An Interview With THE KILLING FLOOR About Their Latest Album ‘Antisocialmedia’ and Lead Single ‘Devil Dog’!

THE KILLING FLOOR combines the best of British and American rock, and delivers an electrifying blend of, alternative, rock, pop, punk and grunge. With a blistering live show, The Killing Floor draws together raw visceral power, with impassioned melody and songwriting which has earned them comparisons to acts like, Queens of The Stone Age, Muse, Led Zeppelin, Foo Fighters and Nirvana.

The members, hailing from both the UK and US, came together when brothers Mark and Oliver Alberici from London, had a chance meeting with Marco Argiro at Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios in NYC where they had all been working with hit producer Mark Plati (David Bowie, Cure) on separate projects at the time. Recognizing they shared not only a producer, but many of the same influences, ideas and attitudes to music, they began writing and recording together and after taking the name The Killing Floor from the Howlin Wolf song, hit the road with their new material, quickly gathering a following and gaining the reputation of being one of the best new live acts around.

The Killing Floor then released their debut self-titled album which the press described as “an enticing record with mass appeal”, “proficient songwriting”, with an “infectious quality”. The song ‘Star Baby’ was chosen as the album’s first single, and the band shot their first music video with legendary Hollywood director Joel Schumacher, some of who’s film credits include: The Lost Boys, Batman Forever, A Time to Kill, and Flatliners. The single was featured in MTV programs, Road Rules Challenge, The Real World and Best Ink, and received heavy rotation on US radio. In support of this, TKF toured throughout the USA, Canada, UK and Europe, taking in events such as CMJ, SXSW, CBGB Festival, Liverpool Sound City, The Great Escape, and Donnington’s Download Festival. 

The band then headed back in the studios of Brighton England, Nashville and NYC, to begin writing and recording their second album ‘Antisocialmedia’ from which the band released their first single ‘Corruption Capital’ . The song received extensive rotation on US national commercial rock radio playlists including WBOS, KNDD, KXXR, KNRK and WRKZ to name a few. Pure Volume described the single as “a seamless blend of melody and political rock” and the video was premiered on Guitar World Magazine. The video also gained heavy rotation being featured in all Journeys shoe stores throughout the USA.

Last year saw the The Killing Floor continue to deliver their hard hitting blend of rock swagger to audiences on both sides of the Atlantic with live performances at SXSW, The Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas, where they joined the Vans Warp Tour in conjunction with Ernie Ball, Indie Week Europe 2016 as special guests after winning ‘First Prize Best Band’ at Indie Week Canada in Toronto, and across the UK in support of the release of their new Ep ’Tongue Tied.’

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Learn more about The Killing Floor in the following All Access interview with their guitarist Oliver Alberici and lead guitarist Mark Alberici:

How did you all first meet each other and come up with your band name? What other band names were you considering? How do you think your name sums up with you are and the kind of music that you make?

We first met at Electric Lady in NYC and hit it off didn’t see each other for a while then got together when the time was right, the band name comes from the Howling Wolf song. We are all big fans of the Blues and that definitely has influenced us and our music.

We didn’t know exactly what we were doing when we started but knew something was right. We had no idea how it would turn out which can be very cool and interesting but after a while you learn to work with each other much better. We hopefully have grow quite a bit since those days and our writing has certainly become a more fluid and an easier process. We read each other so much better now and instinctively know where to take it.

How do you think you have all been influenced by being from your hometowns? Do you think that it has affected your music?

As for hometowns, Mark and I grew up in England where I’m sure the weather or rather lack of sunshine plays a big part in how you feel and how you write and Marco is originally from sunny ol Florida so a nice balance there. And later on big influences from NYC, Nashville, London and LA all continue to play a part.

How do you think this group have grown through the years and since you first started making music together? 

Well we all know each other a lot better now, that’s for sure, which makes for better writing and mostly a damn good time.

What was it like putting together your newest album, “Antisocialmedia”? What was it like making this collection when you were split between Nashville and the UK? 

At times being separated was challenging but because of this we tend to not waist any time when we are together and that can be a healthy thing for a band I think. We are also able to draw on influences and experiences from both Nashville and the UK.

We stay in contact all the time no matter what part of the world we find ourselves. Most of the concept for putting the new album together was done on the road. The whole artwork idea of having fans participate with their pictures etc, but in terms of song selection we did a lot of pre-production in both Nashville, UK and NYC actually and the songs seemed to choose themselves over time. It was good to get different perspectives in different cities. I think that influences the sound considerably.

What was the inspiration for the songs on it? How did “Devil Dog” come together in particular? 

The inspiration for each of the songs on the album was quite different for each one, Devil Dog started out as a riff Mark had come up which we had been playing around with, after our meeting with a huge black dog one day in the middle of a wooded road in Pennsylvania, we decided to base the song around our experience with the hellish hound.

All different I’m sure, and I speak for all of us, but the underline theme for this record is mainly about life and life’s struggles and our experiences whether that’s “the man” getting you down or love loss or corruption. As far as Devil Dog I was pretty high at the time!