The Kills

When the Florida punk Alison Mosshart heard Brit-pop guitarist Jamie Hince's droning guitar seeping through the ceiling of her London flat, she had to pop upstairs and investigate. Through a mutual love of scuzzy blues and low-fi punk, the duo formed The Kills in 2001 and adopted the stance of a garage rock Bonnie and Clyde: outsiders and lost souls producing dark, sleazy, nocturnal rock music. Released by Domino Records, The Kills' debut album Keep On Your Mean Side (2003) earned comparisons to the White Stripes and Velvet Underground with its garage rock minimalism and art school experimentation, and the track "Wait" was used in the Alfonso Cuaron film Children of Men. Using drum machines and obtuse rhythms, the band's second album No Wow (2005) produced a small hit with lead single "The Good Ones," which reached number 23 in the UK. The pair toured with acts like Primal Scream, The Raconteurs and Arctic Monkeys before the release of their third album, 2009's Midnight Boom, which charted at number 47 in the UK. That same year, Mosshart teamed up with Jack White to form the supergroup The Dead Weather, whose debut album reached number 6 in the US and number 14 in the UK. Nevertheless, The Kills remained active with records like 2011's Blood Pressures and 2016's Ash & Ice, both of which were Top 40 successes in the UK. After an extended hiatus, the duo returned in 2023 with its sixth studio album, God Games.