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From
Scenestars.net:
The Seattle of the
1990's was a really fucking special
place. Everything you read, everything
you've heard, everything you've seen on
TV, all of it is true. The bad part is
that none of it can really express the
magic of the time & what it meant to
everyone around -- whether you were
watching or participating. As part of
the mayhem, I often had the good fortune
of seeing Harris Thurmond play with the
now-defunct and seminal Seattle band
Hammerbox over
the years. He was always the stoic,
stand-up player with the striking Nordic
looks and a guitar prowess that could
only be described as categorically
peerless. Since Hammerbox, Harris has
been part of the well-loved Seattle
bands
Sanford Arms
and
Orbiter, both
of which had been on hiatus until
recently.
Harris hasn't
rested on his laurels -- he has never
been one to sit idly by and let the
johnny-come-latelys try to panhandle
their way through musical hipster
hucksterism. He always ups the ante. So
he has brought us the self-titled
release from his latest group effort,
Kingsley.
Kingsley is an album of fun,
unpretentious pop rock and roll songs
spanning two decades of influence. You
get your chunky noise-rock guitar
blended in with tasteful indie rock
nuances and sprite electronic
arrangements. The end result is neither
entirely new wave nor entirely rock and
roll; it reminds me of
Graham Parker
engaged in a waltz with
The Dandy Warhols,
ultimately generating quirky gems in a
direct line with the music that put the
great American Northwest on the music
map.
Harris has made
immense progress as a songwriter and
performer since I saw him with Hammerbox,
and Kingsley is hard evidence that he
and bandmates Jeff Wood, Robert Dent,
and Billy Brush have found a groove
worth exploring. After hearing this CD,
I really think they should stick around
to show some of these young punks a
thing or two about how it's done.
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from LMNOP.com
Kingsley
- Kingsley (CD, Blood
Orange, Rock/pop)
The latest project spearheaded by songwriter
Harris Thurmond, guitarist for
Hammerbox,
Orbiter, and
Sanford Arms. Thurmond formed
Kingsley with fellow Orbiter bassist Jeff Wood
to play tunes he was writing that weren't right for the other band.
Rounding out Kingsley are Robert Dent
on drums (also formerly of Sanford Arms) and
Billy Brush on keyboards. This band's tunes
sound a bit like Dinosaur Jr...but with more conventional sounding
vocals. Thurmond and associates keep things simple here...which works in
the band's favor. These songs are strong enough to speak for themselves
without studio gloss and unnecessary overdubs. While these tunes are
basically mid-tempo rock, there is some real power happening
here...making tunes like "New Rock City" and "Jilted" sound rather
formidable. Simple catchy rock. (Rating: 4++++)
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