The Rainmakers (KC band)
Encyclopedia
The Rainmakers are a Kansas City
, Missouri
-based original rock
band
, fronted by Bob Walkenhorst
, which had a small string of hits
in the late 1980s and early 1990s in the United States
and Europe
, especially Norway
.
The Rainmakers were formed in 1983 as a three-piece bar band called 'Steve, Bob and Rich,' which "quickly became popular throughout the Midwest," according to one Amazon.com review. They released one album
, Balls, under this name. The addition of drummer
Pat Tomek allowed Walkenhorst to switch to guitar
and assume the role of frontman. The band changed their name to The Rainmakers when they were signed to Polygram
by A&R
man Peter Lubin.
The band's self-titled 1986 debut album received positive reviews in the U.S. entertainment media including Newsweek
magazine
, which dubbed it "the most auspicious debut album of the year," and reached #87 on the U.S. Billboard
album
chart
. The band made a fan
of horror
writer
Stephen King
, who quoted the band's lyrics
in his novel
s The Tommyknockers
and Gerald's Game
. The album, however, achieved its greatest commercial success overseas. In the United Kingdom
, the single
"Let My People Go-Go" broke into the Top 20 in the UK Singles Chart
.
Their follow-up album, 1987's Tornado, peaked at #116 on the U.S. chart. The Rainmakers released one more studio
album, 1989's The Good News and The Bad News, and one live album
, 1990's Oslo-Wichita Live, which were successful in Europe, but did not chart in the US. The band broke up after the release of the live album, which was only issued in Europe.
However, Scandinavia
n interest in their music remained high, so they reformed and released a new album, Flirting with the Universe, in 1994. The album achieved the equivalent of gold record
status in Norway in one month. Ruth left the band and was replaced by new bassist Michael Bliss, and one more album, Skin, followed in 1997. The band issued one further track in 1998, a collaboration with Brewer & Shipley
in a new version of "One Toke Over The Line", before they broke up again.
In 2011, the Rainmakers reformed, with bassist Rich Ruth returning to the group in place of Bliss, while long-time guitarist Steve Phillips was replaced by Jeff Porter. On March 5, the band was inducted into the Kansas Music Hall of Fame with a ceremony and concert at Liberty Hall in Lawrence, Kansas. The following week, March 14, the band's album, 25 On, was released. At the end of March, the band returned to Norway
for a two-week tour. The band played two shows in Kansas City, MO on May 14, 2011 and May 15, 2011 at Knuckleheads Saloon
. The second show was scheduled after the first show sold out very quickly.
The Rainmakers released six studio albums and one live album.
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
-based original rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
, fronted by Bob Walkenhorst
Bob Walkenhorst
Bob Walkenhorst is a Kansas City-based singer/songwriter/musician/painter. After growing up in his hometown of Norborne, Missouri, he became a founding member of Midwest U.S.A. groups such as Phantasia, Trizo 50, Steve, Bob & Rich, and the popular roots rock band The Rainmakers...
, which had a small string of hits
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
in the late 1980s and early 1990s in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, especially Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
.
The Rainmakers were formed in 1983 as a three-piece bar band called 'Steve, Bob and Rich,' which "quickly became popular throughout the Midwest," according to one Amazon.com review. They released one album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, Balls, under this name. The addition of drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
Pat Tomek allowed Walkenhorst to switch to guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
and assume the role of frontman. The band changed their name to The Rainmakers when they were signed to Polygram
PolyGram
PolyGram was the name of the major label recording company started by Philips from as a holding company for its music interests in 1945. In 1999 it was sold to Seagram and merged into Universal Music Group.-Hollandsche Decca Distributie , 1929-1950:...
by A&R
A&R
Artists and repertoire is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label.- Finding talent :...
man Peter Lubin.
The band's self-titled 1986 debut album received positive reviews in the U.S. entertainment media including Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
, which dubbed it "the most auspicious debut album of the year," and reached #87 on the U.S. Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
album
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
. The band made a fan
Fan (person)
A Fan, sometimes also called aficionado or supporter, is a person with a liking and enthusiasm for something, such as a band or a sports team. Fans of a particular thing or person constitute its fanbase or fandom...
of horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
writer
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
, who quoted the band's lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
in his novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s The Tommyknockers
The Tommyknockers
The Tommyknockers is a 1987 horror novel by Stephen King. While maintaining a horror style, the novel is more of an excursion into the realm of science fiction for King, as the residents of the Maine town of Haven gradually fall under the influence of a mysterious object buried in the woods.In his...
and Gerald's Game
Gerald's Game
Gerald's Game is a psychological horror novel by Stephen King. The story is about a woman who accidentally kills her husband while she is handcuffed to the bed as part of a bondage game, and, following the subsequent realisation that she is trapped with little hope of rescue, begins to let the...
. The album, however, achieved its greatest commercial success overseas. In the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, the single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
"Let My People Go-Go" broke into the Top 20 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
.
Their follow-up album, 1987's Tornado, peaked at #116 on the U.S. chart. The Rainmakers released one more studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
album, 1989's The Good News and The Bad News, and one live album
Live album
A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
, 1990's Oslo-Wichita Live, which were successful in Europe, but did not chart in the US. The band broke up after the release of the live album, which was only issued in Europe.
However, Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n interest in their music remained high, so they reformed and released a new album, Flirting with the Universe, in 1994. The album achieved the equivalent of gold record
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
status in Norway in one month. Ruth left the band and was replaced by new bassist Michael Bliss, and one more album, Skin, followed in 1997. The band issued one further track in 1998, a collaboration with Brewer & Shipley
Brewer & Shipley
Brewer & Shipley were an American folk rock music duo of the late 1960s through 1970s, consisting of singer-songwriters Mike Brewer and Tom Shipley. They were known for their intricate guitar work, vocal harmonies and socially conscious lyrics. Their greatest success was the song "One Toke Over the...
in a new version of "One Toke Over The Line", before they broke up again.
In 2011, the Rainmakers reformed, with bassist Rich Ruth returning to the group in place of Bliss, while long-time guitarist Steve Phillips was replaced by Jeff Porter. On March 5, the band was inducted into the Kansas Music Hall of Fame with a ceremony and concert at Liberty Hall in Lawrence, Kansas. The following week, March 14, the band's album, 25 On, was released. At the end of March, the band returned to Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
for a two-week tour. The band played two shows in Kansas City, MO on May 14, 2011 and May 15, 2011 at Knuckleheads Saloon
Knuckleheads Saloon
Knuckleheads Saloon is a music venue in Kansas City, Missouri. The facility is a complex of three stages - a large outdoor stage featuring a converted caboose to one side as a VIP seating area, a 220 seat indoor stage and a 50 seat lounge known as the "Retro Room". The last doubles as a blues music...
. The second show was scheduled after the first show sold out very quickly.
Members
- Bob WalkenhorstBob WalkenhorstBob Walkenhorst is a Kansas City-based singer/songwriter/musician/painter. After growing up in his hometown of Norborne, Missouri, he became a founding member of Midwest U.S.A. groups such as Phantasia, Trizo 50, Steve, Bob & Rich, and the popular roots rock band The Rainmakers...
(vocals, guitars) - Pat Tomek (drums) (1986-1990, 1994-1998, 2011-present)
- Steve Phillips (guitars, vocals) (1983-1990, 1994-1998)
- Rich Ruth (bass) (1983-1990, 1994-1995, 2011-present)
- Michael Bliss (bass, vocals) (1995-1998)
- Jeff Porter (guitars, vocals) (2011-present)
Discography
- Main Article: The Rainmakers discographyThe Rainmakers discographyThis is a discography for Kansas City based rock band The Rainmakers.Note: Unless otherwise stated, all releases are on the Polygram label in Europe and the Mercury Records label in the U.S.-Studio albums:...
The Rainmakers released six studio albums and one live album.
External links
- The Rainmakers official site
- The Rainmakers Official Message Board
- Village Records
- The Rainmakers collection at the Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
's live music archive - The Rainmakers Archives
- The Rainmakers Remasters Project site
- The Rainmakers Remasters Yahoo Group
- Bob Walkenhorst official site
- Pat Tomek's blog
- The Elders (Steve Phillips) official site