Members of Kill Hannah posted on Facebook and Twitter this morning that their van – along with their trailer, gear, and merch – was stolen overnight from their Philadelphia hotel parking lot.   (Update: Official press release for Kill Hannah’s stolen gear, including descriptions.)  While a traumatic experience regardless, this comes little over a year after a bus fire claimed all of the band’s personal possessions while on tour in Europe.  At that time, their trailer was spared.

Philadelphia has hardly shown brotherly love to visiting musicians of late.  Band Mae were also recently victims of a similar crime – likely by the same responsible party, as the thefts occurred at the same hotel.

It seems lately that every month the blogosphere passes around the story of a band whose fifteen-passenger van and white trailer made them a sitting duck for someone trying to make a quick profit: Anberlin,  Poison The Well, A Static Lullaby, Men Women And Children, as well as many lesser-known acts.

Aside from pricey equipment and auto parts, however, these thieves are stealing livelihoods.  Many touring musicians carry literally everything they own with them on tour.  (Surely people who own more than 3 outfits would wear them – right?)  They may not even have a permanent residence, using their parents’ house or crashing with friends in between tours.  It gives one something to think about when debating whether or not to drop $10 on a band’s CD, or if that T-shirt is really worth it.

Bands give up a lot to tour and entertain.  A certain amount of hardship comes with the choice of an artist’s life, but it seems especially unfair when circumstances happen to make things that much more difficult.

Fans are usually the first to leap to action to help their beloved bands.  As they did last October, Kill Hannah fans are collecting donations to help the band replace their gear.  Mae also set up a donation link to help offset costs to replace their van and trailer.

Kill Hannah are still going forward with plans for their annual New Heart For Xmas show as well.

I admire the bands who have pressed on through these calamities, playing on borrowed gear and trusting the generosity of friends, family, and fans to replace the material things.   It’s much harder to replace the security and trust that is broken when something like this happens.

As Kill Hannah embark on their first U.S. tour in a year, they have released a track from their upcoming album, Wake Up The Sleepers, as a “thank you” to their loyal fans.

“New York City Speed” has circulated among Kill Hannah fans for years as a leaked demo, but the finished version is an aggressive, polished track with a beat that is fresh and contemporary, thanks to the skilled production touch of John Bourke.

(Read what Bourke had to say about working with Kill Hannah in his interview with Julie Tate of Gossip [&] the Devil.)

Tune In, Make Out

The track starts with an homage to the original low-tech version, then the generic Radio Shack keyboard disco beat is swept up by Kill Hannah’s signature crunchy guitars (props to guitarist Dan Wiese for effortlessly picking up the lead licks from the departed Jonny Radtke). The dynamic drum fills keep this song far from typical dance-rock fare, but the programming still puts the listener right in the middle of a crowded dance floor.

Shut Up, Put Out

In a recent MySpace blog post, the band called the forthcoming album “the proudest accomplishment of our lives.”  It’s exciting to see such a hopeful attitude from a group of guys that survived a disastrous tour bus fire last year and has been put through the wringer of a music industry that, as they put it, “has tragically lost its way.”

According to their MySpace page, the band is now signed with Original Signal Recordings, a progressive record label with an artist- and technology-friendly outlook.  Original Signal promotes itself as a supportive, dynamic environment for independent artists with an outlook that embraces the modern musician and music consumer.

Dress Up, Let Go

Kill Hannah believe their time has arrived.  Trimmed to their barest elements, they have rediscovered their roots and reconnected with the heart and soul of what made the band popular in the beginning.  They have thrown all their faith into this approach, the new album, their future, and most of all into the hands of their fans.

Listen to “New York City Speed” on Kill Hannah’s MySpace page now, and don’t forget to check them out on tour with Lacuna Coil.

Every time someone might say Kill Hannah is down, they jump up with a vengeance and scoff in their scrappy Chicago way that they were just taking a breather.

The departure of guitarist Jonny Radtke — who left the band on good terms after nearly ten years to pursue his own projects — has left many fans biting their nails and fretting for the future of the beloved band.

No need to worry.  The boys tore through an energetic set on Monday night at the Diamond Ballroom in Oklahoma City, drawing on the support of friends, longtime fans, and new converts from the ardent crowd of Lacuna Coil fans there for the headliner.  (The strange mix of bands on the bill definitely led to an interesting demographic in the audience.)

KH immediately grabbed the crowd’s attention by opening with their popular first single, “Kennedy,” then continued with high-energy, rock-driven songs like “Believer,” and new tracks from their upcoming album due out this fall, such as “Acid Rain” and “Strobe Lights.”

Long-time fans who have heard the old bootleg version of the song “New York City Speed” will not be disappointed by the reworked and polished version of the track.  Oklahoma’s own DJ/producer/wunderkind John Bourke helped refine a great song concept into an aggressive anthem for this generation’s party set.  The song has “single” written all over it.

Another never-officially-released fan favorite has also been reworked and brought the show toward its frenzied conclusion.  “Welcome to Chicago, Motherf+cker” once saw the light of day tacked onto an older Kill Hannah release, but the band brought the song into the new millennium and gave it that final polish that will guarantee its status as a crowd pleaser for years to come.

Despite admittedly little rehearsal time, the band showed little sign of road rust.  Radtke’s replacement on this tour, a dreadlocked whip of energy with a hundred-watt smile named Gil Baram, seemed comfortable with Kill Hannah’s dynamic, and he jammed out an enthusiastic performance.  (The many young girls in the audience were quite vocal in their approval.)  The few miscues and nuances that were glaring only to a seasoned Kill Hannah fan will certainly be ironed out in coming shows.

(And yes, he’s a very nice guy as well.)

The entire band spoke enthusiastically about the new record, called “Wake Up The Sleepers” after a line from “Strobe Lights.”  They’ve moved away from dance-rock (think “Crazy Angel” or “Boys and Girls” – neither of which appeared on the night’s set list) to focus more on their electronic rock  and New Wave influences.  Those dance beats have taken a supporting role to the crunchy, layered guitars and refreshingly in-your-face vocals.

Kill Hannah have reached back into their roots to effect this next evolution to their sound.  Their energy and hopes are high, and it’s obvious the boys from Chicago aren’t through leaving their mark on the modern rock scene.  If you’re a Kill Hannah fan, rest assured — the band is hopeful, determined, and they sound great.

Wake up the sleepers, indeed.

For another take on the show, and the following show, check out Miss Julie M. T.’s writeup at Gossip [&] The Devil.

Catch Kill Hannah on tour with Lacuna Coil through July.

Something terrible happened recently to a group of guys very dear to my heart.  As a picture is worth a thousand words, let me give you the short version:

Kill Hannah Bus Fire Video

While speeding along on a lovely fall Swiss morning, en route to gay Paree for the next show of the Hope for the Hopeless Tour, something went terribly wrong.  Minutes later, everyone on the double-decker tour bus was on the side of the road, neither fully dressed nor awake, watching all their personal possessions go down in flames.  Anyone who has followed the fortunes of Kill Hannah for any amount of time will have one of two reactions:  Well, it’s about par for the course… or, Why, on top of everything else they’ve had to go through, now this?

Why, indeed?  It’s only natural to ask that question when something goes wrong.  Why me, why them, why now?

I’ve come to believe there is no answer to that question.  Some things just are–without reason–and tragedy is one of them.  Nobody points the fickle finger of fate at you and declares it time to pay your dues.  I think life is one cascading domino effect after another, with causes and effects that at any one particular moment are impossible to discern.  Sure, the things that go wrong have very specific reasons and causes, though they may have nothing to do with us individually.  There is a definite cause of Kill Hannah’s bus fire.  Did they have anything to do with it personally?  Likely not.  Even if so, the tragic events aren’t a referendum on their qualities as people, the way they live their lives, their choice of tour bus company, etc.

Nobody ever deserves tragedy.  Nobody.  Can people bring tragic events upon themselves?  Of course.  Can those tragic consequences sometimes give others a sense of gratification when it feels like poetic justice for wrongs committed?  Of course.  But in the end, events themselves are just that: events.  They bear no quality of “right” or “wrong,” “deserved” or “undeserved.”  They just are.

Toni Morrison said, “The purpose of evil is to overcome it.”  The way a person reacts when tragedy befalls them speaks far more to their character than the nature of the tragedy itself.  Nobody can escape bad things.  However, not everyone can learn from those things and move past them a changed and better person.  There, if anything, is the purpose of suffering through tragedy.

Thankfully, the boys in Kill Hannah (along with the other bands and people on the bus) escaped the fire unscathed.  You can check out Kill Hannah’s myspace profile to see the damage to the bus, and see them standing stocking-footed and dazed while the bus burns, then sifting through what’s left to try to salvage what they can.  It takes a certain amount of bravery to put your vulnerability and shock out there for the world to share with you, and the fact that the guys have tried to laugh about this as best they can, then get back on the road to finish their tour as soon as possible speaks volumes about them.  They are hardworking, earnest, creative, driven men who are the epitome of Nietzsche’s declaration, “That which does not kill me, makes me stronger.”