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All Music Guide:
An anti-commercialism, community-minded collective of musicians, King Cobb Steelie play alternative rock that is a jumble of sampling, scratching, world music instruments and studio sorcery, showing a flair for seamless ecclecticism. Far from being a band that grafts diverse influences onto a Western rock sound, these musicians compose organic, holistic pieces that also create spaces for rich improvistional digressions during live shows. Their first CD, S/T (1993, Raw Energy Records/ A&M), which includes some scratching and samples, introduced KCS as a punk band with knee-deep grooves- a kind of superfreak Fugazi. KCS's next effort was Project Twinkle (1994, Lunamoth), a spacier, bassier dub-jazz groove shower that demonstrated a Bill Laswell musical influence on the band (Laswell also produced the CD). This work has an emphasis on instrumental/ electronic sounds over vocals and jangly guitars. Exploring more electronic sounds than ever, KCS experimented with beats on Junior Relaxor (1997, EMI Canada). Martina Topley-Bird (Tricky's singing partner) - influenced vocals and Trip-Hop stylings indicated yet another stage of evolution for the band, recapturing the edge of their live performances but keeping a low-key groove. King Cobb Steelie, with their expert use of Dub, Trip-Hop, Punk, Rock and Funk, are one of the few groups who can meld and interplay such influences with simple grace. Mayday followed in early 2001.
Wikipedia:
King Cobb Steelie is a Canadian Indie rock band formed in 1991 from Guelph, Ontario, Canada. The band's most successful single was 1997's "Rational", from the album Junior Relaxer. Their music fuses elements of punk, funk, jazz and dance.
History
The core of the band consists of singer/songwriter Kevan Byrne and bassist Kevin Lynn] A variety of other collaborators, including the Reverend CinoEvil, Al Okada, Gary Dutch, Geoff Walton, Steve Clarkson, Mike Armstrong, Nathan Lawr, Don Pyle and Michelle McAdorey, have contributed to individual albums.
Percussionist Robin Easton participated as drummer 14 in the Boredoms 77 Boadrum performance which occurred on July 7, 2007 at the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park in Brooklyn, New York.
The band played a 20th anniversary benefit show at Lee's Palace in Toronto, Ontario on Saturday, April 16, 2011 with proceeds going towards Hands & Voices, an organisation dedicated to supporting families with children who are deaf or hard of hearing.
