 Scene Magazine, June 19-25, 1997 Volume 28, No. 25 Regional Beat Welcome to the Machine Full Blown Kirk's Uninhibited Electronica Hits the Stage During an extended discussion of current music with the members of Full Blown Kirk, the subject of those infernal Spice Girls rears its ugly head. While vocalist Alison Harper Scola and guitarist Jack Velvet Randall smilingly denounce the U.K.'s (dubiously) fab five, soft-spoken keyboardist Joe Minadeo balances his derision with pragmatic insight regarding the apparent need for such prepackaged pop in the marketplace -- "You need the white to put against the black... to make it look all the blacker." Minadeo's choice of words is highly appropriate considering the nature of this Kent quintet's music -- indeed the polar opposite of the fluffy, canned dance-pop pervading the airwaves. Armed with guitars and scads of electronic goodies, Minadeo, Randall and new drummer Dave Braun lay on the heavily processed atmosphere, while the perfectly harmonized vocals and striking beauty of Scola and Krista Tortora provide the band's human focal point and live visual element. The band itself refers to its sound as "uninhibited electronica" -- music untethered by the boundaries of dance or rock genres. Incorporating evocative trip-hop rhythms, molten industrial mayhem and smoldering vocal sensuality into a seamless hole, Full Blown Kirk's debut cassette, Faiza, is a work of eerie, cybernetic beauty that brings to mind the disturbing biochemical art of Swiss surrealist H.R. Geiger. While all this may look as listener-friendly as a Controlled Bleeding album on paper, Faiza is nevertheless a very listenable EP. A copy of the tape found its way into the hands of Pat (The Producer) Johnson at WENZ, who obviously liked what he heard and gave the album some airtime on "Inner Sanctum." The resultant exposure, and Johnson's passionate support, created enough positive listener feedback to secure the band nods for "Best Female Vocalists" and "Best New Band" on the "Inner Sanctum's" year-end awards. Full Blown Kirk's first incarnation coalesced after the chance conversation between Minadeo and Scola in 1995. "Joe and I used to work at a gas station together in Kent," Scola recounts. "Joe worked the night shift and I worked second shift, so we would sort of run into each other all the time. One day, Joe was saying he was making music and had this studio (Heliocentric), and I told him, 'Oh, I can sing!' Through another friend we met Krista, and through networking people we all just came together." Enduring the requisite growing pains of arriving and departing members (many were in other area bands and couldn't commit full time), Full Blown Kirk embrace the "anything goes" spirit of the sampler-based electronic music scene. The lengthy list of contributors to Faiza reflects both the fluctuating band lineup and Full Blown Kirk's willingness to record practically anyone who dropped by -- twisting the recorded bits into unheard of sounds via sampling and sequencing technology. Unfortunately, says Minadeo, this became a real headache when it came time to figure out exactly what constituted "a performance" when the end result was often unrecognizable from what was initially laid down. As far as the band's songwriting technique is concerned, the same free-form creative spirit applies. Scola describes their writing method as "almost a magical process... like whatever happens, there it is and we just go with it." Full Blown Kirk's songs spring into existence from a sequence or chord arrangement, with each band member adding his or her own influence or viewpoint to create the finished song. As for the occasionally U.K. trip-hop sounding results, Randall says, "There really is no formula to it... just whatever feels right. We don't go out of our way to create a certain sound." Minadeo agrees, adding that when creating the songs, "Production and songwriting go hand in hand." With their songs and equipment ready to go, Full Blown Kirk are looking to turn a lot of heads their way when  they
headline Peabody's Down Under this Friday, June 20. Randall dubs the concert as Full Blown Kirk's "second
debut," as the lineup of the band has already changed markedly since their last
public performance. Having only played a fistful of live dates
throughout Full Blown Kirk's various incarnations previous to this year, Randall says the
band is excited and anxious to get out and play, finally.When asked what concertgoers can expect of the Peabody's show, Scola smiles in anticipation: "I want to think about it as a real big party. It's the first day of summer, the longest day of the year and a full moon. It'll be a fun night." Randall adds that plenty of new material will be performed and describes the show as "very visually entertaining." Minadeo caps off with: "You can expect to dance... a lot." As far as the immediate post-concert future is concerned, Full Blown Kirk will also perform Saturday, July 5, as a part of the upcoming three-day Family Affair music festival (which they are also helping to organize), along with at least 16 live acts and about four dozen DJs in a location "to be announced soon." Randall and Minadeo promise a cassette of new material in the next couple of months, and they hope to play out more frequently than the band's turbulent lineup has allowed in the past. For the time being, Minadeo sees Full Blown Kirk's music and their involvement in the local scene as "forcing people to open up their minds a little bit." With the virtually limitless creative options at their fingertips, so to speak, Full Blown Kirk have the potential and the means to create new sounds and execute daring twists on conventional rock formulae for as long as it takes to break their sound out to an adventurous audience. If you are in agreement with Scola's sentiment, "I am so bored to death with the same old shit. I love being involved in something different," then you'll know where you need to be on the evening of the 20th. Don't say nobody told you. -- Victor Cooke Scene Magazine |
