Artist description Punkified Blues. Lo Fi Garage. A little metal. A lot of attitude.

Music Style POP/ROCK

Musical Influences Little Walter, Iggy Pop, ACDC, the New York Dolls

Similar Artists Boss Hog, Come, Iggy, and Joan Jett

Artist History From the day Jill "Chilly" Kurtz walked away from her years of playing with seminal acid rockers Ashera, she knew she wanted to make a mark in music. Bassist Kate Frend (Goliath) and Drummer Chris Negrette (Spore) joined forces with Kurtz and soon they were playing gigs together. Having been inspired by seedy women’s prison films Kurtz decided to call the band Caged Heat, a name that wasn’t exactly well received initially by her band mates. Nevertheless they began gigging and soon made a name for themselves. One Boston Phoenix writer called them a “punkified blues band”, a moniker that stayed with the band for the next couple of years. This lineup recorded four songs together; including “Raised in Hell”, which featured a cameo guitar performance by Dave Minehan. They appeared on a couple of different compilations, but things didn’t work out and they went their separate ways. The ambitious singer/guitarist remained undaunted. She dusted herself off and put a new lineup together. This new lineup that at one point featured Scissorfight guitarist Jay Fortin, played some unforgettable shows. The band then recorded a ten song CD for Ruff Stuff Records. “Serious Action” opened a lot of people’s eyes. The band toured the East Coast twice with The Upper Crust and garnered tons of press accolades. Rockpool magazine wrote, “Kurtz has whatever Patti Smith had, a strange dark quality drawing the listener to a closer look at whatever horrible resides behind those eyes”. Instant Magazine also praised the band by writing “Caged Heat is no regular band pounding the stages of Boston. They are taking them by force and winning.” Kurtz’s harmonica playing began getting a lot of attention as well. As one Boston Globe writer noted, “Who knows what Little Walter would make of the uproar Caged Heat creates, but he wouldn’t quibble with the fire Kurtz creates on her harmonica”. They also received College airplay throughout The Northeast. Kurtz was nominated as “Best Female Vocalist” by The Boston Phoenix in their annual poll in 2000. As fate would have it after playing over 150 shows, the band broke up only two months after the release of “Serious Action”. The break left Kurtz feeling frustrated leading her to also play solo acoustic gigs. Two more line-ups came and went; despite many big shows she still hadn’t put the right pieces together. By this time Kurtz was gaining a reputation as a woman that you couldn’t keep down. Endorsements from Hohner and Sonic Chord amps seemed to give the blues rockers a lift and she went on to record and release “No Moleste”, a heartfelt solo acoustic blues record. Still she yearned to be on stage with a band. In 2001 things came together as she began playing with Bassist Bo Barringer and Drummer Matt Graber. Taking a more pop approach the band is better than ever live. Caged Heat entered the studio in 2002 to record the long overdue follow up to “Serious Action” and recently finished an as of yet named 9 song CD which will be released in the fall of 2002. With the new CD, Caged Heat is going beyond their reputation of tearing up the stage and into the realm of true songwriting bliss.

Group Members Caged Heat 2001: Jill "Chilly Kurtz" Lead Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica, Bo Barringer Bass & Vocals, Matt Graber Drums

Instruments Lots of guitar and harp wailing!!

Albums Debut CD

Press Reviews "Jill Kurtz is the hardest working blonde in show business, and her power hungry, blues-fried, retro sleaze gang Caged Heat bring the night down with a howling fury of flailing Stones riffs and the kind of jaw dropping harmonica wail that suggests backroom negotiations with Satan. Caged Heat are so red-eyed, fuck-on-the-floor dirty that you might as well just call in sick to work now, because you’re not gonna make it..." Sleazegrinder The Weekly Dig �Right off, �Serious Action,� Caged Heat�s debut CD, dives into a ferocious drum-guitar-harmonica stutter. It�s one of those once-in-a-blue-moon intros that makes you truly want to hear what follows. And what does follow? Smash Iggy Pop with Little Walter, as someone recently put it to singer-harmonica-guitar player Jill Kurtz. That�s a fine summation. CH plays punk-blues that would provide a juicy opening slot on a Stooges-New York Dolls dream bill. Kurtz has a Jim Beam-and-Camel-burr-of-a-voice like Courtney Love�s circa �Live Through This.� Amy Finch, The Boston Globe****** Rockpile Magazine Caged Heat �Serious Action� Ruff StuffWhoa. Here�s a surprise. The photos on the tray card for this one suggest some alternative pop band. Instead there�s plenty of weird, sick, heavy sounds and a hard-as-nails female lead vocalist. Jill Kurtz sings as if something horrible is trying to escape the back of her head. She seems to writhe with every line, pain trembling in her limbs. There is definetly a blues influence on the title track-some 70�s rock sounds, but then again, there�s something else totally unclassifiable. Kurtz has whatever Patti Smith had, a strange dark quality drawing the listener in to get a closer look at whatever horrible thing resides behind those eyes. This is excellent, unsettling stuff. -Mark Ginsburg

Additional Info Jill Kurtz is endorsed by Hohner.

Location Boston, Ma - USA

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