Hojas Rojas
KILLMEILOVEYOU
Label: Magnolia Recording Co.
In stores: July 11, 2006

After a year working on their debut album, KILLMEILOVEYOU, Minneapolis electro-artrockers Hojas Rojas have scaled Mt. Influence and upon descent, returned with an album rooted in blues, folk, modern rock and yes, even some electronica.

Modeled after Pet Sounds and The Soft Bulletin — but thrown for a loop with the release (and subsequent influence) of The White Stripes’ Get Behind Me Satan, KILLMEILOVEYOU is perhaps the most incongruous, yet enjoyable local album we’ve heard this year.

The group’s Minneapolis CD release show is Friday, July 14th at the 400 Bar with Thin Man and Action vs. Action.

We sat down with Hojas Rojas’ singer/multi-instrumentalist DJ Kukielka to talk about the group, the new album and why The White Stripes ruin everything while making it better. Read on…

What’s the back story behind the group?
In 2003 I had written a bunch of songs that I wanted to record. I had only been “singing” for a year and a half and didn’t have a band. I had met Mark Stockert, and he had told me about his studio and analog recording sounded really cool to me, so we set up some studio sessions. I guilted an old friend, Manuel Guzman to play bass, and another old friend, a drummer, to drive from Milwaukee to form my studio band. Things went surprisingly well and within a few sessions over a nine month period we had finished a folk-rock album, “Let Yer Ego-go,” which I quietly self-released. We played a CD release at the 400 Bar in January 2004, and by that time the drummer had moved to San Diego, so all the proceeds went to paying for his flight to Minneapolis. (The rehearsal for the show was one night at a cabin in Wisconsin - during a major blizzard.)

After that, I began booking shows, the first of which in March 2004 at the
New Band Night at the Entry, which is the first show that Tim Hovanetz played drums (I booked the show before he knew he was playing with the band.) We then played a lot of shows at the 400 Bar, getting some good slots opening for national acts like Earlimart and Film School. I was writing a lot and our sound was changing. We were experimenting with a lot of different songs, covering Beck, Radiohead, and Cloud Cult. Soon it was time to start recording again, and taking more time and doing it more carefully.

So we began recording KILLMEILOVEYOU in March 2005. I wanted an album modeled after Pet Sounds and The Soft Bulletin. I have to admit though, that I was profoundly influenced by the stripped-down rock-pop of Get Behind Me Satan, which I fell in love with during the middle of recording. It showed me how little you need to have a great song. Good drums, good vocals, a little hook. Oh yeah, there was also a break-up in there somewhere. So we finished recording in March and decided to take a few months off before releasing our first HOJAS ROJAS record. Now, we’ve got a great new guitar player, TJ Shaffer, and a handful of new songs that we will record this fall, and I’ve never been more excited about our music.

How would you classify your sound?
Art-rock. or Folk-pop-rock with a little electronica.

Tell me about the new album - where recorded, any interesting stories, etc.
With Mark Stockert at Underwood Studios. We originally started recording without a click track and ended up scrapping those sessions. I wanted to do it right and it made a world of difference.

Sounds like there’s a wide range of influence here - “Under the Covers” is a Jack Whitish track rooted in country blues vs. the complete electro-ambient “SSLHD” vs. the piano soloed “Everythings Gonna Be Ok?” Can you talk about that?
My writing is very much influenced by what I am listening to. There are some songs that I think are very obviously influenced by certain artists. But I try to make them as original as possible. I let the songs evolve naturally. The worst stuff out there is contrived. If I am writing and I hear a bit of Jack White or Wayne Coyne in my guitar or my voice, I just let it be. There are also a lot of songs on KILLMEILOVEYOU that I think are genuinely unique. Like “I hope it snows,” and “Spider Killer.” I like the idea of some songs sounding a little familiar and some sounding totally new.

Tell me about your CD Release Show?
We’re doing two. One on July 14th at the 400 Bar in Minneapolis, with The Thin Man, Action Vs. Action, and Matt Marka (Koalas had to cancel.) AVA is one of our favorite local bands, and John from Matt Marka’s band played bass on a couple of the songs on our album. Then we’re going to Duluth to play at Beaner’s Central on July 22nd. I am doing an acoustic performance on the daily talk show, and an in-store at the Fetus in Duluth on Friday the 21st. We’re already getting some good radio play on KUMD so we’re really excited to get up there.

Any other news/ gigs?
We are going to play a lot of shows in town this summer and fall and do some regional touring as well. Two goals are to play New York and Nashville this fall as well. And some recording this beginning this fall. The new material is really exciting.