jimmy menkena, mike simmons, nolan thies and brent elrod
Influences
beatles, slowdive, my bloody valentine, nick drake, joe strummer, johnny marr, j mascis, ride, the verve, adam franklin, bob wratten, elliott smith, mojave 3, bowie, leonard cohen, velvet underground, red house painters, lilys, chapterhouse...and mostly...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. Jeff left the band a few months later and was replaced by Brent Elrod (Sedan). Now Menkena was truely born as a full live band. Jimmy on acoustic guitar & vocals, Mike on drums, Nolan on bass/b.u. vocals and Brent on electric guitar/b.u vocals. We now present the line-up of Menkena.....thanks so much for reading and listening!....cheers!
Hey Jim, great article..your pops sent it to my pops who sent it to me. Congrats kid, hope it flies for you. any plans on visiting the filthy Falls or is the 5-0 still looking for you and your artwork?
Just stoppin by to listen to some tracks. Hope everything is going well with you wherever you may be at the moment. Coming back home (nf) anytime soon? Take care and I love the sound.
