Blackbird (band)

Infobox musical artist
Name = Blackbird


Img_capt =
Img_size = 250
Background = group_or_band
Origin =
Genre = Alternative Post-punk New Wave Electronic
Years_active = 1987—1994
Label =
Associated_acts = The Dils Rank and File Cowboy Nation Braindead Soundmachine
Current_members =
Past_members = Chip Kinman Tony Kinman

Formed by brothers Chip and Tony Kinman after they dissolved their cowpunk band Rank and File, Blackbird were an electronic post-punk 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, 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 (The Dils), 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 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's [http://wikibin.org/articles/cole-coonce.html Cole Coonce] to produce updated versions of songs the brothers had success with in previous bands, "Class War" by The Dils 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)

References