Rustic by Kilo Hotel
When Steve Meyers hit his sticks together to kick off “Nearsighted” at the prestigious St. Louis venue, Off Broadway, back in 2005 neither he nor guitarists/singer songwriters Brian Kious & Kevin Hartman could imagine that, twenty years later, it would be the opening sounds of a full length album.
When music groups disband it is usually due to some disagreement or some combination of artistic differences and offenses. In Kilo Hotel’s case, they actually never broke up, they just moved around a lot. When they found themselves together again in the St. Louis area, no matter how brief, they would reunite and work on some music, usually live recordings.
This is how they created their first official full length album, over time and distance.
“Come On Over,” a highlight track and another that was recorded at Off Broadway is a rolling classic rock number that conjures up notes of CCR with the heartfelt harmonies akin to classic Jayhawks recordings.
The album title RUSTIC refers to the dark rural sounds that Kilo Hotel generates. Whether they are playing songs that sound like they harken back to almost 100 years ago like “River City Rag” or “Another Song About A Train”, or pleading out in modern fashion as in “I’m Not Asking”, Kilo Hotel delivers on melody, harmony, and musical prowess.
On another side of sound there is “Last Nashville Rose #2,” which is pure studio craft. A high and lonesome vocal channels George Bailey from IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE with the protagonist vowing to “lasso the moon” all on top of psychedelic banjo and ethereal electric guitar notes.
RUSTIC is full of lo-fi Americana sound, and the band even takes a few turns to stretch out and improvise. There’s a lot to love on this album and the only downside is that it took twenty years to get here.
Tracklist
Credits
Produced by Kilo Hotel
Kilo Hotel are:
Brian Kious - vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, banjo, mandolin, harmonica, drums
Kevin Hartman - vocals acoustic guitar, electric guitar, banjo, bass guitar
plus:
Steve Meyers - drum kit
Carl Marshall - bass guitar, acoustic guitar, synthesizer
Casey Wollberg - acoustic guitar
Billdisc Wang - bass guitar
Recorded at various locations between Chicago, IL and O’Fallon, MO, between the years 2005 - 2024
Remixed and remastered by Brian Kious at the Laboratory in O’Fallon, MO 2024
Song notes: Brian Kious
Front cover photo - Min Zhuang
Insert photos - Brian Kious
Package design - Brian Kious
License
All rights reserved.
“Well, I hit my prime in 1933….”, sings Kevin Hartman, whose surname is the H for Hotel in Kilo Hotel’s moniker. That sentiment sums up the atmosphere surrounding Kilo Hotel; a band with its musical roots in early 20th Century America. The band is Brian Kious -vocals, guitar; Kevin Hartman -vocals, guitars; Steve Meyers - drums