The alternative grunge duo proving that bands work best when family’s involved

Alannah and Felicity Jackson are Miss Kill; the alternative sister duo based in Little Stoke.

Combining influences of alternative, garage and grunge rock, the duo take their influences from 90’s bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Placebo, Hole and The Pixies.

The alternative duo released their EP, Don’t Tell Me Twice, in September 2022 under Crosstown Management.

Released to wide praise, the EP was played on several radio stations in the South West as well as on BBC Radio 1, Alyx Holocombe’s New Rock Show.

“That was an amazing highlight,” the duo tells Bristol24/7. “We’ve had a lot of support from BBC Introducing over our career and it’s been so amazing to see so many new faces at our live shows and seeing and hearing people sing along to the songs, it’s such a wonderful feeling.”

Although Don’t Tell Me Twice was tipped as their debut EP, this isn’t technically the case.

“It was actually our second but the first one is now very hard to come by, so that might be a collector item in years to come,” they explain.

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The release of their EP saw a launch party take place at Dareshack that same month which was definitely a highlight for the grunge duo.

“At our album launch when the crowd started singing back All You Gotta Do & Drive it was the best feeling!”

Miss Kill have always had an interest in the music industry, with access to their own rehearsal room in their house in Little Stoke.

The duo credit their dad for getting them into music with Alannah and their dad writing songs together while both sisters are self taught.

“Our dad actually got me [Alannah] into playing guitar. He kept them in his loft and when I asked if I could play on them one day I enjoyed it so much that we started writing songs together.”

It was from there that Felicity (better known as Fliss), learned to play the drums so they could be in a band together; “We figured who better to have in your band than your sister.. It has never failed for anyone else, after all nepotism is best.”

Alannah is credited as the main songwriter, (“but every now and then Fliss does a verse or a chorus as she uses more descriptive words then me which makes the song better,” Alannah tells us) writing songs from a very personal vantage point.

“I am very personal with my songs, they’re like my children to a degree, so I do find it hard to let others collaborate on them,” Alannah says.

“Recently going to gigs has really inspired our songwriting. For example, we went to see Placebo in Cardiff’s Motorpoint Arena showcasing their new album and the next day I wrote three songs very inspired by that gig.”

The work is clearly paying off. In recent months, the duo have supported on a number of tours including Krooked Tongue, Millie Manders and the Shutup, Giant Sky, Hands Off Gretel, Grandma’s House and ARXX.

Do they have a favourite performance of their career so far? “Definitely playing at Thekla supporting Honeyblood in 2019, they are an amazing band and the crowd were insane, it was just such an amazing gig. It was the start of our love for playing at Thekla!”

With such a great start to their careers, it looks to be a very positive few months for the duo however they are staying tight-lipped on what they have coming up.

“These next few months are going to be a massive one for us, we can’t tell anyone right now as it’s all in the primary stages but all that our fans need to know is that this is a very very exciting journey we are on currently and we are going to be working with someone we’ve wanted to forever.

“We’re working on a lot of new music currently and really trying to be able to embrace our feelings into our songs to hope to be able to connect with our current and future listeners. It’s all very exciting coming up and we cannot wait to share what we have to come!”

Main photo: Sonny Barthley

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