Charity Kiss is no stranger to the Reno, NV, local scene. However, as a Reno native, I can confirm their impact and fanbase stretch far beyond just the Reno locals. The band was formed by Patrick Hansen (lead vocals, guitar), Nate Drum (drums, ironically), Cole Hendriks (lead guitar), and the latest recruit, Cooper Conway (bass).
In 2018, the band released their first streaming EP, “The Good Mountain,” under their first band alias, Color T.V. The name Charity Kiss was born around 2020, inspired by a trip to Wild Horse, NV, where the need for change was prevalent. Nate Drum happened to flip through Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations, in which he found the phrase,“the kiss of charity.” The rest was history.
On February 17th, Charity Kiss released their first full-length album, “Slackademic,” consisting of 12 charged-up, midwestern-twang heavy hitters. However, they’ve paid their dues in the studio, releasing a total of 30 songs prior to their recent full release. The road to Slackademic hasn’t been easy, but Charity Kiss is here to remind new and local bands everywhere not to give up on music.
Inspirations & Favorites
Local to the Reno scene, the band members of Charity Kiss share a love for Pussy Velour, Meat Blanket, Next Question, Mr. Johnson, and In the Works?. They even mentioned Utah’s own Backhand band as an inspiration, which they’ve played a show or two with previously. Hansen and Drum draw inspiration from similar bands such as Guided By Voices, Wunderhorse, Fugazi and Fontaines D.C. Like most bands I’ve spoken with, I mentioned how they sound like a perfect blend of their favorites and it’s beautiful to see a handful of greats in one local band.
The Scenes
Coming out of a small, “everyone-knows-everyone” town means you form strong relationships with fans and other bands. Similar to Salt Lake City, Hansen described Reno as a group of bands who are “always down to play.”
“The bands aren’t gonna bail on the sniffles or because they’re mad about something happening at the show,” Hansen said. It gets frustrating for Charity Kiss when they play out-of-state. They recounted a few times that bigger bands have dropped their bill day of show, making them fear they wouldn’t have an audience to play for. However, Charity Kiss is finally at that point where traveling to other states isn’t a huge guessing game. Hansen and Drum talked about a recent show they played in Corvallis, Oregon, where they booked a theater just to have a bunch of bands bail at the last minute. Charity Kiss became the headliner–a nerve-wracking experience for any traveling band. Their premonitions were diminished when they stepped out into a crowd of around seventy fans.
Hansen said, “We had people singing the words and wearing our merch and then buying more merch and telling us how much they love us. We were blown away.”
“Reno has that good DIY ethos and that camaraderie of, ‘Hey, the music industry sucks, let’s band together,’ anything we can do to help each other. That’s what I really love about the core of the Reno scene,” Hansen said.
“I’ve also noticed Reno crowds are way more likely to just get into it. We’ve played some shows out of town where it’s not cool to dance or something,” Drum said. It’s not just Reno either–Utah fans will use any excuse to get down in a local venue’s pit.
The Reno music scene, just like every other, has its pitfalls in others’ ideologies of bigger, local bands. Charity Kiss has experienced their share of slander following their rise in popularity. Hansen and Drum recalled the most difficult times of the band when people would label them as a “sellout” band.
“I feel like a lot of people see what we do and take it for granted,” Hansen said. “People in Reno sometimes talk about how ‘we’ve made it’ or we’re the ‘hot shots’ now, but no, it’s not like that for us. I have two daughters and I’m married so I miss a lot just weekly, we all do.”
“We all moved in the process of writing this album. Cole moved to San Francisco and there were all these big changes and we never took our foot off the gas. We wanted to make a point, firstly, thank you so much for the continuous support, and also please don’t take us for granted,” Hansen continued.
The incredible thing about Charity Kiss is how much they value being level with their fans and other bands. They want everyone to know that they’re also people who struggle with inconveniences like money, family and trying to keep up with the world’s growing issues. The music industry is cutthroat, yet rewarding when a band’s efforts are recognized and admired. For these local rockers, everyday is a strive towards acceptance and comfortability with their music and fans.
Slackademic Release
“Slackademic” is Charity Kiss’s newborn album, as well as their first ever full album release. During the recording process, the band drove back and forth from California to Reno to play Offbeat Festival and record–a challenging weekend for any musician. Hansen talked about how they don’t want to chase numbers or appeal to the algorithm–they just want to release an album for people who enjoy their music.
“We’re trying to fight against the wave of ‘produce, produce, produce’ as fast as you can and drop singles. Everybody’s got their thing, but that’s not our thing and we’re trying to maintain the purity of art there is in the album. The album is an art piece,” Hansen said.
Hansen mentioned his desire to only release their music on vinyl and CDs from now on, saying he’s sick of streaming and the algorithm altogether. Keeping authenticity in their music is something the band wants to exhibit to the scene and to show that having a handful of fans who love their music wholeheartedly is superior to having internet fans.
Hansen and Drum, when asked about their favorite songs on Slackademic, mentioned “Mobo,” an homage to Modern Baseball, whom they admire as an alternative/midwest emo band. “It’s the closest we’ll probably get to Mobo for now,” Hansen said. There are many more tributes to other artists and bands in the album, but Hansen encourages fans to listen and keep it up to their interpretation and observations.
The Future of Charity Kiss & Final Thoughts
Hansen and Drum said, “We wanna see more bands in Reno stick with it, release music and chug along. We wanna see more Reno bands getting out of town.”
To that, I told them to take the van down to Salt Lake City with a few other locals and get the party started. With their album debut from a few months ago, fans can hope to see Charity Kiss release some tour dates in the next year–if we’re lucky. The brooding, dance-crazed energy of Slackademic is one that needs to be experienced live in a boiling hot DIY venue–where I first witnessed Charity Kiss perform in 2023. These Reno natives are eager to meet the rest of the world, and the music-loving community will embrace them with open arms.