K. Flay opened with “Hail Mary” on the Lucky Cat stage late Saturday afternoon at the Nines Festival in Devens, MA to a small but dedicated crowd. The new EP “What If It Is” was released a week ago, K. announced, drinking a Coors Light, and sporting a great cheesy black Call of the Wild tee with an airbrushed Jack London, black jeans and combat boots. K. stomped and pogoed through the first few songs, then stopped to check in with the audience, asking, “how you doin’ Devens Massachusetts?” A direct response was flung back “No one is fucking from Devens Massachusetts!” So she said, “Well how you doin’ wherever the fuck you’re from?” The audience roared with approval. As the set progressed, she got the crowd into a call and response with “Hell, Yeah” and demanded the audience “clap motherfuckers” going into a killer scat-rap with a heavy metal backing.

Noah was crushing it, scratching, and making magic with his Buddha encrusted laptop and turntables. He and K. Flay blew it apart dancing, hair flying to a looped background while Nick kicked it out on the kit. K. Flay confessed she wrote material when she was a bit stoned, and didn’t know if the audience could relate, but thought they might could for her intro to “Fvcking Crazy,” a song she wrote about trouble with commitment. “You know whether you’re going to continue with the relationship, you know about those, right?” she quipped, as the band laid down the beat. The trio ripped it up with a severe three person drum session with Nick on the kit, Noah on electronic drums and K. Flay on an electric blue Tom, playing the rim and the skins.

As a band, they hail from San Francisco, but K. Flay now lives in NYC. Wherever they’re from, they convey a raw urban vibe. Subjects range from rage about injustice and dating woes to eating disorders. K. Flay is fast and precise in her rapping which packs an emotional punch. She announced their finish would be “wild ass fucking songs,” which ended with “Sun Burn.” As the set ended, Noah shot K. Flay with a super soaker, then the two of them sprayed the audience “for your pleasure and enjoyment,” K. Flay said. They’re an incredible mix of headbanging hip-hop rap with raw metal energy reminiscent of MIA and worth a listen. Catch them on tour now with Icona Pop & Sirah supporting their new EP release “What If It Is.” They’ll be playing Boston at the Paradise September 19.