Killick Hinds (born in New Jersey, 1972) lives in Athens, Georgia, USA. His music is Appalachian Trance Metal made on unusual stringed instruments with an emphasis on unquantifiable rhythms, intuitive intonation, and shamanistic ROYGBIV. Despite its eclectic nature the sounds are surprisingly familiar and accessible to audiences of all ages and levels of musical involvement. The primary sonic influences on Killick are animals, wind, water, fire, electrical hum, and silence. Killick’s preferred performance vehicle is the solo concert, a “One (Sha)Man Band” channeling the muse in the fashion of shamanic ritual of old. Every performance is different, factoring the instrumentation and energy of the audience and space. Various strains of Killick’s training and enculturation appear in bespoke combinations with the likelihood of something (an approach, a texture, a rhythm, a juxtaposition) entirely new emerging. Shamanic presentation is characterized by sometimes abrupt shifts in mood, pulse, and harmony yet Killick prioritizes inviting dialogue infused with levity and sudden beauty. Killick has played hundreds of concerts in clubs, galleries, and concert halls since the age of 13. He has given masterclasses and forums in musical improvisation at the University of Colorado Boulder; CalArts in Valencia, California; Alfred University in Alfred, New York; the University of Georgia Athens; and through the Frantasia Festival in Livermore Falls, Maine; and City University of New York’s New York City Electroacoustic Improvisation Summit. Killick has co-presented with luthier Fred Carlson at the University of California, Santa Cruz as part of the International Society of Improvising Musicians 2009 conference. In 2016, Killick received an Athens, Georgia Flagpole Music Award for the category of Avant-Garde. Killick is a 2020 Willson Center Shelter Projects Micro-Fellow.

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