Any time I hear the ol’ “rock is dead” conversation pipe up these days I immediately recuse myself. I’ve been around long enough to know that’ll never be true, and even the briefest look at any local scene will reveal there are plenty of bands out there, making good noise, and following their respective muses. But there are always a few bands in that scene that rise above the simpler discourse by virtue of just having that somewhat undefinable and incredibly slippery thing called “it.” One reassuring thing I’ve learned over the years is that most bands are quite good at what they do, able to transfix people for 20-60 minutes at a time; but there are always one or two that shine a little more brightly, reaching just a little further, and creating an unmistakably personal sound that deserves universal acclaim. Unfortunately, most of these bands are subject to the exact same vagaries of timing and luck that seem to define most artists' broader success. And because of that, most of the great bands that don’t break big early often give up and move on.
The Kickback has released three albums over the last decade, and each one has been a truly remarkable affair. Their debut Sorry All Over the Place exhibited grand ambition built upon driving rhythms underneath expansive guitar sound and singer/guitarist Billy Yost’s natural wonder of a voice, cutting through the sound with clean lines and a power that comes from somewhere deep. It often sounds as if the music is always fighting to be released, and every time he opens those vocal chords a new, pleasurable wave erupts to carry you upon its undulating melody. The songs are so catchy you have to lean in, but the heat from the band’s intense execution can push you back, so you’re caught in a stasis between those two points, suspended in pleasure. The band’s template was set.
The Kickback’s sophomore effort Weddings & Funerals followed a more turbulent personal time for members of the band, yet it remains a searingly and emotionally cathartic listen. The Kickback took their template, twisted it, and slathered on the abrasiveness while still trying to pull the hooks buried deep within close enough to the surface to keep everything from feeling too dire. After the positive reviews of their debut, and the support of a new label, I think this was meant to be the breakthrough album. But The Kickback can only write the music that makes sense to The Kickback, and instead of a breakthrough, this lovely, gnarly, emotionally complex album didn’t garner the band the attention they deserved.
After that, there was no guarantee of another album from The Kickback. Yost went off and focused on his beat-focused side project Billy Ghost, and the pandemic seemed to push the full band setup into hibernation. But Kickback songs kept coming to Yost until he, multi-instrumentalist Daniel Leu, and guitarist Jonny Ifergan started putting together tracks with engineer Noam Wallenberg. Over the span of the year they kept recording songs, finessing some and discarding others, and taking their time. Eschewing labels or publicists this time around, the band just focused on the music, unrushed but with plenty of debate, resulting in 2025’s 16-song Hit Piece. If the debut was the band’s “broadly accessible hello,” and the sophomore album was the band’s “difficult one,” it sounds to me that Hit Piece is finally “the album we wanted to make.”
Hit Piece certainly bears the influence of Yost’s beat adventures, which offers the albums a crisp feel, but that coating barely contains the roiling music and ear-worm melodies the trio throws your way song after song. And Yost’s vocals feel like even more a force of nature here. Transition from plaintive cry to caged animal to soothing coo, often within seconds of each other, his elastic voice never leads your ear astray. And Yost, Leu and Ifergan know each other so well on a nigh telepathic level, this is one of those albums that must be considered as a band affair. The trio may play distinct roles onstage, but in the studio, those roles are more fluid as their collaboration works in service to the song and not the ego.
Quite honestly, Hit Piece could either function as The Kickback's first truly great album, or their career-defining swan song; it feels that monumental. I guess we’ll see where luck and timing leaves this Hit Piece a year from now, but it will forever be a classic in my book.
The Kickback plays a release party, and rare Chicago show, tonight at Sleeping Village. And it should be a corker of a show since the L.A.-based Hembree (which includes former members of The Noise FM and Archie Powell & The Exports) plays as well, making tonight a sort of scene reunion for old friends as well.
