the pedals, but I think the songs are heavier structurally," he says. "They're also more delicate in the sense of expressing inner fragility." The group's Sonic Unyon debut, Utter a Sound, captured attention for its rusty rock squall and earned Kitchens & Bathrooms the tag "math rock." The term is associated with progressive rock music featuring unusual time signatures and heavy syncopation. "Yeah, we're all those things," says Williams, "but I don't think we're a math rock band." No one in the group minds the label all that much, though. At the moment, they're more concerned with geography. Williams says being based in Hamilton is "the most difficult thing about being in the band." The trio has struggled to make itself known outside Steeltown, and Williams says the group's first American tour was pretty much a washout. "The crowds were sparse," he says. "Not kind of sparse, very sparse." Now, with a little experience, more connections and a brand new album to peddle, Kitchens & Bathrooms is preparing for a cross-country tour to "solidify" their reputation in Canada before heading south for a second shot at the States. Vehicles Beyond may be a tough sell down south. Williams, who describes the new disc as a "winter album," says the material is "laced with melancholy" and often very abstract. The song Alphabet Conscious, for example, sounds like a tune about longing for a girl. It's actually about Canada. The songs and lyrics are sometimes so weighted with metaphor it can be difficult to figure out what they're about. Williams says maybe the songs are a little more abstract than he would like, but that's just the way he writes. "Imagery is maybe more important than just telling it how it is," he says. "It allows for various interpretations, and some confusion, which is always fun. We're pretty good at confusion." Kitchens & Bathrooms perform with Hoosier Poet at 8 p.m. tonight at Zaphod Beeblebrox, 27 York St. Admission is $6. Preview interview – Ottawa Xpress, Ottawa ON (July 31, 2003) KITCHENS AND BATHROOMS ADD IT UP It's album number three for Hamilton trio Kitchens & Bathrooms and this time they've been saddled with the term "math rock," in the accompanying bumpf for their art-rock-laden CD called Vehicles Beyond. Math rock is kind of the trendy-indie-cool tag, but a rough poll finds that no one knows exactly what it means. Post-rock, prog-inspired rock, indie rock, art rock or lo-fi? Who knows? The defining characteristic is something numerical: jarring, non-standard time signatures or, for some diehards, expressing the Fibonacci sequence in music, the sum of two preceding numbers articulated as some sort of Morse code. Severe. K&B bassist Adrian Murchison, who works with guitarist/vocalist Phil Williams and percussionist Lee Penrose, says they'll take what they get, buckle down, play the music they love to play and leave the taxonomy to clever industry flacks. In short, they don't really care what you call it and if there are clever references in their music, they're mostly coincidental. "It's kinda weird," Murchison says by phone from Hamilton, a pause in their tour that hits Zaphod's tonight (July 31). "I think we get stuck with the term math rock because we don't use the standard 4/4 beat and we have a lot of stops and starts and jagged parts in our music with a lot of weird pauses and stuff. "If you're looking for bands that are really complex, you have to look back to King Crimson and Genesis." On Vehicles Beyond, it was about stepping back. Fans of the band's pounding, assaultive noise abundantly available on their 2002 release Utter a Sound will hear a shift in gear. They eased off the volume and distortion pedals, and if a song sounded good, they left it unadorned. The result is something more organic, so you can hear Williams' sometimes-wailing, sometimes-whining vocals unhindered by production work. "It was a more concise approach," Murchison says. "As opposed to layering more guitar tracks to drown everything out, each of us played a little more honed, a little more exact. "We're big believers in natural sound - there's no trickery. Anything you can hear on the album, you can hear live." Kitchens & Bathrooms w/ Hoosier Poet and Gay as the Day is Long, Thursday, July 31 at 9 p.m., $6. Zaphod Beeblebrox. Album review – Chartattack.com (July 29, 2003) On their last full length, 2002's Utter A Sound, Hamilton trio Kitchens And Bathrooms uttered more than a meek few sounds. Their distortion-laden, angular riffs and clunky beats infused this math-rock with a dose of punk energy. The ensuing blend of arty bombast and ragged indie noise made for an alluring listen, albeit one common to many like-minded rockers. The distortion pedals aren’t used as much on K&B's new album, Vehicles Beyond, and it's an improvement. Guitarist Phil Williams unearths his previously-hinted melodic sensibility and the songs ebb and flow with a far greater dynamic range. Lee Penrose's tight, shifting rhythms and Adrian Murchison's rock-solid bass foundation also shine brighter among the quieter guitar work. Math rock rarely has sounded as tuneful as this. Kitchens & Bathrooms To Break Up After Two Last Shows Wednesday December 03, 2003 @ 04:30 PM By: ChartAttack.com Staff Kitchens And Bathrooms After six years and three albums, including two for Sonic Unyon, Hamilton’s kitchens & bathrooms have called it quits. The band will play two hometown shows over the next two weeks and after that guitarist Phil Williams, bassist Adrian Murchison and drummer Lee Penrose will no longer be a band. Williams says that while the break up news seems sudden, dissention has been brewing in the k&b ranks for some time. "We’ve all kind of grown up and apart in different directions," he explains. "Chalk it up to youth, I guess. It just had to do with us and our maturation processes and how we all differ slightly or greatly from one another. "We always had the name of our next record printed somewhere on the cover of our CDs," he continues. "And the name of our next record was going to be Well Kept Secret. The well kept secret was that if things weren’t going a little bit better by the time this record was done, we’d break up." Still, Williams says that the band are splitting on pretty good terms and that he, at least, is already working on a new project. While he’s tight-lipped about any specifics, the guitarist says that he’s interested in moving beyond his rhythmic math-rock style and exploring a more melodic sound. "It’s very safe to say that projects from me will be coming," he says. "It’s very unsafe to say that these are projects that people who enjoy kitchens & bathrooms will enjoy." Remembering the highlights of his six years with k&b, Williams points to the band’s relentless touring. K&B drove across Canada countless times in their history and Williams says that he came across hundreds of people that made the arduous hours in the van completely worthwhile. "The highlights that really are important are the number of people that we’ve met just in the last few years of touring and the amazing people we’ve met," he says. "Whether they’re amazing strange people or amazing nice people, I have highlights all across the country. Everybody in Edmonton, they know who they are. Alberta’s a great province… and so is everybody in Nova Scotia. I really love people and I love this country. "I also want to thank all the journalists who were really friendly to us. All the people were really happy to talk to us, which is really cool. And thanks to Sonic Unyon especially." —Elizabeth Chorney-Booth