Bookcase performance of Atomic Whammy - complete with percussive frog. :)

The Tenth Anniversary Remaster of  Kilroy's debut single POSSE STREET ANTHEM is now available at bandcamp.com. Don't forget to check the B-side: a boss re-tooled live rendition of ULTRASONIC MELTDOWN. Also, enjoy POSSE STREET ANTHEM's new music video:

Dig it, my Kilbots! And watch this space for more cooky Kilroy confections to warm your winter!

Ten years ago, a friend asked me to DJ her Halloween dance party. Ever the opportunist, I decided that it would be the perfect occasion to debut some of the ultra-original rap tracks I had been writing and recording at home. I would charm the crowd with my wit while spinning hit after danceable hit, and then BLOOM - I'd blow their minds with a Kilroy original!

I even went so far as to burn a dozen CD's with my latest jams on them. An EP I could sell to the new fans I would surely gain before the night was through.

The dorm activity-room-turned-dance-hall was a flurry of costumed 20-somethings dancing furiously to the tracks my friend requested I play. Every once and a while my co-DJ and I would get on the mic and introduce a song or give away a prize to a hit costume. 

Soon, something stirred within me, and I knew it was time.

Heart pounding, I placed the homemade disc in the player and cued up a sweet track. As the sound of my own beat filled the room, my anxiety was replaced by elation.

And then it happened:

My feelings at that moment were a bouquet of bemusement and disappointment, with notes of harsh realism and self-reflection. I spent the rest of the night spinning tracks by established artists, and unloaded the collection of home-spun CD's by giving them out as costume contest consolation prizes.

Faced with the stark contrast between my ambitions and the results thereof, I put my rhyming skills in cold storage and focused on school, my relationship, and different creative endeavors. It would be another 5 years before I wrote and recorded new music, and another 4 before I released my first album.

It has now been exactly ten years since Kilroy's ill-fated debut. While most of the songs on that handcrafted EP I created those many years ago now give me a similar reaction to that young woman at the dorm Halloween dance, the lead track still carries meaning for me, and perfectly encapsulates that strange and unique period of my life. It still something I am proud of, and I believe it is time to give it a chance to be heard by the legions* of Kilroy fans that now dot the nation.

So I am proud to announce the lead track from this 2004 foray into the world of music will soon be made available as a 10TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL EDITION REMASTERED SINGLE!

The single, POSSE STREET ANTHEM, will be re-released next week, along with a special B-side: a live, re-tooled rendition of ULTRASONIC MELTDOWN (from No Regrets on Mars) that I performed earlier this year. A NEW MUSIC VIDEO for POSSE STREET ANTHEM will also make its debut.

It took bravery for my naive, dewy-eyed self to present those tracks to strangers. Taking those types risks enables us to improve and grow. That alone something to commemorate. And i am going to commemorate it with a remastered sound and a new video, because, as I often say . . .

HISTORY TENDS TO REHEAT ITSELF.

J. Clark

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*in this context, legions = dozens

Put on your headphones and devour this new episode, featuring—for the first time--occasional co-host Cab! We muse over the challenges and benefits of collaboration, talk about some of our favorite bands in regards to collaboration, and chew the fat on some practices and attitudes that make collaboration work. BLOOM!

Listen or download at the podcast page!