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
One of Those Sometimes Is Now
Kitchens of Distinction Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The dark hurts my eyes
Dream-chimed awake, solemnized
Counting the breaths
That threaten the calm
Cos you're not here and it's too late to call
Pulled low, oh how could I know?
Fogs, voices, tears
Sometimes I lie shaken awake
Blistered with crazy thoughts of you
And a hundred ways to lose
Sometimes sense is too remote
Dark stars threaten to conspire
They scare like your eyes
One of those sometimes is now
Waiting for safety
In the solace of the sun
When the fevers of love are driven home
Help me forget
The last touch of you
I can't believe I didn't say I love you
Sometimes I feel such shame
Lost words, hide my eyes
I'm not myself with you
Sometimes I feel such blame
How could I ever explain?
When one of those sometimes is now.
The lyrics of Kitchens of Distinction's "One of Those Sometimes Is Now" paint a picture of intense longing and regret. The singer is alone in the dark, with no comfort or solace to be found in the outside world. The absence of the person they desire, possibly a lover who has left them, is like a physical pain that they cannot escape. As they lie awake, haunted by their own shortcomings and past mistakes, they are consumed by thoughts of what might have been if only they had acted differently.
The chorus of the song speaks to the intensity of these feelings, describing a sense of profound disorientation and fear that can strike at any moment. "Sometimes I lie shaken awake," the singer admits, "blistered with crazy thoughts of you / And a hundred ways to lose." They feel vulnerable, exposed to the whims of fate and the capriciousness of their own emotions. The metaphor of the "dark stars" that threaten to conspire against them adds to the sense of cosmic uncertainty and existential dread.
Overall, "One of Those Sometimes Is Now" is a poignant meditation on the fleeting nature of human connection and the power of emotion to shape our lives in unpredictable ways. It is a song of longing and regret, of vulnerability and fear, that speaks to the depths of the human experience.
Line by Line Meaning
No sliver of moon
The night is devoid of even a tiny sliver of moonlight.
The dark hurts my eyes
The darkness is so painful that it affects their eyesight.
Dream-chimed awake, solemnized
This person is experiencing vivid dreams that leave them feeling somber upon waking.
Counting the breaths
This person is trying to find calm by counting their breaths.
That threaten the calm
Despite trying to remain calm, their breaths are making it difficult.
Cos you're not here and it's too late to call
The person they desire is not present and it's too late to reach out to them.
Cruel scenes of how bad I've been
The person is plagued by thoughts of their own past actions that they deem cruel and terrible.
Pulled low, oh how could I know?
These thoughts are causing the person emotional pain and self-doubt as they question how they could have acted in such a way.
Fogs, voices, tears
The person is overwhelmed by their emotions, experiencing confusion, voices in their mind, and tears.
Sometimes I lie shaken awake
The person experiences such intense emotions that it wakes them up from sleep and leaves them feeling unsettled.
Blistered with crazy thoughts of you
The person's thoughts of the one they desire are so all-consuming that it feels like a physical wound or blister.
And a hundred ways to lose
Their thoughts are also preoccupied with all the ways they could potentially lose this person.
Sometimes sense is too remote
Their emotions have become so strong that logical thinking feels distant or impossible.
Dark stars threaten to conspire
The person feels as though the universe or fate is against them and their desire to be with this person.
They scare like your eyes
This person is scared by the intensity and power of the emotions they feel when thinking about the one they desire, who has similarly intense eyes that scare them.
One of those sometimes is now
All of these overwhelming feelings are happening to this person right now, as they sing this song.
Waiting for safety
The person is looking for a sense of security or safety in their life.
In the solace of the sun
The person is finding comfort in the warmth and light of the sun.
When the fevers of love are driven home
This person is hoping that when they are finally able to find love, their need for it will be assuaged.
Help me forget
This person is asking for help in forgetting the pain of love.
The last touch of you
The person is trying to move on from the sensation of the last time they were with the one they desire.
I can't believe I didn't say I love you
The person is filled with regret for not having had the opportunity to express their love to the one they desire.
Sometimes I feel such shame
The person is filled with a sense of embarrassment or shame when they think of the one they desire.
Lost words, hide my eyes
They feel that the right words to express themselves elude them, resulting in avoidance of eye contact when thinking of the one they desire.
I'm not myself with you
This person feels like they are not able to be their true self when with the one they desire due to emotions and anxiety.
Sometimes I feel such blame
The person feels guilty for how they have acted around the one they desire.
How could I ever explain?
The person feels resigned to the fact that they may never be able to adequately explain their emotions and actions to the one they desire.
When one of those sometimes is now.
All of these confusing and complex emotional moments are happening to the person right now, as they sing this song.
Contributed by Muhammad B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
J Mo
Beautiful song, beautiful lyrics. These guys deserved more acclaim.
Athene Noctua
Truly a secret musical gem - Am so grateful I was introduced to this song long ago.
That outro live must have been absolutely mind blowing. High invocation at it's finest.
Thank you so much for posting this. <3
Renee Medina
I wonder why this song isn't on this album nowadays? God I miss this band.
Christian Landaeta Torres
Underated, amazing, always at hand in cd library.
AD MacGillycuddy
Sublime
VivienneLessay
Thank you for posting this.
René X
so beautiful.....