Killaflaw

History

Killaflaw as a writing and recording entity formed in 2006. Prior to this, the individual members’ musical interests and activities are relatively diverse.

Andy Paton cut his teeth composing electronic music, melding various influences, while at the same time adding his own original dimension. This led to him performing extremely innovative and popular live electronics sets, characterised by a hard beat and intelligently delivered improvisation.

Benn Helm on the other hand spent his years prior to Killaflaw in a more rock/blues environment, writing, singing and playing guitar in several bands prior to the Killaflaw’s formation. It’s fair to say that singing is the standout quality in Helm’s range of talent. Whether it’s low blues or screeching rock, Helm can find the notes.
The band formed through a common desire to see what the effect would be of combining their respective talents.

There are few acts worldwide that convincingly create and deliver such a crossover sound as Killaflaw and that can be evidenced by the makeup of their current fan base. Fans of everyone from Slayer through to Hot Chip find something in the sound that they can associate with and enjoy.
Key Events

In February 2008, the band was winner of Liverpool’s Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) award and was selected by Fran Healy of Travis to appear on the EP ‘Play. Stop. Rewind.’ By April, the band signed its first management contract, which provided a more structured approach to its ongoing development.

The band’s debut EP ‘Revolution’ was released in October and received critical acclaim, notably from both the BBC’s Tom Robinson, Kerrang!’s Emma Scott and XFM’s Eddy Temple-Morris. Temple-Morris publically states that the band is “the missing link between Soundgarden and The Prodigy” and continues to vigorously support them. This is was manifest when ‘Revolution’ won XFM’s Demo of the Year award for 2008.

Within the last year, the band has attracted the attention of its peers within music, most notably an offer from Temple-Morris and Tom Bellamy to produce the debut album. The band has also collaborated with Shunda K of Yo!Majesty and continues to have material remixed by Ed Cosens of Reverend and the Makers. Indeed, Cosens has proposed a ‘supergroup’ writing partnership between himself and other members of Reverend and the Makers and Killaflaw.

In 2009, the band has continued to grow in stature, in terms of writing, recording and live performance. The second EP ‘Holy Funk’ was released in July and will be followed up with the release of ‘Set Me On Fire’ in October.

Key shows have included supporting Alabama 3 and Phil Hartnoll of Orbital, having worked alongside Chase & Status the previous year. The festival performance of the year so far has been at The Secret Garden Party in July, which has been described as one of the highlights of the event.

The band embarks on its first official UK tour in October 2009, while preparing for the release of a third EP in early 2010, prior to the release of their debut album ‘Sleaze and Grit’.

Singles

Happy Days (2008) LIPA Records
Revolution EP (2008) A Perfect Noise
Holy Funk EP (2009) A Perfect Noise
Set Me On Fire EP (2009) A Perfect Noise

Albums

Sleaze and Grit – in production (2010) A Perfect Noise