Over the course of their career, the band has released five studio albums - "Love is Hell" (1989), "Strange Free World" (1991), "The Death of Cool" (1992), "Cowboys and Aliens" (1994), and "Folly" (2013).
Dan Goodwin (drums) met Julian Swales (guitar) at college in 1980, and Swales met Patrick Fitzgerald (vocals/bass guitar) at a party in 1985.The trio began rehearsing together that same year, taking their name from a company of the same name that specialised in home decor and kitchen and plumbing fixtures after Swales spotted one of their advertisements on the side of a bus while riding his bike. The Kitchens' first single, "The Last Gasp Death Shuffle" (which featured Swales on lead vocals and bass, as well as guitar) was recorded in just one day on an eight-track in a Kennington basement, and was released in December 1987 on the band's own Gold Rush Records. It was named a single of the week in the NME, and led to the band signing with the British indie label One Little Indian Records; it was around this time that Fitzgerald, a medical doctor, put his career on hold to devote himself fully to the band. Their first singles for One Little Indian, 1988's "Prize" and 1989's "The 3rd Time We Opened the Capsule", made it onto the "NME Writers' 100 Best Indie Singles Ever" list, published 25 July 1992.
Their first full-length album, Love Is Hell, was released in April 1989. Fitzgerald's impassioned, wordy, often bluntly personal vocals careened over what sounded like a mass of swirling guitars, though the band only had one guitarist. Swales' chiming, effects-laden style of playing drew him comparisons to the guitarists of The Chameleons, Cocteau Twins, and A.R. Kane. KOD's melodic yet abstract sound was a precursor to the shoegazing scene of the late 1980s/early 1990s.
Despite the promising start, the band faced a subdued reception from the mainstream music industry, generally due to their lyrical content. For instance, "Margaret's Injection", on the 1989 Elephantine EP, was a fantasy about killing then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Also, Fitzgerald was openly gay, and his lyrics were unapologetic, especially on tracks like "Prize" and "Within the Daze of Passion". Even the more indie-focused television programs like Snub TV and Rapido failed to give them much coverage, although Snub TV played the video for their 1991 single "Drive That Fast". Likewise, they were not offered a John Peel radio session, although they eventually did get one after asking Peel personally, following a Glastonbury performance which he appreciated.
Kitchens of Distinction sometimes performed "secret" gigs under the alter ego Toilets of Destruction.[2][6] An example was at The Bull & Gate in Kentish Town on 6 August 1990, where the band appeared in drag and played ABBA, David Bowie, and Bauhaus covers.
In 1990, they signed with A&M Records in the US, and went into the studio with producer Hugh Jones (Simple Minds, Echo & the Bunnymen, The Undertones). Their second album, Strange Free World, was released in February 1991, and spawned some moderately successful singles in "Drive That Fast" and "Quick as Rainbows", both of which were very well received by college radio in the US. The band went back into the studio in 1992, again with Jones at the helm, and their third album The Death of Cool came out in August that year; it was named in honour of the passing of Miles Davis, who had released an influential album titled The Birth of the Cool in 1950. A&M balked at the band's choice of "Breathing Fear" for the first single, due to its touchy subject matter (gay bashing), so "Smiling" became the album's initial single in the US. The band toured extensively, including a high-profile slot opening for their US labelmate Suzanne Vega, whose album 99.9F° came out within a few weeks of theirs.
Later in 1993, KOD began work on their fourth album, co-producing it themselves with engineer Pete Bartlett. One Little Indian rejected the album twice, and eventually, both label and band agreed to bring in up-and-coming producer Pascal Gabriel to work on a couple of tracks. One of the label's complaints about the album as the band originally submitted it was that they felt it lacked a potential hit single, so Gabriel produced a new song ("Come on Now") that the band had written after the rest of the album had already been recorded; Gabriel also remixed two of the album's other tracks (the opener "Sand on Fire" and first single "Now It's Time to Say Goodbye"). The resulting album, Cowboys and Aliens, was released in the UK in October 1994, and although the band admitted that they enjoyed working with Gabriel, the changes did nothing to help the album's dismal sales. When the album saw its US release in early 1995, it was largely ignored by the same alternative rock radio and media that had championed them just a few years before. By the end of 1995, both A&M and OLI had dropped the band.
Shortening their name to Kitchens O.D. and signing to the London-based indie label Fierce Panda Records, they issued a single, "Feel My Genie" in May 1996, which was named "Single of the Week" by Melody Maker, but they officially disbanded that summer after a farewell gig at London's Kings Cross.
In September 2012, Fitzgerald announced that he and Swales had recorded and were in the process of editing ten new songs. The reunited trio of Fitzgerald, Swales, and Goodwin released their fifth studio album Folly, their first new album in 19 years, on 30 September 2013
NOW
Kitchens Of Distinction Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Invisible men with the forever grin
We do wrong but we do it together
He stops me of thinking of people to murder
I must keep it together
I hate to compromise
But when the felons are out feloning
And his laugh, it gets me through
Those troubled hours of men in suits
And his face, it gets a smile
Erases their skyscraper lies
I take him out to save my skin
When I can't last the evening
Dresses my lips with angel kiss
Under lemon moons and ice-cube licks
I must keep it together
I hate to compromise
But when the felons are out feloning
He is a place to hide
And his laugh...
Come on now, come on now, we can beat the storm
For your face a sacrifice
For your grace, a higher life
In the cave behind your eyes
Where we can climb and we light fires
We'll light fires
The lyrics to Kitchens Of Distinction's song, "Now," appear to be about a friendship between two individuals, one of whom may be struggling with violent tendencies. The first verse speaks of "invisible men with the forever grin," which could be interpreted as a reference to these violent tendencies lurking under the surface. The singer admits that they "do wrong" but are in it together with their friend, who keeps them from thinking about "people to murder." The friendship seems to be a safe haven for the singer, a place to hide from the world and its temptations. The second verse describes how the friend's laughter and face help the singer through their troubles, erasing the "skyscraper lies" of society.
The chorus repeats the idea that the singer must keep it together and hates to compromise, but the friend is a crucial part of their life when "felons are out feloning." The bridge offers imagery of sacrifice and climbing through the cave behind the friend's eyes, where they can "light fires" and beat the storm. Overall, the song portrays a deep, complex friendship that provides solace and support for someone trying to resist violent impulses in a harsh world.
Line by Line Meaning
I think it's time to wake my friend
I need to reach out to my friend for support
Invisible men with the forever grin
Our problems can't be seen by others, but we still try to find happiness together
We do wrong but we do it together
We may make mistakes, but we have each other's support to get through it
He stops me of thinking of people to murder
My friend helps me channel my negative thoughts in a positive way
I must keep it together
I need to maintain my composure and not fall apart
I hate to compromise
I don't want to give in to external pressure to change who I am
But when the felons are out feloning
When bad things are happening around me, I need my friend to escape from it all
He is a place to hide
My friend is a safe haven from the chaos of the outside world
And his laugh, it gets me through
My friend's laughter is a source of comfort for me
Those troubled hours of men in suits
The stressful situations I face in my daily life
And his face, it gets a smile
I feel happy and at ease when I see my friend's face
Erases their skyscraper lies
My friend helps me see past the illusions of the world around me
I take him out to save my skin
I rely on my friend to help me get out of difficult situations
When I can't last the evening
When I'm feeling too overwhelmed to go out on my own
Dresses my lips with angel kiss
My friend's support is like a healing balm for me
Under lemon moons and ice-cube licks
In moments of peace and relaxation
Come on now, come on now, we can beat the storm
We can overcome anything together
For your face a sacrifice
I'm willing to make sacrifices for the sake of our friendship
For your grace, a higher life
My friend helps me aspire to be a better person
In the cave behind your eyes
The depths of my friend's compassion and understanding
Where we can climb and we light fires
A place of safety and warmth that we can create together
We'll light fires
We'll find a way to keep going and overcome adversity
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: DAN GOODWIN, JULIAN SWALES, PATRICK FITZGERALD
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@BluePedal
From the Capsule liner notes... "An ode to the genie inside a gin and tonic. We were having record company difficulties, meaning we had to write a hit radio song, so we wrote and recorded this with Pascal Gabriel at Konk Studios in London, after the rest of the album had already been done. I don't think it was what they were after, but it's my favorite vocal performance. Notable for also being our only song to feature a string section." I love the strings. Wish they did more with them.