Kicks Like a Mule is a British rave/electronic music duo consisting of Richard Russell and Nick Halkes. Their first single, "The Bouncer", peaked at #7 in the UK Singles Chart when it was released in 1992. Although both Halkes and Russell worked at the XL Recordings label at the time of the single's release (XL being run by Russell to this day), it was released on Rebel MC’s independent Tribal Bass label. It featured a repeated vocal sample of an archetypal club bouncer saying "your name's not down, you're not coming in".

Kicks Like a Mule were also responsible for the remix of Awesome 3's "Don’t Go", and produced the song "Pass the Rizla" by London Posse which was featured on the London Underground EP on XL Records in 1993. This was also featured on the 2001 reissue of London Posse's album Gangster Chronicle. Their second single, "Number One" was also released on the Tribal Bass label.