jimmy menkena, mike simmons, nolan thies, brent elrod
Influences
BEATLES, Noel, Liam, Gem and Andy, trio vocals, slowdive, my bloody valentine, nick drake, ezra kire, st. savage, s2g, ez, joe strummer, kona&nia, desmond dekker, john miller, ASC, johnny marr, the zombies, the searchers, the KINKS, the BYRDS, lollipop shoppe, the paragons, noel gallagher(yet again), j mascis, ride, the verve, the cure, adam franklin, slim smith, bobby wratten, steve cradock, elliott smith, mojave 3, ziggy stardust, stone roses, leonard cohen, delroy wilson, velvet underground, red house painters, lilys, chapterhouse, aphrodite's child, 155 Ave C, hunter s. thompson...and mostly...soft voices, the rain and stormy weather.
Here's the story, after the demise of NY punk band INDK, Jimmy set off on his own (not knowing this at the time) he pulled old cassette recordings from 1990-present and started compiling personal acoustic recordings filled with songs/riffs melody's into actual formats that has now turned into a catalog of 50 tunes...9 of them have become the first release. But all of these will be re-recorded with a full band, (we'll get into that in a bit)... He moved from Brooklyn NY to Dallas TX for personal reasons and to focus on the writing without the million and a half jobs and strife and struggle of the ever changing gentrification of the city that was pushing artists into the east river. In the process, over priced restaurants and high rises were taking over. Almost two years went by, and childhood friend Carla Pino (who is now living in the UK, and owns/runs Slowpine records) set up a "fun, for ol' time sake" recording session in N. Tondawanda, NY with fellow old time friends/musicians Andrew Scott Catland and Bob Ohrum. Shortly after, the process began. The initial idea was to have a bare-bones acoustic solo project. This was then quickly layered by droning guitars, ambient melody's and bowed basses. Andy recorded Jimmy, as the bed tracks and ideas flourished. Jimmy played all the instruments on the recording, vocals, b.u vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitars, piano, bass and drums, along with Andy who played additional lead and rhythm guitars, mandolin and back-up vocals. Bob played the bowed electric bass and ambient drones in areas along with his wife Mary Grace who added the haunting vocals in needed spots, and Dallas blues guitarist Justin "Justy B" Brodrick played the cigar-box slide guitar on "with you i'll travel". This was the demo that Jimmy was passing out amongst friends. Since Andy and Bob lived 2000 miles away and have personal projects of their own, Jimmy set off on the solo quest in Texas. He then met drummer Mike Simmons (Tweed). Both drank pints and discussed musical tastes and ex-projects. Jimmy knew then that Mike was the one that was missing and that was going to take this to the next level. Soon after, Mike gave the demo recording to sought after musicians, bassist Nolan Thies (Little Black Dress) and guitarist Jeff Halbert (Sedan), hoping they would be interested. A few months later Brent Elrod (Sedan) joined the band. Now Menkena was truely born as a full live band. Jimmy on acoustic guitar & vocals, Mike on drums, Nolan on bass/b.u. vocals, Brent on electric guitar/b.u vocals. We now present the line-up of Menkena.....thanks so much for reading and listening!....cheers!
Damn Jimmy..Chills..I Really Love em all..So Happy to see you officially recorded Red Sky In The Morning...Beautiful..When you gonna come home and play a show!? So Proud of you..Miss you.. XO Mg
So um, your upcoming shows say Sept 9. Well, I was there, yesterday on the 9th, and it said on board that you guys are playing tonight, the 10th, instead. D:
Met you at the Prophet Bar, last night. Glad I can hear the lyrics on your page. Amazing Acoustics, awesome lyrics, a throw back to Pink Floyd. I wish you much success, my friend. Good stuff
Saw you guys at Flickerstick's final show. I gotta say, your music was phenomenal! I love the sound. Seems like some people were just there for a rock show but you gotta appreciate all good music. And you guys have some damn good music. My favorite so far is "Feelin' the wait". Love the ambiance of the train and rainfall. I'm from Dallas so I'm marking down your future gigs on the calendar. See you at the show!
Hey Menkena! Saw you guys at Flickerstick's Final Show on Saturday. Front row! I gotta say, I think your music is Phenomenal! I love the sound. I'm from Dallas so I'm certainly marking down your next gigs and will try my damnedest to make it out to see you guys again. And I'm hoping you'll have some CD's for sale, yes? Well, see you at the show!
Good to see you guys again last night. Much clearer sound at this venue. Sounded great! So did The Southern Sea which I heard for the first time. I'll probably see you all again this Friday. Take it easy.
Hey, so I found you guys like I said and I clicked on the "add as friend" button and realized that we are already friends on here. I really enjoyed the ep on my drive home thanks alot. See you guys soon.
