Dennis Watts (vocals, guitar, keyboards)
Dan Houston (chapman stick, bass, backing vocals)
Travis Endersby (drums, percussion, backing vocals)
Influences
King Crimson, Tom Waits, Rush, Drum and Bass, Coldplay, U2, Yes, the Police, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Dave Matthews Band, Steely Dan, Radiohead, Talking Heads, Primus, Led Zepplin, Tori Amos, Incubus, Yellowjackets, Herbie Hancock, Chick Korea, Jaco Pastorius, Stanley Clarke, Jimi Hendrix, Men at Work, Sarah Mclaughlin, Pink Floyd, Prince, Phish, Frank Zappa, Allanis Morrisette, Doors, Graham Central Station, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Bob Marley, David Bowie, N.I.N.,
Sounds Like
King Crimson, Tom Waits, Rush, Drum and Bass, Coldplay, U2, Yes, the Police, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Dave Matthews Band, Steely Dan, Radiohead, Talking Heads, Primus, Led Zepplin, Tori Amos, Incubus, Yellowjackets, Herbie Hancock, Chick Korea, Jaco Pastorius, Stanley Clarke, Jimi Hendrix, Men at Work, Sarah Mclaughlin, Pink Floyd, Prince, Phish, Frank Zappa, Allanis Morrisette, Doors, Graham Central Station, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Bob Marley, David Bowie, N.I.N.,
Kindness of Strangers is a Memphis, Tennessee based rock band. Our music pulls a wide range of influences into an epic, atmospheric style: anthemic rock meets spaghetti western soundtracks, middle eastern sounds filter through electronica backed with hip hop beats, a hint of disco funk entwines with reggae. Our lyrical themes are obsessed with the American highway, darkness and light, love and sensuality, desperation and redemption.
Dennis Watts (lead vocals, guitar and keyboards) came to Memphis in 1999 from the southwest coal fields of West Virginia with a handful of original songs and the sound of a band, yet unformed, in his head. In early 2004 he met Dan Houston, a Memphis native. Dan plays the Chapman Stick, a ten string instrument with limitless possibilities for simultaneously producing bass, electric guitar, and synth textures, enabling the complex orchestrations and layers of our recorded sound to come to life on the stage. At about the same time, Travis Endersby, a long time professional drummer and native of Perth, Australia, came to Memphis in search of musical possibilities, both old and new, and found his way into Kindness of Strangers in early 2005. We self-produced and recorded our debut EP, The Sound of One Hand Clapping, shortly thereafter.
Hi Kindness of Strangers, just a quick hello from the Jazz Pistols - hope you are doing fine and have a nice christmas season. Thanks for being our friend and good luck for the things you do. Best regards - Christoph
Our Live-DVD will be released on the 1st of February 2007!
If you would like to hear more tunes of the Jazz Pistols you can check out our homepage and get the Jazz Pistols CDs in our own shop - if you are living in the USA it will be cheaper to get them at CDBaby, Abstract Logix or as digital download at iTunes. Please join our newsletter if you are interested in our tour schedule and upcoming releases.
One of the best bands I have heard for awhile, vocals are strong, the whole package. Good work KOS, I do look forward to hearing more about you and I am sure I will.
Hey Danny!
The guy who plays for us on Sunday nights has a chapman stick bass. Apparently that's rare (I didn't know) He won best bassist at some battle of the bands in Germany. He has a myspace page if you want to check it out. Just search the name "dixie" and he lives in lawrenceville, GA Thought I'd let you know.
