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The story of Hidden Pictures began at the Record Bar, a Kansas City venue that serves sandwiches like the Moby (vegan) and the Bat Out of Hell (meatloaf). Stirred by the homoerotic dance-punk of the Ssion, Richard Gintowt and Michelle Sanders traded glances from across the bar and began thinking of excuses to talk to each other. Formulating something along the lines of “Nice shoes — wanna start a band?” Richard convinced Michelle to buy him mystery shots. When Michelle revealed that she liked the Poster Children, Richard moved in for the kill.
Michelle signed on as a backup singer for Richard’s band OK Jones, which was clinging to its last signs of life (at one point it got so bad that Richard had to sing and play drums at the same time, which isn’t technically that hard, but tends to confuse audiences and make the singer sound like he’s dry heaving). When OK Jones finally bit it, Richard and Michelle looked at each other with a wink and a smile and said, “Let’s blow this joint.”
For a while, Hidden Pictures carried on as an acoustic duo with Richard on guitar and Michelle on flute and glockenspiel. But once the utility of playing louder than the audience became apparent, the duo suckered a rhythm section into joining them with promises of $20 payouts and half-price bar food. Enter drummer Pat Tomek, who had already lived twice as long as Richard and Michelle, but not yet come to the realization that living with 8-10 cats makes you look like a crazy person. Pat also played in great Kansas City bands like the Secrets and the Rainmakers, the latter of which replaced his drum parts with electronic ones and sold more than 25,000 records in Norway. Tim Brandsted rounded out the band when he agreed to give up his dream of fronting a band in exchange for the thankless position of playing the bass. He was promptly rewarded with $20 and a half-price pizza.
After playing a number of gigs as a four-piece, the band members agreed that they really only needed about $13 per gig. Enter guitarist Brett Resnick, who excels at Michael McDonald imitations and fantasy sports, and keyboardist Nate Holt, who agreed to spend one weekend a month not playing in a cover band while wearing a shiny shirt and a wig. Overwhelmed by the sheer bombast of their six-piece lineup, the group set about making a record that would be guaranteed to sell 150 copies and sit in heavy cardboard boxes that are great for flattening rolled-up posters. After much deliberation, they decided to spend at least four times as much money as they’d ever get back and hire engineers like Ed Rose and Paul Malinowski to make them sound like Nickelback, but in a Belle & Sebastian kind of way.
Thus far, the plan has been executed to perfection, aside from Resnick’s untimely departure for the Berklee School of Music so he could pay $30,000 a year to hang out with old dudes who may or may not have known Les Paul. Tim moved to L.A., but his younger brother Alan stepped in admirably, and he looks much better in jellies. The Hidden Pictures album will be out in 2010, and if they’re lucky, they might get a sandwich named after them.
The Hidden Pictures EP is available at iTunes and eMusic.com and Service Merchandise.
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