Exclusive: Listen to the premiere of Hipshot Killer’s Too Much Rock single

For the fifth entry in Too Much Rock’s singles series, label head Sid Sowder chose Kansas City’s Hipshot Killer to follow the format of original A-side, cover-song B-side. The KC trio has answered with a brilliantly vibrant new song, “All the Hell in the World,” which sums up the band’s ability to create emotionally powerful music.

And you can hear the song below, in an exclusive premiere. The flip side of the vinyl single, a cover of Samiam’s “Sky Flying By,” from the Berkeley punk act’s 1991 Soar, will make its debut on KKFI 90.1’s MidDay Medley next Wednesday, October 19.

I asked Too Much Rock’s Sowder and Hipshot Killer’s Mike Alexander how the single came together.

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The Pitch: Were you aware of the single series before Sid asked you to do it?

Mike Alexander, guitar and vocals: I was very aware of the single series and really wanted to do one. Sid sent out a tweet about not having the next single lined up and I kind of bum-rushed Hipshot Killer onto his radar. Thanks, Twitter. I was very excited/scared about what song he would ask us to do.

How familiar with Samiam were you before being asked to cover this track?

It’s kind of funny — I was pretty familiar with Samiam, and have seen them at least a half a dozen times over the years, but somehow, I didn’t know “Sky Flying By.” It’s kind of buried at the end of Soar and I was really into the two records on either side of that one, Billy and Samiam.

What’s the process of learning a song from scratch?

When we learn a cover, we listen to it on our own a few times and then jam on it in the practice space. Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn’t. This time was somewhere in the middle, thus explaining why we took some liberties with the second half of the song.

Where did the A side come from? Was it a recent composition, or did you have something leftover from the last LP? I know you’d mentioned wanting to do another LP when we spoke back in January.

The A side, “All the Hell in the World”, was the first song we worked on when Jon “Buddy” Paul joined last year. We’ve been working on new things pretty steadily since then. A new record next year would be great, but we’ll see.

The Pitch: What about Hipshot Killer led you to pick them for this installment?

Sid Sowder, Too Much Rock: First, the guys in Hipshot Killer are lifers not only in the Kansas City music scene, but for the Kansas City music scene. I definitely wanted to do everything I could to support them. Second, the band blends elements from so many scenes and eras, allowing me to re-imagine them as a ’70s power-pop trio, an ’80s punk-rock band, a ’90s post-hardcore act, a ’00s emo band, a ’10s roots-rock band — or a pop-punk band from any era, really. With such a vast palette, I knew I could ask them interpret anything I wanted for the B side, and they would nail it.

Why did you choose a Samiam song for them to cover?

That Samiam song has been in my head for 25 years.  It’s just a lovely balance of urgency and grace, of power and comfort.  Hipshot Killer’s songs have that same range, so it seemed like a can’t-miss marriage.

Who did the artwork for their release?

Todd Zimmer shot the cover photo in the small hours one night several months back, somewhere in the East Crossroads. Britt Adair (from the Bad Ideas) is our punk rock cover model. Longtime collaborator Micheal Olson created the package and laid it all out. It was printed locally and the band assembled it all by hand — so, a lot more of a “Made in Kansas City” product that we’ve ever done before.

It’s been well over a year since the Uncouth’s KC United single, the last installment in the single series. What led to the time in between?

It has been a while, hasn’t it? There were a couple of singles started that just never came to fruition, some pressing-plant woes, and I suspect life just got in the way as well. The next single is already recorded and will be out in early 2017, so I’m trying to get back on schedule. We’re currently finalizing the art for the next release, and it will be off to the pressers shortly. I’ve even got a couple of bands in mind for the single after that, so I hope to keep everyone’s turntables busy with local music for years to come.

Hipshot Killer has two Kansas City release shows for their Too Much Rock — at Mills Record Company on Saturday, October 22, and on Tuesday, October 25 ,at Davey’s Uptown Ramblers Club. More information on the Mills show can be found here.