If you’ve ever wondered who dropped the ball with Kill For Thrills – them or us – this will give you plenty to chew on. This semi-super sleaze-rock band from LA boasted an eyebrow-raising pedigree, including guitar player Jason Nesmith (son of Monkees’ mad genius Mike Nesmith), bassist Todd Muscat (of hardcore punks turned Hanoi Rocks disciples Decry, and later of Junkyard), and frontman Gilby “I replaced Izzy in Guns” Clarke.
Following their debut Commercial Suicide EP, Dynamite From Nightmareland served as Kill For Thrills’ debut (and only) LP, and first hit the bins in the very busy year of 1990, where it was summarily dismissed and quickly forgotten.
The band followed suit soon after. But there was real potential in this band to be a sort of American Dogs D’Amour, replacing the sea of scarves and oceans of whisky with biker brawls and used leather, but leaving the hedonistic allegiance to the Stones and Hanoi thoroughly intact.
Not everything on Dynamite lands, but opener Motorcycle Cowboys remains one the best rabble-rouser anthems of the flash-metal era. Bad Reputation’s stellar reissue remasters the tracks for maximum rock’n’roll intensity and tosses in the debut EP as a bonus.
