Formed by brothers Chip and Tony Kinman after they dissolved their cowpunk band Rank and File

Rank and File

Formed by brothers Chip and Tony Kinman after they split up their punk band the Dils, Rank and File were a roots rock post-punk band. The Kinmans' singing was distinctive; they weren't traditional harmony singers à la the Everly Brothers, but rather sang synchronized upper and lower octaves. The...

, Blackbird were an electronic post-punk

Post-punk

Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...

 band. The Kinman's harmony-enhanced singing was as mellifluous as the vocal sound they had established in Rank and File, while the songwriting structure was pop music-inspired. The pop elements were anchored by a grungy-sounding Yamaha RX-5 drum machine

Drum machine

A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums or other percussion instruments. They are used in a variety of musical genres, not just purely electronic music...

, Tony's throbbing 8th-note bass lines and thickened by Chip's heavily distorted and echo-y guitar lines.

Blackbird marked the third distinct musical style embraced and perpetrated by the Kinmans, first with punk rock

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 (The Dils

The Dils

The Dils were an American punk rock band of the late 1970s, originally from Carlsbad, California, and fronted by brothers Chip Kinman and Tony Kinman...

), followed by country punk (or cowpunk) with Rank and File, and finally the abrasive, metallic techno-pop of Blackbird.

The band's oeuvre includes three eponymous albums, the first two released by Iloki Records and produced by then-Butthole Surfers

Butthole Surfers

Butthole Surfers is an American alternative rock band formed by Gibby Haynes and Paul Leary in San Antonio, Texas in 1981. The band has had numerous personnel changes, but its core lineup of Haynes, Leary, and drummer King Coffey has been consistent since 1983. Teresa Nervosa served as second...

 sound tech, Ric Wallace. Subsequent releases include the last album (also eponymous) released on Scotti Bros. in 1992; following the third and final full-length release, Iloki Records hired Braindead Soundmachine

Braindead Soundmachine

Braindead Soundmachine were an industrial rock band and the brainchild of founding members Cole Coonce, Warren Croyle , and the late Ikky Shivers...

's Cole Coonce to produce updated versions of songs the brothers had success with in previous bands, "Class War" by The Dils

The Dils

The Dils were an American punk rock band of the late 1970s, originally from Carlsbad, California, and fronted by brothers Chip Kinman and Tony Kinman...

 and "Amanda Ruth" by Rank and File.

Post-breakup

The Kinmans' next project was the acoustic guitar-driven campfire music act Cowboy Nation. Following the dissolution of Cowboy Nation, the brothers returned to their punk rock roots, albeit separately; Chip established the punk rock act Pacific Coast Highway, while Tony created the punk-pop trio Los Trendy.

Discography

• Blackbird (1988)
• Blackbird (1989)
• Blackbird (1992)
• Class War b/w Amanda Ruth (1992)