by rick grant rickgrant01@comcast.net
My first trip to Café 331 was to check out Kip Kolb’s all original five piece band kLoB. The upscale room was a fitting place to present this class act. Hatched from Kip Kolb’s creative musical mind, kLoB got its start ten years ago as a vehicle for Kip’s inventive songwriting. Today, kLoB defies categorization as a modern rock band that crosses over many musical genres.
Over its tenure as a working band, kLoB has evolved into a tautly wired ensemble which is more than the sum its parts. Indeed, this musical force attracts all age groups to its hot modern sound, which is an alchemy of avant-garde ideas and old school concepts, distilled into a unique trademark sound.
Kip leads the group with his advanced keyboard playing, gritty vocals, and harmonica improvisations. Brian Jenkins plays drums, Louie LeClaire plays bass, Mike Kiramarios plays saxophone, and Mike Bowman plays guitar, vocals, and percussion. Together this assemblage of top-tier musicians crank out a repertoire of Kip’s original songs, which evoke old school imagery fused with new ideas.
The band is full of surprises, yet Kip‘s songs make sense, never straying too far from his main themes. In other words, kLoB is a group of sophisticated musicians who have matured into a cohesive ensemble, yet avoiding full-scale jazz improvisation. Catchy songs with funky beats and soulful sounds define Kip’s concept. I could hear the master of funkadelic, George Clinton and Chaka Kahn’s influences in Kip’s bag of songwriting tricks. Kip’s gravely world-worn voice sounds like a cross between Tom Waits and Bruce Springsteen. These players are experienced and savvy enough to appeal to a wide spectrum of music devotees, without coming off as elitist. kLoB is fun to listen to and Kip’s repartee with the audience is witty with a tinge of sardonic tone.
Kip’s songs come off with foot-tapping energy. ‘Tired but Good’ is imbued with a funky rhythm, which sets the tone for Kip’s vocals accented with his mournful harmonica. The music gets into your blood like a jolt of good hit, making one “tired but good, and this is how I’m supposed to feel.” And sure, we know what he’s talking about, but the song itself is worth inhaling, causing a musical high. ‘Tree’ utilizes Mike Kiramarios’ smooth-as-silk saxophone, which is prominent in the mix. “When it all comes crashing down... it could be my last time,” as the song builds momentum to a climax, accented by Mike’s saxophone improvisations. The result is a moving anthem of love gone bad. Well, love always goes wrong, doesn’t it?”
‘Of a Story’ begins with Kip’s haunting chordal rhythm on his B3 facsimile. “I could tell you anything that was going on in my life and you knew just what to say to make it go away...” all the while his relentless organ chords played in the rhythm of the song. It’s a powerful technique to hold the listener in Kip’s musical spell. The song builds crescendo to the end, leaving that organ sound stamped on one’s brain. It’s funky hipness that turns into hypnosis.
‘All the Time’ begins as an parody of a Beatles song that suddenly veers away from the Fab Four’s concept. It then becomes a quasi-rap song. Here is a good example of unexpected surprises in Kip’s music that clears out the cobwebs from one’s brain. Yes, this is tasty stuff that gets attention from kLoB’s audiences.
From the stage, Kip said the band is going into the studio in February to record a second album of original music. Then, wisely, the band is hitting the road, expanding is horizons. Put simply, kLoB is a band that never goes out of style because it presents songs which are hits waiting to happen. More importantly, kLoB’s music appeals to diverse demographic. Once the kLoB door is opened to the outside world beyond Jax, there is no stopping it. Intelligent songwriting is the fuel that will drive this band to glory.
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