Pete Mills: The Sweet Kill have been honored to play festivals alongside legacy acts, however, there is something near and dear to my heart about playing Hollywood; in particular Bar Sinister on a Saturday night. After soundcheck, the calm before the storm, one starts to feel the gothic rumble of Hollyweird awaken. The candelabras are lit as the fog settles in. The Master of the upstairs dungeon meticulously prepares his tools of persuasion for the awaiting participants in the night’s affairs. The DJ has begun with the tone setting sounds of classic Darkwave, Post-Punk, and Gothic music interspersed with the passing of the torch to the current wave of this movement. The vendors have set up their tables of toils and trinkets for those to peruse and purchase as the line up goes around the block along Hollywood Boulevard.
The Sweet Kill arrive and are ushered in to give this like-minded crowd an experience to remember. We are blessed with the task of closing the live performance portion with a set time of 2 minutes to midnight. The host introduces us, and we lock into the shadow zone of darkness and despair connecting to the audience’s pain. Identification occurs as the rest of the set is dedicated to the light at the end of the tunnel for those that are lost in the shadows of life. One encore and then another and finally a third catapults me into a euphoric state where the audience and artist become one. As the climax awaits and I find myself in a trance mounting the candelabra for the final downbeat I cry inside knowing my purpose in life has been fulfilled as the frenetic atmosphere permeates my soul. We are one in the darkness; we strive for the light, and we are never ashamed of where we’ve been as we stick together celebrating where we are going. I look forward to our next show at Bar Sinister May 25, 2024. Come one come all….if you dare.
The Sweet Kill Gets Sinister: The Sweet Kill’s Nowhere is out now.