KEN mode

About

The artist

KEN mode is a Winnipeg noise rock band formed in 1999 by brothers Jesse and Shane Matthewson. The name abbreviates Kill Everyone Now mode, a phrase connected to Henry Rollins and the performance mindset that shaped the project. The band's early full-length catalog began with Mongrel in 2003, followed by Reprisal in 2006 and Mennonite in 2008. Venerable arrived in 2011 after work with producer Kurt Ballou and won the 2012 JUNO Award for Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year. Entrench followed in 2013 with Matt Bayles, while Steve Albini worked on Success in 2015. The Nerve EP appeared in 2016, and Andrew Schneider worked with the band on Loved in 2018. The current four-piece lineup consists of Jesse Matthewson on vocals, guitar, and synthesizer, Shane Matthewson on drums and percussion, Skot Hamilton on bass and backing vocals, and Kathryn Kerr on saxophone, synthesizer, piano, and backing vocals. Kerr had contributed saxophone to Loved before joining as a full-time member. NULL in 2022 and VOID in 2023 form a companion album sequence that expands the group's metallic hardcore foundation with industrial texture, saxophone, synthesizer, and piano. Both records were produced by Andrew Schneider and KEN mode, with VOID recorded at Private Ear Recording in Winnipeg. The exact Spotify identity currently contains twenty-two primary album and single containers from April 2003 through September 2023. MusicList normalizes those releases as nine albums, one EP, and twelve singles because the artist-controlled catalog identifies Nerve as an EP even though Spotify classifies it as an album. VOID received a 2024 JUNO nomination, the band's fifth career nomination in the metal and hard music categories. The album also appeared on the 2024 Polaris Music Prize Long List. The artist-controlled Bandcamp and current Manitoba Music profile both identify Winnipeg, Manitoba as the band's professional base. Manitoba Film and Music lists KEN mode among its 2024 to 2025 Perform Program applicants, while the official site posted March 2026 updates that refer to preparations for the next album cycle. Artoffact Records manages the current Bandcamp catalog and released NULL and VOID. The official contact page identifies Mythos Management and Swamp Booking as current professional routes. Public inquiries are directed to that official page without republishing email addresses, and Spotify media is displayed remotely with provider attribution and a monogram fallback.