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The Kure for Kooties: All Your Bass Belong to Us....
Topics: music, bands, Bakotopia, writing, Poetry, Bakersfield, local music scene, Scene, art, life, humor, Retro, topgun, celebrity, Hollywood, Kure For Kooties
Posted by AntManDoom Mon Jun 30, 2008 11:12:08 PDT
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0 responses 1 comment Location: Stockdale Hwy., Bakersfield, Ca 93314

The Kure for Kooties:
All Your Bass Belong to Us....

By Ab, The Kure For Kooties

So I started this little project called The Kure for Kooties after the band I was previously a part of just flat out fell apart.

After spending the better (or actually worse) half of my teen to early 20's life being in bands where my ideas were rudely ignored or completely butchered, I vowed this would be a band that catered to my creativity, my style, my life, and my interests.

I started writing songs in preparation for a show my previous band had committted to and stuck me with at the world famous Hollywood venue, The Whisky-A-GO-GO. Here I was sans guitarist, sans singer, and sans drummer leaving myself with my crappy 4-string battered Squier bass and a couple of songs; one of which was about training bears to fight the wars in the Middle East.

Childish you say?

Silly you mutely mouth in fear of offending me? You're absolutely right, and for the record I'm not offended and I can read lips. I have an odd imagination, so sue me if my dreams often involved armor clad bears driving tanks and saving Damsel's in Damselesque Distress.


The Kure For Kooties

I'd been friends with Jeff Huntington,. and I believe I should be mentioned as the person who made guitar accessible to him. When he was a wee one and I was a precocious teenager, I visited his home and brought my first guitar I had recieved from my Grandparents the previous Christmas, and I sat him down and showed him a couple of poorly executed Metallica riffs...This, I believe, caused a chain reaction which put a guitar in Jeff's young hands and his butt in guitar lessons. He became an exceptional guitarist, and if it didn't come off as "gay" I'd tell you all I'm very proud of him...Aw, what the hell. I'm very proud of him.

His abilities far surpassed mine, and although I'll admit to being openly jealous of him, I do believe I have some strengths where he has weaknesses, just like his strengths are exactly where you can locate my weaknesses. We come from different musical backgrounds, and we love different genres, but he joined my previous band despite those differences and everything worked out...

Yeah, and monkey's flew out of my butt. It failed terribly, and in the end I found myself angry at him for not making the compromises I demanded from him, and he found himself frustrated that he had no place to express his talents in our mediocre set list.

Well, that's how I figured him to think at least, if you want the story straight from the horses mouth why don't you go ask him? Anyway, so he left the old band and we went on without him for one last show and it flopped big time. After some arguements and the good sense to rid myself from one of the most miserable persons on the planet, I was on my own.


The Kure For Kooties

I knew things had to be different this time around if I was to pull Jeff back into my proverbial mix, and so far I think things have been very different but once again if you want it straight from the proverbial horses mouth (because Jeff has a human mouth, in case you were wondering) you'll have to ask him. Jeff and I collaberated on some early material and quickly found a drummer. To make a long and for the most part boring story short, it didn't work out. We had to play our first show with acoustic guitars, and although the reception was pretty positive, it bummed us out.

Enter Tyler Leaf (not literally, I'm sure he wouldn't like that). We had found a drummer at last and momentarily we were a complete band. With Tyler's invite into The Kure for Kooties, I noticed that this was no longer "My" band, vision, musical journet, etc.

We became a brand new entity and genre altogether, making for a very versatile sound and live experience. We come from different genres and musical opinions, but together we create this Voltron of style and sound that just astounds me.

I'm proud to be a part of this band, and I'm eager to see where we can take this brand new sound. We're like if Weezer had a fling with Blink 182 and The Bouncing Souls, but settled on sleeping with Van Halen instead. We're satrical, witty, intelligent, funny, unique, and spontaneous. We're the secret of Bakersfield that's just waiting to get out.

We've played three shows (not including the acoustic one) and our turn-out has been...well, disapointing. We haven't found our fan base, but we're confident they're somewhere out there amongst the many bands that all have the same now boring sound of screaming, whining, and double bass. I'm not bashing the genre nor talent of those involved with the local scene, I'm just saying it's been a tad redundant lately.

It's my article and if you think I'm pompous I'd like to be the first to welcome you to the internet where you have the right and ability to call me on what you may think would be my BS. Better yet, right another article about how I'm wrong, and I'm a complete jackass, and my band sucks, etc etc. Opinions are like belly buttons, everyone has one (except Kyle XY) and they're usually hairy and full of lint.

I think, with a few exceptions to the rule, that the current Bakersfield Music Scene is missing something. I think local bands have lost their charm and ability to pull in a crowd that's just happy to be there so they can proudly proclaim their love for the Bakersfield locals. I think it's a bad situation because when these struggling bands from different towns roll into the 661 they don't attract new fans because the local bands can't bring anyone in. Maybe it's just the shows I've been to/played, and I'm making a big assumption that's completely off the mark.

Once again, I'd like to point out that this is the internet and I'm not safe from your retractions.

I'm not going to claim that The Kure for Kooties is the "Kure" for the Bakersfield local slum I've observed. We're not saviors, no...not in the least.

We are, however something new and fresh that may relieve the temporary local scene blues. We're telling stories with our music; sometimes they're silly abstract stories, and sometimes they're romantic ballads, but they're stories nevertheless.

We're looking to reach friends, not fans. We're looking to entertain, not sell our souls to a faceless corporation.

We just want to have fun, and this is your open invitation to join us for some fun.

Sincerely,

Ab -The Kure for Kooties

www.myspace.com/thekureforkooties

thekureforkooties@yahoo.com

Also printed in Bakotopia magazine, issue 32, 7-10-08

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Comment From: matt

Nice! Hey, send me a band pic. This is a good piece for Bakotopia magazine!