Kings Kaleidoscope is an American rock band based in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, fronted by Chadwick "Chad" Gardner. Their music features an eclectic range of electronic, woodwind, string and brass instruments, with a musical style described as indie rock meets hip hop production with a sprinkle of Disney. Kings Kaleidoscope has recorded four EPs and six LPs, as well as a series of live studio sessions.

Background

Based out of

, Washington, Kings Kaleidoscope formed in 2010 at a

Mars Hill Church Mars Hill Church was a Christian megachurch, founded in 1996 by Mark Driscoll, Lief Moi, and Mike Gunn. It was a multi-site church based in Seattle, Washington and grew from a home Bible study to 15 locations in 4 U.S. states. in addition to ser ...

plant on the campus of the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

, where Gardner was a worship leader. Drawing on a variety of influences from math rock and hip-hop, to the dense sound of Canadian indie outfit Broken Social Scene, they recorded their first live EP, ''Sin'', at a Good Friday service in 2011. A year later, they released the studio EP, ''Asaph's Arrows'', followed by a Christmas EP, ''Joy Has Dawned''. In late 2013, Gardner and the band announced they were leaving Mars Hill, where they had served as worship leaders and artists on the church's label. Their fourth EP, 2014's ''Live in Color'', was released by BadChristian Music. Working with BadChristian Music and well-established indie label

Tooth & Nail Records Tooth & Nail Records is a Christian rock record label founded by Brandon Ebel in California in November 1993. The label later moved to Seattle, Washington where it is situated today. It is home to many well-known musical acts, including Undero ...

, they released their debut LP, '' Becoming Who We Are'', on October 27, 2014. Their second studio album '' Beyond Control'' was released June 24, 2016, and was the band's most commercially successful release to date. On August 17, 2017, the band released a mixtape, ''The Beauty Between'', that includes several collaborations with hip-hop artists and producers, including Propaganda,

Andy Mineo Andrew Aaron Mineo (born April 17, 1988), is an American Christian hip hop artist, producer, music executive, and video director based in New York City. He is signed to Reach Records and his creative initiative Miner League. In addition to ...

, Beautiful Eulogy,

Derek Minor Derek Johnson, Jr., better known by his stage name Derek Minor and former stage name PRo, (born December 16, 1984) is an American Christian hip hop artist, singer, record producer, entrepreneur, actor, and screenwriter. He co-founded the hip-hop ...

, Beleaf and DSTL. Their third studio album, ''Zeal'', was released on April 5, 2019.

Band members

Kings Kaleidoscope is a project led by Chadwick "Chad" Gardner with a large cast of collaborators. During the band's early years as a worship band, the band featured local college students and rotating members, some of whom included Mark Palfreeman, Beth Vander Pol, and Eric Shoubridge, who all contributed to the ''Asaph's Arrows EP''. By ''Becoming What We Are'', the band solidified into an 'original' line up of Gardner and 9 core members - Andrew Nyte, John Platter, Zach Walkingstick, Nadia Ifland Essenpreis, Lindsay Gardner, Julianne Smith, Zawadi Morrow, Blake Strickland and Jared Buck. Around 2016-2018 the band underwent a transition, as most of the original band members - most of whom never originally intended to be full-time musicians - needed to exit touring and membership due to family and time commitments. A new band was formed with Daniel Steele, Zach Boyd, John McNeill, JJ Kim and Beserat Tafesse, who have remained the core lineup since. Though no longer touring, Platter and Morrow appear on many later studio projects, and other members of the original line up contributed to ''Zeal''. Beyond these members, Brian Eichelberger and Zach Bolen of Citizens have numerous writing and performance credits on Kings Kaleidoscope songs. Eichelberger mixes most Kings Kaleidoscope releases and performs violin with the band on occasion. Maxwell Gaver of OLY contributed to ''Zeal'' and ''Power Perfect'' and performed on all three ''Live from Kamp Kaleidoscope'' albums, and Jess Alldredge and Ryan Ponten appear on two albums each. Family members of the band are often heard on recordings.

Current members

* Chadwick "Chad" Gardner - vocals, guitar, keyboards, production, tambourine * Daniel Steele - drums, synth, programming, vocals * Zach Boyd - guitar, cello, sampling, mullet, vocals * Beserat Tafesse - trombone, trumpet, euphonium, vocals * John McNeill - bass, synth, vocals * JJ Kim - guitar, bass, vocals * Matthew Warren - visuals

Past and part-time members

* John Platter (drums, percussion, cello) * Andrew Nyte (drums) * Zack Walkingstick (bass) * Nadia Ifland Essenpreis (keys, violin) * Lindsay Gardner (cello, keys) * Julianne Smith (violin, accordion) * Zawadi Morrow (piano, flute, violin) * Blake Strickland (trombone) * Jared Buck (guitar) * Brian Eichelberger (violin, mixing)

Discography

Studio albums

Mixtapes

Extended plays

Live recordings

Notes

References

{{authority control Tooth & Nail Records artists American Christian musical groups