Back from NYCC!

Wow, what a traveling year it's been! We just got back from New York Comic Con and our 10th/last con of the year. We had so much fun meeting everyone along the tour and we felt loved and supported in every city. THANK YOU for making the 2010 convention season one of the best times of our lives. Just because we're done with the convention season doesn't mean we're not creating more awesomeness for all the Krackleheads around the world so stay tuned for very cool stuff in the near future! Till then, thanks for keeping on spreading the word about KK and check out our NYCC trip recap via the medium that enables us to do what we do in the first place! Enjoy!

New KK Video/Film: On and On

We collaborated with our buddy and filmmaker Todd Downing to create a fun fan film showing what life is Logan as one of the most popular mutants around and at the same time, how much repetition the poor guy must go through pulled in to the same fights and same situations over and over again. Enjoy!

HeroesCon!

This past weekend, we headed out to North Carolina to spread the gospel of nerd rock.

This was our first time in the south promoting E FOR EVERYONE and it was really cool to meet our friends down there we didn't know we had. It's always a trip and simultaneously extremely cool to hear enthusiasm for the music from folks who you would never otherwise never know existed. May that always be fun and somebody feel free to throat punch either of us should should we ever that for granted (not too hard).

Also, that weekend marked the first time KK had ever been invited to participate in a convention "panel". For those unfamiliar with the format, it's like a class put on by the artist/writer/actor ABOUT whatever said artist is involved in. In our case, we were invited to do whatever we wanted to do.

Dangerous I know, but we pulled something out that we thought would be both informative and fun and something that would make it new for us.

We decided to go with a "VH1 Storytellers" concept and jumped in head first for a full hour of stories, laughs, and hopefully more connection between the band, fans and our music. For example.... "On And On" is more than a song about Wolverine's overworked schedule, it's also a commentary of how we go through much of our lives jumping from one distraction to the next without ever really centering ourselves.

We were a little nervous taking what people may feel is only fun and light themed music and revealing it was about much more at the same time, but sticking with honestly as policy we were rewarded with fans saying they felt closer to the music and had enjoyed the peeling of layers. It feels different talking about the KK in that context, but at the same time more fulfilling and multi-dimensional. We were thankful to the fans who came and enjoyed their time, we're looking forward to doing it again!

Check out this nice review/interview from HEROES CON with the fine folks at COMICS ALLICANCE!





While we were holding the front line in Charlotte, director Todd Downing was breaking ground beginning filming on our as-of-now no longer secret music video for "On And On". We're so excited for this and cannot wait for it to be completed after receiving emails with the first of the footage stills. Over the past 2 months, our friend JD Greene has become Logan and you're gonna smile when you see it. :)

C2E2!

We're back from C2E2 in Chicago and tomorrow of to Calgary Expo! The trip and show with Pop Coltour and Joe Quesada was awesome and hope those of you that were there had a blast. The following is a blog entry that Kyle put up on his site sharing some of what went down in the Windy City...





The weeks are blurring. The space time continuum is bending and shifting around me. Well, not really that dramatic, but I do feel I just got home as I now pack today to head out of Calgary for the 3rd and final convention this month on the Kirby Krackle convention train. We were in the Windy City over the weekend, flying in on Thursday with the band arriving on Friday for our Saturday night show at the official Chicago C2E2 convention after party. Here's a few highlights from the trip...



I've posted photos of our booth at the cons before, but you've never seen it with the devil picks on top have you?! No, I didn't think so and though we can't take credit for it, I appreciate the booth behind us for adding to our much needed street cred in the "evil rock" department. Thanks guys!




Being that it was my first time in Chicago, I was curious to see what little I could to the fullest being that I was trapped inside a convention hall all day. What I did see though was an older town that very much reminded me of NYC, without the hustle and bustle or artsy vibe. Every one seemed to be very much in their own space going about their business in a sort of "muted" way. It just felt different than any place I had been before; stark, gray, and not in the weather way of things like the NW. I was informed that "The Dark Knight" was filmed there and immediately that made sense to me. Felt like you'd think Gotham would feel like. Maybe I only think of those things though. I do read a lot of comics...


The costumes were AMAZING per usual and Chicago nerds really know how to put together some classy ensembles. As in many cities though, there are those outfits where you see a little too much more than you'd like but those are few and far between. And by that, I mean who doesn't love a skinny white guy dressed up like Slave Leia?









As I said earlier, the KK live band (Scott Andrew, Patrick Porter, Nelson Estes and Bryce Francis) arrived Friday night minus Bryce our keyboardist (he's in Japan). We met up with them in an old school diner (fully equipped with 70 year olds manning the door who looked like they could kick your ass) downtown where they ate covering their faces in the best steak grease chi-town had to offer. As drummer Nellie eloquently put, "I bet Al Capone kicked someone down those stairs". I'd believe it cause this place was old school with photos from the past 5 decades adorning the walls of stars complimenting the owner on his establishment. After their dinner we walked around downtown before calling it a night for the big day and concert on Saturday...






Saturday brought the longest selling/booth manning day of the convention per usual, and subsequently I cut out early to rest my voice before heading to soundcheck at 5:00 for our concert at REGGIE'S rock club (think a mix between the Showbox and Highdive in Seattle). The band sounded like they spent the whole day drinking beer and riding the brown train all around the city and Wrigleyville so it was nice to live vicariously through them and their stories. I always say this, but I may seriously need to start spending an extra day after the show to walk around and see some touristy stuff! Like I said, we sped over to sound check and THE FUGLEES (band that was headlining the night) were more than kind to let us use their gear they had driven over that afternoon from Indiana. They were great guys and we had an awesome time playing that night. As opposed to San Francisco, I became really excited during the few days prior to the show being about to say YES when folks asked if we were playing during the convention weekend. Again like at the Seattle convention in March, I could see people singing along (even when I hiccuped and sang the wrong words) and enjoyed every freaking minute of it. THAT (the folks singing along) is a new thing for me to experience and validation that KK is moving in the right direction of connecting with our fans in the right way I'd like to...it's such a cool feeling. Once again we were also joined by MARVEL Comics Editor-In-Chief Joe Quesada which was very cool for us and especially the fans. This music-meets-comics thing is starting to get recognized by the powers that be that run the events and that feels good. Art and music go together of course and there's always room for something new. I'm really looking forward to the day when there's 4 bands like us and we can all play together full circle style! That RED HULK guitar pick? MARVEL made them up for us as another promo for the company like the one they did in Seattle and simultaneously fulfilled a pre-teen fantasy for me once again...








I know I say this often, but one of the coolest things about going to these conventions is meeting fans of KK and putting faces to emails we've received or folks who stop by to say hi after having written articles about us online or in print. It's not a needing to hear praise thing, it's more about hearing how somebody has enjoyed a certain song because of comic they really like or how it made them want to get into a series because a song had made them curious. I love meeting young fans most of all because kids hold an unfiltered joy, and when they like something, they really like it. I can relate to kids in this way more than adults many times cause I'm the same way. This young Kracklehead left and impression and I was thankful to meet him. The classy gentleman in the middle of Jim and I? That's Malik Yusef, an artist on Kanye West's GOOD MUSIC label. Nice guy and we talked about some possible collaborative efforts. Um yes, that would be fun...





Finally, one of the coolest things I saw at C2E2 was this traveling auction of set pieces from the fist IRON MAN movie. Everything from crushed armor to burnt suits was up for auction and I was surprised they let me get that close to take pictures of it all. Enjoy!









Cool we made it to Issue #150! I'm working on something cool for the 3 year anniversary of this blog on Issue #156 so stay tuned.

As always, THANK YOU for reading and see you next week when I return from the Great White North! Not Everett...


KS

ECCC Wrap-Up!

THANK YOU Seattle for the amazing, wonderful, loving response we received from all of you at this years ECCC! It was special for us not only because of the heartfelt response, but also because it was the 1st of our 10 conventions this year in support of our new album, E FOR EVERYONE!





We had so fun meeting the fans new and old, and hearing the excitement grow as the early listeners to our disc gave us some feedback on what they liked and wanted to hear more of. All accounted for and taken into consideration for song ideas so thanks for the free material yo! ;D





Besides the good face time with local Krackleheads, we had the amazing opportunity to play with friend and MARVEL Comics E-I-C Joe Quesada on stage for the first time. He even had special MARVEL embodied guitar picks made up for the performance and for a kids who grew up playing guitar in-between issues of "What If?!", we're still trying to wrap our brains around the coolness of that...

An accomplished musician and performer in his own right, Joe joined us for "One Of The Guys", "Secret Identity", "On And On", and "Tony Stark" to the delight of the crowd and for what Joe deemed on stage "The First KK / MARVEL Team-Up".

Issue #1?! We'll take it!




Enjoy the video, photos, and catch us on our next stop in San Francisco at WONDERCON as the KK train keeps going!


Peace, Love, Rock, Comics!


KK

E FOR EVERYONE Out Today!

E FOR EVERYONE is out today! You can listen to the ENTIRE album now via our site and pick it up while you're there to have it shipped to you right away via KK HQ! Prefer to purchase E4E digitally? Head over to DIGSTATION and CD BABY!





We'll let you know when the album is processed and up at iTunes/Amazon and expect that in a few weeks...

THANK YOU again to all the Krackleheads, creators, family, and friends who supported us through the recording of E4E. It took many more folks that just us to make it happen and with any artist, it's important to recognize that!

This week we're gearing up for EMERALD CITY COMIC CON and our CD Release show featuring MARVEL Comics Editor-In-Chief Joe Quesada as he rocks the stage with us!

Without further ado, let's review the final 4 songs off of E4E!



DUSTY CARTRIDGES & LONG BOXES

We wanted to write a song about a perfect night with that perfect someone, and maybe what might seem to be a perfect night to some of you as well. The delicately stripped down acoustic finger picked songs is the more basic track on E4E and something that might not be out of place on a John Denver album...if he wrote songs about making X-Babies. Aw yeah! A nerd fantasy (ours anyway) rolling right 2 minutes and 46 seconds of spending some sexy times bagging and boarding comics with your certain someone...

"There's not better place to be when you bag and board my comics you're always careful with the crease...CGC says 9.3 but you're a 10 to me..."



GOING HOME


"Going Home" is a song we were commissioned to do for the LONG BEACH COMIC CON back in October. We were asked to write something that we felt summarized the convention experience and what better way to gain a storyline than to take it from the 7 conventions we had already experienced throughout the year! That is, minus the whole waking up in the hotel room "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" style. Those aren't pillows!!!!!!

"We're Going Home! We're Going Home! To the place where wild nerds roam! With pretty girls and dudes in capes! Going to cons is our escape..."




GREAT LAKES AVENGERS


We had room for 2 more songs on E4E when we went to a Pearl Jam concert last October in Seattle and after soaking in the concert, we KNEW we wanted to bring the rock to round out the album. Sometimes you have inspiration strike you in the way you least expect it, but after that show we in no way wanted to perform concerts this year with out playing hard...and fast. This is the most manic sounding song on the album and good reason since it's from the perspective of a hero auditioning/getting rejected from every major team of heroes out there again and again. Despite the failed attempts to join the Green Lantern Corps, JLA, X-Men, etc...the hero in question is repeatedly approached by the GREAT LAKES AVENGERS; the most useless band of heroes ever assembled under the sun. Sometimes though, heart goes a long way...and free beer always helps too.

"I got a message from the GREAT LAKES AVENGERS, they offered me a membership but I did not accept cause they're a walking disaster...like a narwhal with a fireball they don't make sense at all..."


CAN I WATCH YOU?

Aw, the song that when we wrote it was debated over drool induced laughing on the floor and pounding on the side of the wall so the dog got freaked out.
We've come to realize that for better or for worse, there are some things that once thought of need to be created and fully realized. Are all these things appropriate to bring into this world? Not at all, and most we come up with actually should be repressed...like "Can I Watch You?"; a song that is from the perspective of MARVEL Comics character "The Watcher" the all knowing, all-seeing Celestial. But hey, just because you're 3 stories high with a big baby head and a wear a toga don't mean that you can't gets yours, right? RIGHT!? If Uatu is gonna sing a song to his boo, why shouldn't it be in the form of a 70's love jam over sexy ass guitar and a slutty solo? Slutty indeed. Oh Watcher, you crazy baby...you crazy.

"I never instigate, IKOR didn't raise no fool. You say I instigate, you think it's hot...Celestial bad boy from the blue side of the moon, you like the things I do, things I say I never do...but I still do...so call me UATU!"






That's a wrap, and the most damage we could do on disc #2! We hope you like our second offering and now is when the fun for us all starts! Shows! Concerts! Conventions! Con Sars and shaking hands with people that just sneezed on our cd players!

WE CAN'T WAIT. :)


True,

Kyle and Jim

KK