Kilmore put the riff in rock. The Nova Scoatian four piece follow up a recent gig in Oshawa with another Saturday June 18 at Manantler CRaft Brewery in Bowmanville. They will also play at The Hideout in Toronto Friday as part of the NXNE Festival. Lead vocalist Heather Doran says they all grew up with Led Zeppelin, Soundgarden, Nirvana and Pj Harvey among other great bands.
“These are things we absorb and you can see in our songwriting,” she says. “But saying that, I feel Kilmore has its own identity and we look to create music that is original.”
Doran points to the original track “Rising Sun” off their recent EP City Lights as being most indicative of the direction they want to take their classic sound in.
“It is a straight ahead rock song and brings a lot of the feel we want to portray in Kilmore,” she says.
City Lights, their debut release, garnered them a nomination each at the 2015 Music Nova Scotia Awards and a 2016 East Coast Music Awards.
Joining Doran is her brother Dan Doran on guitar, Neil Spence on bass and Lor Sangster on drums. She says she had been in bands with her brother before and they wanted to start a new project together.
“We tried out some other musicians but we knew once we played with Lor and Neil that this was going to be a great fit. We all have a love for music and we all bring different music influences. Riff rock says a lot of how we write our music. We usually bring a lot of different riffs to the table and work as a unit to bring the songs together,” she says.
Kilmore will, as they say, be bringing it to their live shows. Catch them while they are in the area.