Kyle Gass Band (KGB) is an American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band formed in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

in 2011. Fronted by

Tenacious D Tenacious D is an American comedy rock duo formed in Los Angeles, California in 1994. It was founded by actors Jack Black and Kyle Gass, who were members of The Actors' Gang theater company at the time. The duo's name is derived from "tenacio ...

lead guitarist

Kyle Gass Kyle Richard Gass (born July 14, 1960) is an American musician, comedian and actor best known for co-founding—and being a member of—Tenacious D, a Grammy-winning comedy band. He also co-founded the bands Trainwreck and the Kyle Gass Band, ...

and vocalist and guitarist Mike Bray. The backing band consists of electric guitarist

John Konesky John S. Konesky (born November 19, 1980) is an American guitarist and record producer, best known for his role as the lead electric guitar player for Tenacious D. Konesky was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, where he performed in a band with f ...

(also of Tenacious D), bassist Jason Keene, and drummer Tim Spier. The band have released two albums, Kyle Gass Band (2013) and Thundering Herd (2016). The band also occasionally tours acoustically (without Keene and Spier) as The Kyle Gass Company.

History

Background

Gass and

Jack Black Thomas Jacob Black (born August 28, 1969) is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is known for his acting roles in the films '' High Fidelity'' (2000), ''Shallow Hal'' (2001), ''Orange County'' (2002), '' School of Rock'' (2003), ''E ...

formed the band

in 1994 whilst they were members of

The Actors' Gang The Actors' Gang is an experimental theatre and nonprofit group based at the Ivy Substation in Culver City, California. It was founded in 1981 by a group of actors, including Tim Robbins, now a member of the board and Artistic Director of the tr ...

theater company in Los Angeles. Black's popularity as an actor began to increase in the early 2000s, with appearances in films such as '' High Fidelity,

Saving Silverman ''Saving Silverman'' (internationally titled ''Evil Woman'') is a 2001 American comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan and starring Jason Biggs, Steve Zahn, Jack Black and Amanda Peet. Neil Diamond has a cameo role playing himself. In the film, Darr ...

'' and ''

Shallow Hal ''Shallow Hal'' is a 2001 American romantic comedy film starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Jack Black about a shallow man who falls in love with a 300-pound woman after being hypnotized into only seeing a person's inner beauty. Directed by the Farrelly ...

.'' These appearances meant that Black was unable to dedicate as much time with Gass for Tenacious D, causing Gass to form the side-project Trainwreck in 2002. In the summer of 2010, the lead singer of Trainwreck, JR Reed, was unable to make a party Gass had been invited to play, causing Gass to form a one-off band called Kyle Gass' Falcon, an early version of what would become the Kyle Gass Band. Trainwreck later split in 2011, causing Gass to form a new project.

Formation and beginnings (2011–2013)

Gass and Konesky were both of Tenacious D and former members of Trainwreck. Mike Bray was hand-selected by Gass to front the Kyle Gass Band. Mike came to Los Angeles from Mahomet, Illinois in 2007 and formed "Band of Bigfoot", where each band member dressed up as bigfoot. After doing some shows in the Pacific Northwest opening for Trainwreck in 2009 and '10, Gass noticed talent in Bray, and invited him to be the lead vocalist. Bassist Jason Keene was picked for the group, an old friend of Gass. The drumming position in the band was originally filled by Trainwreck's Nate Rothacker from until 2013, it was then given to Jamie Douglass in 2013 and then Tim Spier in mid-2014. The band recorded their first material throughout 2011 and some recordings in 2012, with their self-titled debut album releasing independently in July 2013. The album was re-released on SPV GmbH in April 2015 for Europe. In June 2015, the band released their first music video for ''"Our Job to Rock"'' with the Jash Network. In September 2016, their second album, ''Thundering Herd'' was released in Europe, and in November 2016 worldwide.

Touring (2011–present)

The band played their first gig at the 2011

NAMM Show The NAMM Show is an annual event in the United States that is organized by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), who describe it as "the industry’s largest stage, uniting the global music, sound and entertainment technology commun ...

opening for Mike Campbell in early January. They played their first independent show at DiPiazza's in Los Angeles on the 18th June 2011. By 2017, they had held seven European tours, covering fourteen different countries. Following their 2017 European tour, the band have made few appearances live, mainly a small 2019 tour in May. In the fall of 2019 Gass, Bray and Konesky performed as The Kyle Gass Company, opening with a handful of original songs followed by covers of Tenacious D and other bands.

Discography

Albums *''Kyle Gass Band'' (2013) *''Thundering Herd'' (2016) Singles *''NAMM 2013 Promotional CD'' (2013) *''Our Job to Rock'' (2015)

Band members

*Mike Bray – lead

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

(2011–present) *

– lead

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

, vocals,

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

(2011–present) *

– lead

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

(2011–present) *Jason Keene – bass,

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

(2011–present) *Tim Spier -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

(2014–present)

Touring musicians

*Jokin Salaverria – bass (2014)

Former members

* Nate Rothacker -

(2011–2013) *Jamie Douglass -

(2013–2014)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kyle Gass Band Rock music groups from California Musical groups established in 2011 Musical groups from Los Angeles Tenacious D 2011 establishments in California