Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
This band has no press
Discography
"Number One," DowBoy Records, 2006
"10 Years Gone: 1994 - 2004," Self-Released EP, 2004
"The Kimballs," self-titled 7", Dow Boy Records, 1994
The following tracks may be heard at
www.thekimballsrock.com:
1.) Heavy Load
2.) Ronkankama
3.) Lorraine
and
www.myspace.com/thekimballs:
1.) Heavy Load
2.) Number One
3.) Cherubia
4.) Pup-T
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Tom Burns and Michael Mark grew up in suburban Colonia, New Jersey, where they met as drummers in their high school marching band. They quickly found their musical influences and ambitions to be similar. Sick of the regimentation and humiliated by the tall, furry hats they wore, Tom and Michael eventually ditched school band and marched toward their own goal of playing in a rock group.
Tom picked up the electric guitar and sang, and Michael accompanied on drums. At fifteen, after earning their first fifty dollars for playing heavy metal covers at a local youth center, they decided it was time to start writing and recording their own material. These early attempts evolved into the folksy, surf punk of their 1992 five-song EP, self-released under the name THE BRAND-NEW ROLLERSKATES.
THE BRAND-NEW ROLLERSKATES EP got Tom and Michael's music played on college radio for the first time. After a promo video was shot, the duo could frequently be seen on the campus cable network at William Paterson University, where Tom went to school. Quick to take notice were classmates THE WRENS, a band that was already gaining an impressive indie rock following. THE WRENS offered to let Tom and Michael record two songs in their band's basement studio, and to release the project as a 7" on THE WRENS' homegrown label, DowBoy Records.
The result was 1994's "Cherubia!" b/w "Lorraine," a solid indie rock record that demonstrated Tom and Michael's growth as songwriters and players, and showed off some of their influences as well: Elvis Costello, Hüsker Dü and The Pixies were all represented. Tom and Michael renamed their band THE KIMBALLS, after a girl whose record collection they admired.
Though the new release was well received, rehearsing and playing shows was difficult for THE KIMBALLS, with Tom in New Jersey and Michael relocated to the University of Tennessee. The band continued to collect positive record reviews from several indie rock fanzines, and enjoyed a college radio buzz with "Lorraine," but the geographical distance between the two band members was too much, and the project was dropped. Tom and Michael remained friends and made a pact to one day pick up THE KIMBALLS torch.
Currently, THE KIMBALLS have released their debut LP, NUMBER ONE, on DowBoy Records.
Links
