The live recording of our Kracklefest show this spring is coming out on July 10th! It's called "Kirby Krackle Live in Seattle" and you can preorder it right now at Bandcamp. Go to there and get it.
Enjoy this live video of our cover of "Take On Me" by A-ha, courtesy of our friends at Aderyn Productions, who are crazy-talented with the video things:
Posted July 3, 2012
If the situation is so bleak, why are people still starting bands?
Posted June 19, 2012
It was more like two months ago. (Click to enlarge.)
Posted June 12, 2012
The new Kirby Krackle single is unleashed! Go get it!
SPOILER ALERT: it's about Spider-Man.
Posted June 6, 2012
Click for full size.
Posted June 5, 2012
Hey, I wanted to say thanks to everyone who bought, tweeted, liked or otherwise supported Kin to Stars' latest single. (And if you haven't, please excuse me while I tap my foot at you. Ahem. Tap tap tap.) Hopefully the next single won't be such a long time coming.
It's now our tradition at Kin to Stars shows to require the audience to doodle on the backs of our mailing list cards. This latest batch is from our Folklife show. Here's a favorite of mine:
Apparently I am a dead ringer for Joffrey Baratheon? I'm okay with that.
Posted May 31, 2012
We call this game "Let's Spend 15 Minutes Trying To Access The Inaccessible Thing." Click for full size.
Posted May 30, 2012
Folklife was a hoot and we had a great audience. We debuted two new songs and solicited the crowd for opinions on having monkeys as part of our act. Jerin's idea, not mine. For serious. We'll have some follow-up stuff posted soon.
In the last month it was decided that both Kirby Krackle and Explone will be joining Kin to Stars in semi-abandoning album releases in favor of releasing singles throughout the year. Patrick had a great metaphor to explain why: "I want more times at bat."
I was really happy to hear this. For bands striving to find new fans, the concept of the "album cycle" has been dead and buried for at least a decade.
The baseball metaphor really is apt. With an album, you get one time at bat. One chance for significant attention. You're counting on that home run. If you swing and miss, that's ten songs' worth of effort down the drain. Contrast that with a band that consistently releases singles every few months. If one flops, so what? Move on to the next one and make it better. Infinite times at bat. There's no heartbreak from watching three years of work, time and money go ignored. You haven't bet the farm on that one shot.
Unless there is someone else footing the bill -- and therefore calling the shots for you -- there should be only one reason to release an album: your fans want it. Every other reason is probably the wrong reason. If you've got thousands of fans already willing to wait, that's awesome! But most bands don't, and it's easy to burn out trying to keep fans interested during those between-release dead zones.
Personally, I find releasing singles is way more fun and energizing. We're already beginning work on the next Kin to Stars single, surfing the wave from our last one, without the emotional overhead of boxes of unsold CDs and thousands of dollars of recording debt. It's a nice way to work. I can't wait to see it applied to the other bands I'm working with.
Posted May 29, 2012
Click image for full size.
Posted May 24, 2012
Two days ago, after a terrifying Seattle spring downpour that lasted about a half-hour, the sky cleared up and became this. As if to say: sorry, lost my cool there for a moment.
Posted May 23, 2012