Katherine Park

‘Man, can you dig it?’
The Jumblies enjoy local success with sophomore CD
By Jennifer Lord
DAILY NEWS STAFF


The Jumblies are hanging out at a Framingham Starbucks, waiting for their lost guitarist, when electric violinist Clara Kebabian gets a bright idea: Why not offer up their new EP?


After all, “Catch It If You Can” is hot off a successful launch – so successful they had to print up extra copies just to give them away at their launch party. It’s getting airplay on RadioMax, a French Internet radio station (www.radiomax.fr) and there’s no denying that there’s indie buzz.


But the Starbucks barista has to turn down the offer – it seems that while Starbucks is very much into music, the store’s soundsystem is specially coded so it can only play its own recordings.


“Anyway, it’s been a great ride so far” says Wayland resident Clara Kebabian enthusiastically, as she returns to the table where lead singer Katherine Deakin* of Westborough and drummer Goss (“Just one name, like Madonna”) are talking about life in the Boston music scene.


The Jumblies have been in existence for the past five years, with an ever-changing lineup centered around guitarist Mark Heng _ who is wandering lost somewhere down Rte. 9. Kebabian joined up two years ago, after meeting Heng, a comercial artist, while he was doing caricatures at a function for her company. Yes – Kebabian is a neuroscientist in the biotech industry by day, electric violinist by night.


“It’s very cool,” Deakin says.


“It sounds so cool,” adds Goss.


“I’m glad we can all agree,” Kebabian says with a laugh.


“Really, you play Bach, you play Beethoven, you do some modern stuff when you play the violin. But this is a bit more improvisational in a group – you wear funkier clothing, get to rock out. And it’s not the same old thing all the time.”


“Not the same old thing” describes The Jumblies music-stylings, which they describe as “alternative-rock-indie.” They’ve been compared to the Pixies and Garbage and the early ’90s Boston band Tribe.


“The stuff we’re working on now is very collaborative,” says Deakin, by day a makeup artist and voice coach. “This incredible stuff just started coming out.”


Deakin has been with the group since last summer, joining after graduating from The Hartt School of Music in Connecticut. After a couple of auditions in the area, she found the right musical mix in The Jumblies.


“I’ve always been a singer, even in Westborough.” Deakin says. “Westborough has an awesome music program. I was very lucky there.”


Heng finally arrives, a little winded from his search for the elusive Starbucks. The rest of the group starts to fill him in when he suddenly slouches over in his seat, lifts the collar of his jacket up over his face and makes it obvious that he’s spotted someone he’d rather not see.


It makes conversation a little difficult.


Heng started the band back in 1999 after stints in other bands. He thinks of the band’s sound as similar to early ’90s alternative pop and he starts a faux-intelectual monologue: “We’re trying to come to an altered state of consciousness through music, man.”


The rest of the group laughs as he continues.


“Think the Smiths, My Bloody Valentine, The Cure – well not quite so much.”


He stops again as a rather nondescript man stops by the table and greets him with “Hey, it’s the Jumblies!” Heng sits up and stops with the avoidance pose. “I should have just said hello,” he mumbles.


Originally from Malaysia, Heng moved to Colorado then came to the area to attend Boston University, where he got hooked on the Boston music scene while listening to late night college radio.


“Catch It If You Can” is the band’s follow-up to the 14-song “By the Light of the Blue Moon.” Postitive response has The Jumblies booked through most of the month of May, with shows planned Saturday at the Midway Cafe in Jamaica Plain, May 6 at the Westborough Knights of Columbus, May 7 at Spontaneous Celebrations in Jamaica Plain, May 13 at Copperfields in Boston and May 14 on Wrentham TV. They’re also in the lineup for the Renewable Energy Festival in Beverly on June 19.


“The cry of love, the sound of freedom – that’s what it’s all about.” Heng says. “That’s exactly what we’re trying to make happen, man, can you dig it?”


(Jennifer Lord)


Lord, Jennifer. “‘Man, can you dig it?’ The Jumblies enjoy local success with sophomore CD.” The MetroWest Daily News [Framingham, MA] 24 April 2005: C1, C10. Print.

*Previously known as Katherine Deakin, Katherine prefers to be known under her stage name, ‘Katherine Park’, which is her first and middle name. - The MetroWest News

Jumblies jump into music scene
Westborough’s Katherine Deakin provides the vocals
By Dave McGrath
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS


The Boston-based band The Jumblies, featuring singer Katherine Deakin, has just finished producing a four-song album titled “Catch It If You Can.”


REVIEW


Originally formed in 1999 by guitarist Mark Heng, I had the pleasure of seeing The Jumblies play last December when they opened for Focusin, yet another local band with a Westborough native: guitarist Glen Goland. To be honest, I was not really looking forward to seeing The Jumblies. When opening bands are on, I am usually counting the minutes and number of songs, wondering when the band I really want to see will come on. The Jumblies dismissed any notion I had about lame opening acts.


From the get-go, The Jumblies impressed everyone in the audience. The band features Deakin on vocals and harmonica; Heng on guitar and vocals; Mike “Goss” Gossweiler on drums, Clara Kebabian on violin; Mark Eskandar on bass; Elizabeth Bell on the Yamaha djx-II sampler and vocals; and Carlos Homs on keyboard. Their unique combination of guitar, bass, drums, keyboard, and violin created a sound unlike most bands.


Deakin’s voice filled the room with a piercing passion and, like the rest of the band, didn’t miss a note. The Jumblies’ wide range of influences includes The Smiths, The Cure, My Bloody Valentine, Mazzy Star, Janis Joplin, Lou Reed, ’60s pop and dub reggae. When mixed together, the music was thoroughly enjoyable and applauded by all in the crowded room.


what is apparent when seeing The Jumblies play and meeting Deakin is her passion for music. You can tell she means it when she hits her notes. When she talks about music there’s a look of happiness in her eyes that lets you know it’s her calling in life.


I asked her when she first knew music was for her, and her reply was happily, honestly, and proudly: “as long as I can remember.”


However, she also said it was her music classes in the Westborough Public Schools that really brought the musician inside her out. She credits Marilyn Samuelson for providing her a strong musical foundation, and is thankful to every music teacher and person who has helped foster her innate love and talent for music. The list includes: Samuelson, Richard Hagar, David Seaman, William Pappazisis, the Westborough Music Parents Association; and people I’m sure will be in Deakin’s first awards speech.


The Jumblies new album “Catch It If You Can,” has songs sung by both Deakin and Heng and was written collaboratively by The Jumblies. What is great is that the four songs bridge into each other and feed off each other. The first song “No Silence,” starts with drums, guitar and then Deakin’s searing vocals hitting notes most of us could only pray to hit, a characteristic of every Jumblies song she sings.


The second song, “Morningrise,” has more of a gloomy tone (in my book, sad songs are the best_ and laid-back pace, and ahs unbelievable instrumental fills throughout. A quick third instrumental “Iadhadh” leads into the fourth song, “Catch It If You Can,” which is sung by Heng. It’s more of a straight-out hard rock song that does well to finish off the encapsulation of the newest Jumblies incarnation.


when I first saw the Jumblies open for Focusin, I had no idea who Deakin was or that she was from Westborough. I thought it was a strange coincidence that two bands playing together had to “native musicians.” While Focusin is still rocking the local music scene and just released their first full-length CD March 31 at the Middle East in Cambridge, Deakin introduced me to Cold Duck Complex, a band based in western Massachusetts that has yet another Westborough native: keyboardist Jeff D’Antona.


With a new album, rehearsals, ties to local musicians and outright love of music, The Jumblies have only one key ingredient remaining: setting up more gigs. Their album has impressed many local club owners, as The Jumblies already have dates set for their next shows, and more coming in. The band headlined at PAs Lounge in Somerville last week. The CD release party will be at the Kirkland Cafe in Somerville on April 8, followed by performances at the Midway Cafe in Jamaica Plain on April 30; and taping a performance before a live audience on May 14 for cable television in Wrentham.


Oh, and in case there are any Austin Powers fans out there, the Jumblies did not get their name from the movie. They are named after the Edward Lear poem titled, you guessed it, “The Jumblies.”


For more information about the three bands, check out www.thejumblies.com, www.focusinmusic.com, or www.coldduckcomplex.com.


(Dave McGrath is a Westborough native.)


McGrath, David. “Jumblies Jump Into Music Scene.” The Westborough News 1 April 2005. Print. - The Westborough News

The Jumblies


Catch It If You Can 4-song CD


Inescapably appealing, The Jumblies wear their hearts on their sleeves with their love of 80s and 90s Brit pop. “No Silence” is reminiscent of soul influenced 80s British bands like Spandeau Ballet. Elisabeth Bell’s keyboards and Clara Kebabian’s violin have just the right balance. Singer Katherine Deakin’s voice reminds me of the Coors sisters with its warmth and melancholy. The EP’s centerpiece “Catch It If You Can” brings to mind New Order with guitarist Mark Heng on vocals. Using polyphonic Spree-like harmonies, the song is exhilaratingly triumphant. Most importantly it rocks out and there’s a cheeky nod to The Rolling Stones song “Sympathy for the Devil” with its “oohoohs” at the end. You may have heard The Jumblies before; this is a fairly new line-up for them, and the excitement of the new shows with this EP.


(Leah Callahan)


Callahan, Leah. “Catch It If You Can 4-song CD.” The Noise 1 May 2005. Print. - The Noise

The Jumblies

Tell me what you think about The Jumblies. The disco lightshow and projection screen psychedelia of their stage set-up alone qualify them for repeated viewings, to say nothing of their ethereal, hook infected Dream Pop. According to their website, audiences are subjected to “Experimental noise, psychoactive textures, hypnotherapy techniques, traditional songwriting, and surreal nonsense.” According to me, their atmospheric shoegaze sounds like the yearnings of your loneliest night in some imaginary, 80's High School nostalgia movie (You know, one of those that features Kevin Bacon as ‘the rebel’; No, not “The Woodsman”. Yikes…)


Vocalist Katherine Deakin’s long, drifting melodies float over thick synth-pads and mascara ruining electric violin romanticism from Clara Kebabian (formerly of Steve Morse association) are enough to bring out that teenaged sehnsucht all over again. The Jumblies have been doing pretty well for themselves, in a gritty, underground scenester kind of way, getting “darlings of local scene” type press all over the place, many radio show appearances on the college rock stations and all that jazz.


If it were up to the bicycle messengers and American Apparel devotees, The Jumblies would be freakin’ ‘it’. So, pull up those turquoise knee socks and drive your busted-up black camero on over to www.thejumblies.com or www.myspace.com/thejumblies, and get your happy feet on! (okay, so I don’t know what that means… .)


(James Therrien)


Therrien, James. “The Jumblies.” The Ugly Couch 26 February 2006. Web. - The Ugly Couch

2nd generation female singer Katherine Park’s first single ‘Without Regret’ airs in the New England Region via MyTV on cable television as the theme song on the show ‘AB Business Spotlight’.

Currently a rock singer in California, Park worked as a freelance musician in the Boston area in the past, where she was the lead singer of The Jumblies. Asian Boston Magazine wrote an article on The Jumblies at the time, and the TV branch of the company ‘ABTV’ picked her song ‘Without Regret’ as the show’s theme. The show airs on Sunday April 24, 2011 at 12:00 noon for 13 episodes.

Shortly after Park Eun-ha graduated from college in 2004 she joined The Jumblies and embarked on her music career. The Jumblies released a 4-song EP, and are on hiatus at this time. Jumblies drummer Goss and electric violinist Clara Kebabian are engaged to work on Park’s upcoming album.

In 2008, Park released ‘Without Regret’ as a single. In June, Park will begin recording her next solo work, a 4-song EP. The material will be recorded at Woolly Mammoth Sound. The funds needed to release the album amount to two thousand dollars. The funding began last March and Park has collected $836 so far.

“So much work is being put into this musical recording. I hope many people in the Korean Community consider purchasing the album in advance to help raise funds,” she asked for help.

The tentative name for the EP is “Fly,” and it will include 4 songs. The first song’s title is ‘Gone.’ AB Business Spotlight will include the 2008 single ‘Without Regret’ as the show’s theme, and the producers requested two more songs from her upcoming album to use throughout the show. Park hopes to complete this recording in June so that she can contribute more music to the episodes.

The songs feature a mix of Korean and English lyrics. BMI songwriter Jeong Yong Lee is responsible for the Korean lyrics of ‘Without Regret’. The soft song ‘Gone’ features dub reggae and Clash inspired drums.

You may pre order Park’s EP now at indiegogo.com/Katherine-Park. When you contribute $5 you receive an advance download, $15 gets you the pre-order of the album, and Park will send you a special autographed copy for $20. KwiNam Park is running the Boston Marathon and raising funds for her daughter.

Park says her path as a singer started at three years old when she sang at an event for The Korean School of New England. She went to university to major in Music Education, and after that, her music career solidified.

An avid fan of Korean music and dramas, she grew up loving singers Lee Soo Young and Shin Seung Hoon. At noraebang she would always sing Ahn Jae Wook’s ‘Forever’. When she was in Korea she went to a Yoo Seung Joon concert, and then had to buy all his albums. Park loves Korean food, especially rolled omlettes, dukbokki, and loves to cook. She loves British singer Kate Bush for her similar treble voice, and she loves British rock bands.

(Boston Korea reporter Jang Myeong Sul)


Jang, Myeong Sul. "2nd Generation Dream Rock Singer Park Eun-ha's Wake-Up Call." Boston Korea News 18 April 2011. - Boston Korea News