Tuesday, October 19, 2010

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!








Sunday, July 11, 2010

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!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

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. :)

Thursday, April 22, 2010

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