Ed Kemper Trio
Encyclopedia
The Ed Kemper Trio was an independent Art/Noise rock
band based in Montgomery, Alabama
. The band was formed in 1997 after the breakup of two Montgomery-area noise rock
bands, Bert and He is the Queen. EK3's sound was characterized by short asymmetrical song structures, sheer volume and odd meter
. EK3 played hundreds of weekend shows and completed four Southern/Midwestern tours. The band translated its live show into three studio albums, two of which were recorded at Zero Return Studios by Jim Marrer, who engineered most Man or Astroman recordings for Touch and Go
. In addition to the studio recordings the band released one live recording. EK3 was also the focus of the 2004 independently produced documentary People Will Eat Anything, directed by Shane Gillis. The band split up in 2004. Each former member is still active in the Montgomery music scene.
(bass) formed the trio with Jason Singleton
, drummer for local band 41 Down, which would later become the major label band Trust Company
. Singleton soon left the band and Glenn Grant (Bert) joined cementing the line up. Within three months the band recorded a demo from which one song was released on a Chicken Ranch Records (Flat Duo Jets, The Woggels, Tiger! Tiger!) compilation based in Tennessee. EK3 immediately started touring the Deep South
and would go on to do four independent tours of the Midwest. The band played two mini-tours with Man or Astroman, as well as shows with many noise, metal, and indie rock bands of the day including: Craw
, The Flying Luttenbachers
, Jucifer
, Sweep the Leg Johnny
, Ex Models
, The Violent Femmes, The Locust
, Hot Rod Circuit
, Cream Abdul Babar
, VHS or Beta
, Pferd, Apollo Up, and others.
The band’s first two recordings were made in rural Elmore County, Alabama
by Jim Marrer, engineer for most of Man or Astroman’s Touch and Go albums. During the recording of their second album, How to Win a Sword Fight, the band was signed to Tulsa, Oklahoma
based Yawn Records and the CD was released in 2002 to mixed reviews. That was soon followed by their final studio recording, Hack, which was released by the Atlanta based label Moodswing Records. Hack was recorded at Sarcophagus Studios in West Point, Georgia by Lynn Brydges, Adam Vincent and Jamie Uertz, who would later record a session with Devendra Banhart
for Young Gods Records (Michael Gira/Swans
).
Due to the more experimental nature of Hack. A friend of the band, Dave Veatch, was recruited to play keyboards during their live sets. Although not a writing member Veatch’s addition to the band in 2003 was instrumental in expanding the scope of EK3's sound.
While active EK3 was featured, reviewed or mentioned in several magazines including: Copper Press, Chunklet, Skyscraper, Punk Planet
, Alternative Press, Performer Magazine
and others.
Years of touring strained the working relationship of the band and in June 2004 EK3 split up. Johnson and McLeod are currently in the band El Chupa Cobras. Glenn Grant plays drums in Unsect. Dave Veatch fronts the Rudy Banes Breakup. Johnson and Veatch are currently in Black Racers.
Other Personnel
about the rock music scene in Montgomery, Alabama. During 2002 several Montgomery-area bands worked together to put on shows or festivals each weekend of the year. The film serves as a musical diary between 1999 and 2004.
The documentary begins with its focus on the Ed Kemper Trio. Even in the earliest stages of the band's development they established themselves as the one band that could hold the scene together and pull bands from other areas into it for added strength and diversity. The mid-film expansion into the lives and music of these other groups documents the diversity of the Montgomery music scene. Most of the major bands profiled in the film split up within a few months of each other.
The film moves chronologically as the scene develops, gains momentum, and suddenly collapses. The live performances and interviews establish a sense of how fragile any music scene can be. Included are live performances by: The Ed Kemper Trio, Last Transgression, Hematovore, Saragashum, Weak Music For Thomas, Supreme Dispassion, Pferd, Liquid Brick, Spiders and Flies and Scifu.
Running time is 117 minutes.
1. My Least Fav Part
2. Grinding Down in Two
3. Agitate To the Top
4. Pain in Sound Experiment
5. Scatter
6. Man With the Tommy Dorsey Ending
7. Moves On Its Belly
8. Alienating the Fan Base
9. Best Beats Even
10. Liquid Flesh
11. Science Rash
12. The Very Best Finishing Contestant
13. Debt Free and Posthumous Living
14. Little Pink Pencil
15. A Thing or Two About Self-Defense
How to Win a Sword Fight (2002)
1. Killed for This
2. Spells Devil Backwards
3. What's New, No. 2?
4. Scatter
5. Even Burns Underwater
6. And Here's Why
7. A Blow To the Head
8. Pain in Sound Experiment
9. Why Death Works
10. My Least Favorite Part
11. Liquid Flesh
12. Hard and Black
13. Bleeding Strategy
14. How to Escape from Killer Bees
15. Agitate to the Top
16. Little Pink Pencil
17. The Catastrophe Event
Hack (2003)
1. The Blacklist
2. Walks With a Limp
3. Post-Rock Reply
4. My Pants, on Fire
5. The Shoes of the Chief Justice's Wife...
6. ...Are Some Suck-Assed Slippers
7. A Big Time
8. The Art of Not Listening
9. Horns and a Tail
10. Lower G.I. Joe
11. When It's Too Much
12. People Will Eat Anything
13. #7 Needs Title
Like a Legless Baby… Dragging (2004)
1. Stay In School Sucka!
2. Post-Rock Supplies
3. My Pants On Fire
4. Kilt For This
5. Even Burn Ubervater
6. Breeding Strategy
7. Walks Like A Pimp
8. How To Escape Killer Steve
9. Horns And Some Tail
10. Debtors Prison And Southern Living
11. Alienating To The Top
12. Spells Dio Bakards
13. Little Pink Honkey
14. Guten Nacht
Compilations
“Jose! Ha!” on Chicken Ranch Round Up 4 (1999) – Chicken Ranch Records
“Next to You” on Many Miles Away: a tribute to The Police (2001) – Solarmanite Records
“Windshear” on Digging Out The Switch Again: a tribute to the Dazzling Killmen (2002) – Subversive Workshop
"Even Burns Underwater" on The Five Sounds (2002) - WMFT
EK3 interviews in “People Will Eat Anything” a film by Shane Gillis (2004)
Crucial Blast review of People Will Eat Anything http://www.crucialblastshop.net/search.php?page=0&numOfResults=0
Ink 19 article http://www.ink19.com/issues_F/99_04/live/man_or_astroman.shtml
The Vanguard http://media.www.usavanguard.com/media/storage/paper973/news/2002/01/07/UndefinedSection/Along.The.Coast-2617981.shtml
Hack on Buddha Kahn, a music blog. http://toxicmolar.blogspot.com/2009/03/ed-kemper-trio-hacked.html
How To Win A Sword Fight on Buddha Kahn, a music blog. http://toxicmolar.blogspot.com/2009/02/ed-kemper-trio-repost.html
Art rock
Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, with influences from art, avant-garde, and classical music. The first usage of the term, according to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, was in 1968. Influenced by the work of The Beatles, most notably their Sgt...
band based in Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...
. The band was formed in 1997 after the breakup of two Montgomery-area noise rock
Noise rock
Noise rock describes a style of post-punk rock music that became prominent in the 1980s. Noise rock makes use of the traditional instrumentation and iconography of rock, but incorporates atonality and especially dissonance, and also frequently discards usual songwriting conventions.-Style:Noise...
bands, Bert and He is the Queen. EK3's sound was characterized by short asymmetrical song structures, sheer volume and odd meter
Time signature
The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
. EK3 played hundreds of weekend shows and completed four Southern/Midwestern tours. The band translated its live show into three studio albums, two of which were recorded at Zero Return Studios by Jim Marrer, who engineered most Man or Astroman recordings for Touch and Go
Touch and Go Records
Touch and Go Records is an independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois, USA.After its genesis as a hand-made fanzine in 1979, it grew into one of the key record labels in the American 1980s alternative and underground rock scenes, Touch & Go carved out a reputation for releasing adventurous...
. In addition to the studio recordings the band released one live recording. EK3 was also the focus of the 2004 independently produced documentary People Will Eat Anything, directed by Shane Gillis. The band split up in 2004. Each former member is still active in the Montgomery music scene.
History
In the summer of 1997 ex-He is the Queen members Kenny Johnson (guitar and vocals) and Vonda McLeod(bass) formed the trio with Jason Singleton
Jason Singleton
Jason Singleton, born of Fort Walton Beach, Florida is the drummer of the rock band Trust Company, as well as the bands Arm in Arms, and The Escape Frame, all from Montgomery, AL. Singleton also briefly played drums for the Ed Kemper Trio in 1997...
, drummer for local band 41 Down, which would later become the major label band Trust Company
Trust Company
Trust Company can refer to:*Trust company, a company acting as a trustee*Trust Company *Trust Company, predecessor to SunTrust Banks...
. Singleton soon left the band and Glenn Grant (Bert) joined cementing the line up. Within three months the band recorded a demo from which one song was released on a Chicken Ranch Records (Flat Duo Jets, The Woggels, Tiger! Tiger!) compilation based in Tennessee. EK3 immediately started touring the Deep South
Deep South
The Deep South is a descriptive category of the cultural and geographic subregions in the American South. Historically, it is differentiated from the "Upper South" as being the states which were most dependent on plantation type agriculture during the pre-Civil War period...
and would go on to do four independent tours of the Midwest. The band played two mini-tours with Man or Astroman, as well as shows with many noise, metal, and indie rock bands of the day including: Craw
Craw (band)
Craw is an independent band from Cleveland, Ohio, USA. They belong to the harder-edged branch of the math rock or post rock movement, in the same category as bands such as Colossamite, Keelhaul, Zeni Geva, Dazzling Killmen, and Ruins.- History :...
, The Flying Luttenbachers
The Flying Luttenbachers
The Flying Luttenbachers were an instrumental unit led by multi-instrumentalist / composer / producer Weasel Walter. The Luttenbachers have created a large body of work focusing on an agenda of musical extremity and dissonance...
, Jucifer
Jucifer
Jucifer is a two piece sludge metal band signed to Relapse Records. The band's members include Gazelle Amber Valentine on lead guitar and vocals, and her husband Edgar Livengood on drums. They travel in an RV and are "nomadic in nature", preferring to tour constantly, living in their tour vehicle,...
, Sweep the Leg Johnny
Sweep the Leg Johnny
Sweep the Leg Johnny was a Chicago-based math rock band in existence from 1996 till 2002. The name is a reference to a line in the film The Karate Kid....
, Ex Models
Ex Models
Ex Models is a no wave-influenced band based in Brooklyn, New York.-Career:The band, based around brothers Shahin and Shahryar Motia, was started while they were in high school. They reunited after college to make their first album, Other Mathematics, released in 2001 on Ace Fu Records...
, The Violent Femmes, The Locust
The Locust
The Locust is a musical group from San Diego, California, United States known for their unique mix of grindcore speed and aggression, mathcore complexity, and new wave weirdness.- Style :...
, Hot Rod Circuit
Hot Rod Circuit
Hot Rod Circuit is an American emo band from New Haven, Connecticut established in 1997.-Early years:The band was originally known as Antidote under which they released the album Mr. Glenboski, which won the group the award of Best Unsigned Band of 1998 by Musician Magazine...
, Cream Abdul Babar
Cream Abdul Babar
Cream Abdul Babar is one of the longest-standing bands in the Tallahassee scene. The band formed in 1994, combining elements of punk, metal, industrial, and noise to create their brand of experimental rock.-History:...
, VHS or Beta
VHS or Beta
VHS or Beta is a band originally from Louisville, Kentucky, now based in Brooklyn, NY, that combines elements of rock, house and disco . Their self-released debut EP Le Funk found some success on the charts, but the band became better known in the wake of the 2004 album Night on Fire...
, Pferd, Apollo Up, and others.
The band’s first two recordings were made in rural Elmore County, Alabama
Elmore County, Alabama
Elmore County is a county of the State of Alabama. Its name is in honor of General John A. Elmore. As of 2010 its population was 79,303. Its county seat is Wetumpka.This county is part of the Montgomery Metropolitan Statistical Area.- History :...
by Jim Marrer, engineer for most of Man or Astroman’s Touch and Go albums. During the recording of their second album, How to Win a Sword Fight, the band was signed to Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 46th-largest city in the United States. With a population of 391,906 as of the 2010 census, it is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with 937,478 residents in the MSA and 988,454 in the CSA. Tulsa's...
based Yawn Records and the CD was released in 2002 to mixed reviews. That was soon followed by their final studio recording, Hack, which was released by the Atlanta based label Moodswing Records. Hack was recorded at Sarcophagus Studios in West Point, Georgia by Lynn Brydges, Adam Vincent and Jamie Uertz, who would later record a session with Devendra Banhart
Devendra Banhart
Devendra Obi Banhart is a singer-songwriter and visual artist. Banhart was born in Houston, Texas and was raised by his mother in Venezuela, until he moved to California as a teenager. He began to study at the San Francisco Art Institute in 1998, but dropped out to perform music in Europe, San...
for Young Gods Records (Michael Gira/Swans
Michael Gira
Michael Rolfe Gira is an American musician, author, and artist. He is the main force behind the recently reformed New York City musical group Swans and fronts the Angels of Light...
).
Due to the more experimental nature of Hack. A friend of the band, Dave Veatch, was recruited to play keyboards during their live sets. Although not a writing member Veatch’s addition to the band in 2003 was instrumental in expanding the scope of EK3's sound.
While active EK3 was featured, reviewed or mentioned in several magazines including: Copper Press, Chunklet, Skyscraper, Punk Planet
Punk Planet
Punk Planet was a 16,000 print run punk zine, based in Chicago, Illinois, that focused most of its energy on looking at punk subculture rather than punk as simply another genre of music to which teenagers listen. In addition to covering music, Punk Planet also covered visual arts and a wide...
, Alternative Press, Performer Magazine
Performer Magazine
Performer Magazine is an American music magazine aimed at independent musicians. It has been in publication since 1991 and is distributed nationally throughout the United States. The magazine focuses primarily on musicians who are unsigned and on small labels, and their success in a DIY environment...
and others.
Years of touring strained the working relationship of the band and in June 2004 EK3 split up. Johnson and McLeod are currently in the band El Chupa Cobras. Glenn Grant plays drums in Unsect. Dave Veatch fronts the Rudy Banes Breakup. Johnson and Veatch are currently in Black Racers.
Members (1997-2004)
- Kenny Johnson – guitar, keyboards and vocals
- Vonda McLeod – bass, keyboards, samples and voice
- Glenn Grant – drums, samples and keyboards
Other Personnel
- Dave Veatch – keyboards 2003 -2004
- Shane Gillis – guitar in 1997
- Jason SingletonJason SingletonJason Singleton, born of Fort Walton Beach, Florida is the drummer of the rock band Trust Company, as well as the bands Arm in Arms, and The Escape Frame, all from Montgomery, AL. Singleton also briefly played drums for the Ed Kemper Trio in 1997...
– drums in 1997 - Jeff McLeod – bass in 2001 (Vonda recovering from knee surgery)
People Will Eat Anything
People Will Eat Anything is a documentaryDocumentary
A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...
about the rock music scene in Montgomery, Alabama. During 2002 several Montgomery-area bands worked together to put on shows or festivals each weekend of the year. The film serves as a musical diary between 1999 and 2004.
The documentary begins with its focus on the Ed Kemper Trio. Even in the earliest stages of the band's development they established themselves as the one band that could hold the scene together and pull bands from other areas into it for added strength and diversity. The mid-film expansion into the lives and music of these other groups documents the diversity of the Montgomery music scene. Most of the major bands profiled in the film split up within a few months of each other.
The film moves chronologically as the scene develops, gains momentum, and suddenly collapses. The live performances and interviews establish a sense of how fragile any music scene can be. Included are live performances by: The Ed Kemper Trio, Last Transgression, Hematovore, Saragashum, Weak Music For Thomas, Supreme Dispassion, Pferd, Liquid Brick, Spiders and Flies and Scifu.
Running time is 117 minutes.
Discography
Ding Dong School/Evil (1999)1. My Least Fav Part
2. Grinding Down in Two
3. Agitate To the Top
4. Pain in Sound Experiment
5. Scatter
6. Man With the Tommy Dorsey Ending
7. Moves On Its Belly
8. Alienating the Fan Base
9. Best Beats Even
10. Liquid Flesh
11. Science Rash
12. The Very Best Finishing Contestant
13. Debt Free and Posthumous Living
14. Little Pink Pencil
15. A Thing or Two About Self-Defense
How to Win a Sword Fight (2002)
1. Killed for This
2. Spells Devil Backwards
3. What's New, No. 2?
4. Scatter
5. Even Burns Underwater
6. And Here's Why
7. A Blow To the Head
8. Pain in Sound Experiment
9. Why Death Works
10. My Least Favorite Part
11. Liquid Flesh
12. Hard and Black
13. Bleeding Strategy
14. How to Escape from Killer Bees
15. Agitate to the Top
16. Little Pink Pencil
17. The Catastrophe Event
Hack (2003)
1. The Blacklist
2. Walks With a Limp
3. Post-Rock Reply
4. My Pants, on Fire
5. The Shoes of the Chief Justice's Wife...
6. ...Are Some Suck-Assed Slippers
7. A Big Time
8. The Art of Not Listening
9. Horns and a Tail
10. Lower G.I. Joe
11. When It's Too Much
12. People Will Eat Anything
13. #7 Needs Title
Like a Legless Baby… Dragging (2004)
1. Stay In School Sucka!
2. Post-Rock Supplies
3. My Pants On Fire
4. Kilt For This
5. Even Burn Ubervater
6. Breeding Strategy
7. Walks Like A Pimp
8. How To Escape Killer Steve
9. Horns And Some Tail
10. Debtors Prison And Southern Living
11. Alienating To The Top
12. Spells Dio Bakards
13. Little Pink Honkey
14. Guten Nacht
Compilations
“Jose! Ha!” on Chicken Ranch Round Up 4 (1999) – Chicken Ranch Records
“Next to You” on Many Miles Away: a tribute to The Police (2001) – Solarmanite Records
“Windshear” on Digging Out The Switch Again: a tribute to the Dazzling Killmen (2002) – Subversive Workshop
"Even Burns Underwater" on The Five Sounds (2002) - WMFT
Sources
Copper Press #14 “The Ed Kemper Trio” by Steve Brydges (Feb.1, 2003)http://www.copperpress.com/EK3 interviews in “People Will Eat Anything” a film by Shane Gillis (2004)
Crucial Blast review of People Will Eat Anything http://www.crucialblastshop.net/search.php?page=0&numOfResults=0
Ink 19 article http://www.ink19.com/issues_F/99_04/live/man_or_astroman.shtml
The Vanguard http://media.www.usavanguard.com/media/storage/paper973/news/2002/01/07/UndefinedSection/Along.The.Coast-2617981.shtml
Hack on Buddha Kahn, a music blog. http://toxicmolar.blogspot.com/2009/03/ed-kemper-trio-hacked.html
How To Win A Sword Fight on Buddha Kahn, a music blog. http://toxicmolar.blogspot.com/2009/02/ed-kemper-trio-repost.html