Biography
Six Inch Killaz were a shambolic London, UK based punk rock group in the 1990s. All the members were trans and the group described itself as "tranny punks on the verge of chaos". Their live shows were characterised by their lax attitude, drink and drugs.
Six Inch Killaz formed when guitarist and songwriter Mona Compleine and bass player Luis Hatred met at famous London drag club The Way Out. They quickly recruited two renowned beauties from the London drag scene, Jasmine Salome and Holly Cock, as singers. Their first performance was in 1994 at The Way Out Club's talent night.
In summer 1995, they were joined by Mona's friend, Miss K, on second guitar and the permanent line up of the band was established. Their primitive sound was established early on by the cheap overdriven amps of Mona and Miss K, underpinned by a monotonous and brutally deprogrammed drum machine (a BOSS Dr Rhythm, beloved of early rap artists) and Luis' Sid Vicious-esque bass and performance style. Above this backing, Holly and Jasmine would shout in an atonal call-response shouted style.
The group's reputation as an unpredictable live act was well founded, and they gigged sporadically wherever anyone would put them on, playing nights like Smashing, Alcohol, Nux Vomica, Kitsch Bitch, Vaseline, Cinergy and Club Kitten, and in the genderqueer subculture including two Pride festivals in 1996.
Six Inch Killaz recorded irregularly and never encountered success in their quest for a recording contract, despite gaining some exposure in mainstream television media. Their surviving recorded work is available on the collected CD-R, "Wonderful" released in 2000 by Mona Compleine. Most of the material was mastered from cassette tape 4-track recordings and is of extremely lo-fi quality. Also present on the CD is material from their few studio recording sessions, notably at Toe Rag Recordings, and Big Fucking Digital Studio (Britannia Row). The band are on record as saying that the 4-track demo material is more faithful to their sound than the professionally recorded material.
(20 of the 31 tracks on Wonderful are available on last.fm)
In early 1999, Jasmine was sacked for personal reasons. The remaining four members continued for a few months but the group dissolved for good later that year.
Mona continues to write and record original experimental compositions as well as designing and manufacturing musical instruments and effects pedals. Luis is now a visual artist while Holly has withdrawn from public view. Miss K (as Kaoru) is now half of the electronic rock duo Deathline. Jasmine was last seen in Manchester in the mid-2000s and passed away in North Wales in 2012.
Official site: www.phreak.co.uk/killaz
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