Whilst ‘Murmur’ has already staked it’s claim on album ‘Spayed’ and as the band’s favoured show closer, ‘Absent Without Leave’ is a brand new addition to the KASMs inventory. Utilising their usual reel-to-reel recording process, the track was written and committed to record live in one day in band member Rory Brattwell’s own studio space. The idea behind this freeform style of recording being to capture the live energy in which their snowballing reputation is rooted and document the exhilarating sound and attitude they have created during their time together as a band. KASMs are London-based Rachel Mary Callaghan, Gemma Fleet, Scott R. Walker and Rory Brattwell. All four members have been other bands: Rachel was the singer in Sin o the East, along with Rory on guitar; Gemma was in London based grunge-pop band Wolfie; Scott was in an ethnic/improv band called Aum Sahib and Rory was in quite a few bands, the most well known being short-lived NME favorites Test Icicles. I guess you could say KASMs sound is Punk/Deathrock but they coined the genre “Shriekbeat” to describe their music, which pretty much encapsulates the essence of what KASMs are all about. Taking in varied influences starting with dark, pulsating, rhythmic bands such as Trial, Crash Worship, Live Skull and better known dark 80s stuff such as Bauhaus and Death in June, they cite their sound as being more heavily skewed by recent Alternative American punk bands such as Subtonix, Nation of Ulysses and Six Finger Satellite. KASMs’ dark, melodramatic tendencies are laced with energetic melody translating to their live shows, which start off intense and brutal and have been known to end up with mesmerizing front-woman Rachel making “assaults on photographers and members of the audience” (The Guardian, January 2009). In the short time they’ve been together rumours of their unpredictable and intense performances have spread at an intense rate, stoking the fire and propelling them forward. KASMs released their much anticipated debut album ‘SPAYED’ through Trouble Records on May 11th which won them support from Steve Lamacq, Zane Lowe, Huw Stephens, John Kennedy, 6Music, NME, Kerrang!, Artrocker, Clash, Dazed & Confused and many more!
