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
Gone World Gone
Kitchens of Distinction Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Sweats and grunts and pushes me over.
With its musty mane in my eyes
I'm closed off and protected.
Inside sleep together,
Sleep within sleep,
It's everywhere.
Breath on my breath,
There's nothing else.
Gone, world, gone.
When we wake in all our red rooms,
Next to pillows that scream "alone",
And we're shaking uncompleted,
Aching for this creeping sleep
On which to ride away.
Sleep is the animal whose name is safety,
Whose name is angel's wings,
Whose name is never will it happen to me,
Whose arms are the longest the world will ever see,
Whose voice is Jesus saying "Innocence is the child",
Whose breath is warmth and the scent of safety and the taste of purity.
Animal flies me in a hollow in its belly.
Until the world's gone.
Inside a world inside a world
Inside a world without end.
The lyrics of Kitchens of Distinction's song "Gone World Gone" explore the idea of finding solace and protection in the embrace of an animal. The opening lines create the image of an animal nuzzling up to the singer's shoulder, pushing them over with its musty mane in their eyes. This physical contact creates a feeling of safety and protection for the singer, closing them off from the outside world.
The next stanza talks about sleeping together, finding safety within sleep, which is everywhere. The head of the animal becomes a symbol of protection for the singer, as they feel safe with it. The repetition of "safe" emphasizes the security and comfort that the animal provides.
The second half of the song shifts to a more philosophical view of the world. The singer describes waking up in a red room, next to a pillow that screams "alone." This image conveys a sense of loneliness and isolation. The singer then describes an aching for a "creeping sleep," which suggests a desire to escape from reality and the struggles of everyday life.
The final stanza talks about the animal flying the singer away, creating a sense of escape and freedom. The repeated phrase "inside a world inside a world inside a world without end" suggests an infinite and limitless space to explore, which serves as a contrast to the confined and lonely world described earlier in the song.
Overall, the lyrics of "Gone World Gone" convey a desire for safety, protection, and escape. The animal serves as a symbol of comfort and security in a world that can be unpredictable and lonely.
Line by Line Meaning
Animal nuzzles up to my shoulder.
I feel comforted by an imaginary animal who supports me.
Sweats and grunts and pushes me over.
The imaginary animal helps me overcome challenges and discomfort.
With its musty mane in my eyes
I am blind to negative aspects of reality because I rely on the animal for support.
I'm closed off and protected.
I rely on the animal to make me feel safe and secure.
Inside sleep together,
We share a comforting dream world together.
Sleep within sleep,
We experience layers of comforting dreams.
It's everywhere.
The comforting dream world is all around us.
I'm safe, safe with the head of the animal.
I feel secure with the animal protecting me.
Breath on my breath,
The animal's breath is intertwined with my own.
There's nothing else.
In this comforting dream world, nothing else matters.
Gone, world, gone.
All my worries have disappeared, and I am at peace.
When we wake in all our red rooms,
Upon waking, we are in a state of emotional distress.
Next to pillows that scream "alone",
Our surroundings remind us of our loneliness and isolation.
And we're shaking uncompleted,
We feel incomplete and uncertain.
Aching for this creeping sleep
We long for the safety and comfort of our imaginary dream world.
On which to ride away.
We want to escape from reality and ride away on our comforting dreams.
Sleep is the animal whose name is safety,
Our comforting dream world is the source of our security.
Whose name is angel's wings,
Our comforting dream world is like the wings of an angel that protect us.
Whose name is never will it happen to me,
In our comforting dream world, we feel safe from harm.
Whose arms are the longest the world will ever see,
The imaginary animal's embrace is limitless and everlasting in our dream world.
Whose voice is Jesus saying "Innocence is the child",
In our comforting dream world, innocence and purity are valued and protected by a higher power.
Whose breath is warmth and the scent of safety and the taste of purity.
The imaginary animal's breath in our dream world is comforting and reassuring in every sense.
Animal flies me in a hollow in its belly.
The imaginary animal takes us away on an adventure in our dream world.
Until the world's gone.
We are so absorbed in our comforting dream world that reality no longer exists.
Inside a world inside a world
Our comforting dream world is like a universe of its own, with endless possibilities.
Inside a world without end.
Our dream world has no limits, and it provides us with infinite comfort and security.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: DAN GOODWIN, JULIAN SWALES, PATRICK FITZGERALD
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Cyrus Bud
If there is a song which could be described as the epitome of the shoegaze genre this must be the one...A monster of a song...
BEN DANIELS MUSIC NOW
This is the such amazing music - back in 93 I was in sixth form a guy in my art class leant me a few records to listen to and DOC was one of them - I’d never heard of the band but taped the record and listened to it later. This was the first track that really grabbed me the baseline etc and I gradually started to get familiar with the other tracks and within a couple of weeks I had totally fallen in love with this record I think it’s one of the greatest records ever made. I love the detail and dreamy aesthetic of the soundscapes and the wordy lyrics and passion. I used to constantly play this record to a girlfriend she was like who are these guys how come I’ve never heard of them and the cycle continued......
BluePedal
I would imagine Julian is particularly proud of his work on this beast
gaspanda
Do you know he could do this wall of sound live ( I saw them play mad as snow). He had a lot of effects pedals in a complicated set up
Dan Dan
How can not people be crazy about this band? A word of mouth thing and too intense for many but for those who love it they REALLY LOVE IT
deeray41
Great album. Back in the 90's I used to play this song while playing Wing Commander. It just seemed to fit so well with space travel.
Peter Zachos
Probably my all time favorite KoD track, and that's saying something, because it's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than to choose a favorite KoD track.
Eddie Donovan
Such an atmospheric band. SFW still my favorite album though
DNR5586
Eight minutes of perfection.
J Mo
Awesome band! I miss thisbera of music. Please get all of KODs stuff on Amazon!