Aside From Me (Kaluka Bone, 1998)

They say to write what you know and in this case this is the probably the only instance here (for now) where I actually know somebody in this band and have met most of them. So this actually makes this post a bit more awkward since it's easy to wax on about this band and that band from a healthy distance, like a critic, but considerably harder when you have a personal link to the band.

In this case I know this band from being friends with the bass player since high school. I've met the two guitarists/singers briefly, and I don't think I had the honor of ever meeting the drummer. In 1998 it seemed pretty natural that since they were in a band and I was at a radio station we could help each other out. It was a good debut album, showcasing a bunch of different styles and probably resembling something of what their live set would sound like. The influences are fairly well-studied, with more than a little nod to the post-grunge sound that was starting to dissipate in the music scene around this time. Everyone had a favorite around the radio station, but it was probably "The Waiting" that carried the most traction of any of the songs ("Body vs. Mind" was a personal favorite of mine though).

If I remember my history correctly, the band was formed by Rich and Paul after being let go from some other band (Clockwise?). Ben and Dave were brought aboard for their new band. I think a few more songs were recorded after the album, but I'm not aware of any other album. Dave left the band and a few years ago was seen on national TV behind the drumkit of a performance by Sondre Lerche and is a regular in the band Jupiter One. They added a third guitarist and Ben left the band at some point. They sort of re-formed under the moniker "Mrs. Grundy" a few years later and there's some mention of an outfit called the Border Cops that I know nothing about. These days, other than Dave, it seems like the Kaluka Bone guys are settling down in life, which most people do in their thirties (I'm raising my hand here). I had one of those moments this morning thinking that it's been 16 years, which is the same amount of time between the Beatles appearing on Ed Sullivan and John Lennon's assassination. That seemed like a really long time for that period, but 1998-2014 still seems like a blink of the eye in a lot of ways.

Next time I see Ben, I'll try to fill in the blanks. I don't have the cover handy, so you're getting an awesome picture from their Google Plus site. Of course there's always the comments box if anyone dares to go there...