Steve Kimock (born October 5, 1955) 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 ...

guitarist. He was a member of

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

bands Zero and

KVHW KVHW was an American rock band, that was active and toured nationally from January 1998 through December 1999. The band's name came from the last names of its four members: Steve Kimock (guitar), Bobby Vega (bass), Alan Hertz (drums), and Ray Whi ...

. His tone and some of his playing approach has been compared to

Jerry Garcia Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician best known for being the principal songwriter, lead guitarist, and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence ...

, who was a friend of his, and he has been affiliated with musicians connected to

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...

, including the bands

the Other Ones The Other Ones was an American rock band formed in 1998 by former Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, and Mickey Hart, along with part-time Grateful Dead collaborator Bruce Hornsby. In 2000, Bill Kreutzmann, another Grateful Dead alumnus, ...

RatDog RatDog is an American rock band. The group began in 1995 as a side project for Grateful Dead guitarist and singer Bob Weir. After the Dead disbanded later that year, RatDog became Weir's primary band. They performed some Grateful Dead songs, a mix ...

, and

Phil Lesh and Friends Phil Lesh and Friends is an American rock band formed and led by Phil Lesh, former bassist of the Grateful Dead. Phil & Friends is not a traditional group in that several different lineups of musicians have played under the name, including gr ...

. Garcia cited Kimock, along with

Frank Gambale Frank Gambale (; born 22 December 1958) is an Australian jazz fusion guitarist. He has released twenty albums over a period of three decades, and is known for his use of the sweep picking and economy picking techniques. Recording career Solo ...

and

Michael Hedges Michael Alden Hedges (December 31, 1953 – December 2, 1997) was an American acoustic guitarist and songwriter. Early years The son of Thayne Alden Hedges and Ruth Evelyn Hedges Ipsen, Michael Hedges was born in Sacramento, California. His l ...

, as his favorite guitar players during the later part of his life.

Early life and education

Kimock was born in

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781. Of this, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19, ...

in the

Lehigh Valley The Lehigh Valley (), known colloquially as The Valley, is a geographic region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County and Northampton County in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a component valley of the Great Appalachian Valley bound to the no ...

region of eastern

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

on October 5, 1955. In the mid-1970s, he moved to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

to play guitar with the folk-rock group the Goodman Brothers.

Career

In 1979, after working with Martin Fierro in the salsa band the Underdogs, he joined the

Heart of Gold Band The Heart of Gold Band is an American rock band formed by Keith and Donna Jean Godchaux in 1980 following their departure from the Grateful Dead. The band took its name from a line in the Dead song " Scarlet Begonias". Original Run The Heart o ...

with

Keith Godchaux Keith Richard Godchaux (July 19, 1948 – July 23, 1980) was a pianist best known for his tenure in the rock group the Grateful Dead from 1971 to 1979. Biography Godchaux was born in Seattle, Washington, and grew up in Concord, California ...

Donna Jean Godchaux Donna Jean Thatcher Godchaux-MacKay (born August 22, 1947) is an American singer who was a member of the Grateful Dead from 1972 until 1979. Biography Donna Jean Thatcher was born in Florence, Alabama. Prior to 1970, she had worked as a sessi ...

, and drummer Greg Anton. Other groups that Kimock has played with include

, which he formed with Bobby Vega,

Ray White Ray White (full name Ray Shirley White Sr) is an American soul vocalist and rock and blues guitarist, best known as a member of Frank Zappa's touring ensembles. He was drafted into Zappa's band in late 1976, being featured on rhythm guit ...

, and Alan Hertz, and the Steve Kimock Band, which included drummer Rodney Holmes. In 1984, Kimock, Anton, and

John Cipollina John Cipollina (August 24, 1943 – May 29, 1989) was a guitarist best known for his role as a founder and the lead guitarist of the prominent San Francisco rock band Quicksilver Messenger Service. After leaving Quicksilver he formed the band C ...

, formerly of

Quicksilver Messenger Service Quicksilver Messenger Service is an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1965 in San Francisco. The band achieved wide popularity in the San Francisco Bay Area and, through their recordings, with psychedelic rock enthusiasts around the globe, ...

, co-founded the instrumental

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

group Zero. When Judge Murphy joined the band in 1991, it was no longer instrumental. The album ''Chance in a Million'' had songs written by lyricist Robert Hunter of the

. Zero toured and recorded until 2000. Band members included Chip Roland,

Melvin Seals Melvin Seals (born 1953 in San Francisco, California) is an American musician, best known as a longtime member of the Jerry Garcia Band. Early life and career Melvin Seals began playing piano at age eight and began his musical adventure playin ...

, Liam Hanrahan,

Pete Sears Peter Roy Sears (born 27 May 1948) is an English rock musician. In a career spanning more than six decades, he has been a member of many bands and has moved through a variety of musical genres, from early R&B, psychedelic improvisational rock o ...

, Bobby Vega,

Nicky Hopkins Nicholas Christian "Nicky" Hopkins (24 February 1944 – 6 September 1994) was an English pianist and organist. Hopkins performed on many popular and enduring British and American rock music recordings from the 1960s to the 1990s, most notably ...

, and

Vince Welnick Vincent Leo Welnick (February 21, 1951 – June 2, 2006) was an American keyboardist-singer-songwriter best known for playing with the band The Tubes during the 1970s and 1980s and with the Grateful Dead in the 1990s. He was inducted into ...

. In March 2006, Zero reunited and toured until the death of Martin Fierro two years later. The band reunited again in 2011 for the twentieth anniversary of the ''Chance in a Million'' recording sessions. They played a benefit concert at the Great American Music Hall for Judge Murphy, who had cancer. Kimock has toured and recorded with many

-themed bands, including Keith and Donna Godchaux's Heart of Gold Band (1979–80), Bob Weir's Kingfish (1986),

Merl Saunders Merl Saunders (February 14, 1934 – October 24, 2008) was an American multi-genre musician who played piano and keyboards, favoring the Hammond B-3 console organ. Biography Born in San Mateo, California, United States, Saunders attended Polyte ...

and the Rainforest Band (1990–91),

Missing Man Formation The missing man formation is an aerial salute performed as part of a flypast of aircraft at a funeral or memorial event, typically in memory of a fallen pilot, a well-known military service member or veteran, or a well-known political figure. T ...

(1996–97),

(1998–99), and

The Other Ones The Other Ones was an American rock band formed in 1998 by former Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, and Mickey Hart, along with part-time Grateful Dead collaborator Bruce Hornsby. In 2000, Bill Kreutzmann, another Grateful Dead alumnus, ...

(1998–2000). He was also a member of the

Rhythm Devils The Rhythm Devils is a band led by former Grateful Dead drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart. Grateful Dead The Rhythm Devils had their origins as an informal but frequent fixture in the Grateful Dead concert repertoire starting in the mid-t ...

in 2006, a

supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to: * Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields * Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry * Supergroup ...

formed by Grateful Dead drummers

Bill Kreutzmann William Kreutzmann Jr. ( ; born May 7, 1946) is an American drummer and founding member of the rock band Grateful Dead. He played with the band for its entire thirty-year career, usually alongside fellow drummer Mickey Hart, and has continued ...

and

Mickey Hart Mickey Hart (born Michael Steven Hartman, September 11, 1943) is an American percussionist. He is best known as one of the two drummers of the rock band Grateful Dead. He was a member of the Grateful Dead from September 1967 until February 19 ...

, also featuring

Mike Gordon Michael Eliot Gordon (born June 3, 1965) is an American bass guitarist and vocalist most recognized as a founding member of the band Phish. In addition to bass, Gordon is an accomplished banjo player, and is proficient at piano and guitar. He ...

Phish Phish is an American rock band formed in Burlington, Vermont, in 1983. The band is known for musical improvisation, extended jams, blending of genres, and a dedicated fan base. The band consists of guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon ...

. In July 2007, Kimock was asked to fill in for a few months for

Mark Karan Mark Karan (born January 13, 1955) is an American guitarist and singer. He is best known for his long-term work with former members of the Grateful Dead, in RatDog (1998–2013), the Other Ones (1998–2000), Mickey Hart's band Planet Drum ( ...

in Bob Weir's

and rejoined Ratdog in 2013. In October 2016, Kimock was added to Bob Weir's Campfire touring band in support of Weir's 2016 solo release ''Blue Mountain''. He tours with his own band, Steve Kimock & Friends and occasionally Zero. He has also toured with

Jorma Kaukonen Jorma Ludwik Kaukonen, Jr. (; ; born December 23, 1940) is an American blues, folk, and rock guitarist. Kaukonen performed with Jefferson Airplane and still performs regularly on tour with Hot Tuna, which started as a side project with bassist J ...

and

Hot Tuna Hot Tuna is an American blues rock band formed in 1969 by former Jefferson Airplane members Jorma Kaukonen (guitarist/vocals) and Jack Casady (bassist). Although it has always been a fluid aggregation, with musicians coming and going over the ...

throughout the past decade and is an instructor at Jorma's Fur Peace guitar camp. In addition to those affiliations, Kimock also toured and recorded with

Jerry Joseph Jerry Joseph (born April 19, 1961) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Early life Jerry Joseph was born on April 19, 1961 in Los Angeles, California and is of Irish, Lebanese and Syrian ancestry and grew up in the San Diego area. ...

's Little Women (1988), with Henry Kaiser and Freddy Roulette as The Psychedelic Guitar Circus (1993), and as Steve Kimock & Friends (early 1990s). In 2001, he recorded with Pete Sears on his album ''The Long Haul''. Kimock featured on two recordings by

Bruce Hornsby Bruce Randall Hornsby (born November 23, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. His music draws from folk rock, jazz, bluegrass, folk, Southern rock, country rock, jam band, rock, heartland rock, and blues rock musical traditions ...

('' Big Swing Face'' and '' Here Come the Noise Makers''), and toured as featured guitarist with Hornsby and his band in 2002. Kimock was also featured along with Bobby Vega and Jimmy Sanchez in the Pete Sears written soundtrack for the film, ''The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers' Struggle''. Steve Kimock released a solo record ''Last Danger of Frost'' (2016), and ''Satellite City'' (KIMOCK, 2017) with his son John Kimock and singer/multi-instrumentalist Leslie Mendelson.

Discography

* ''Here Goes Nothin – Zero (1987) * ''Nothin' Goes Here – Zero (1989) * ''Go Hear Nothin – Zero (1991) * ''Chance in a Million'' – Zero (1994) * ''SK&F'' – Steve Kimock and Friends (1995) * ''Psychedelic Guitar Circus'' – various artists (1996) * ''Zero'' – Zero (1996) * ''Nothin' Lasts Forever'' – Zero (1998) * ''Live In Concert'' –

(1998) * ''

The Strange Remain ''The Strange Remain'' is a live album by the rock band The Other Ones. It was recorded live on the Furthur Festival tour in 1998 and released in 1999. The album reached number one on '' Billboard's'' Top Heatseekers chart and number 112 on the ...

'' –

(1999) * '' Love Will See You Through'' –

'' (1999) * ''East Meets West'' – Steve Kimock Band (2002) * ''Live in Colorado'' – Steve Kimock Band (2002) * ''Double Zero'' – Zero (2002) * ''Zero Blues'' – Zero (2002) * ''Live in Colorado, Vol. 2'' – Steve Kimock Band (2004) * ''

Eudemonic ''Eudemonic'' is a 2005 studio album by the Steve Kimock Band. Track listing # "Eudemon" – 6:28 # "Ice Cream" – 8:01 # "The Bronx Experiment" – 8:04 # "Bouncer" – 4:15 # "In Reply" – 5:56 # "One for Brother Mike – 6:41 # "Elmer's ...

'' – Steve Kimock Band (2005) * ''Big Red Barn Sessions'' – Steve Kimock & Billy Goodman (2008) * ''Last Danger of Frost'' – Steve Kimock (2016) * ''Satellite City'' – KIMOCK (2017)

References

External links

Official siteSteve Kimock collection
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

's live music archive
Steve Kimock Band collection
at the Internet Archive's live music archive
Psychedelic Guitar Circus collection
at Internet Archive's live music archive
Steve sits down with Ira Haberman of The Sound Podcast for a feature interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kimock, Steve 1955 births Living people American rock guitarists American male guitarists Guitarists from Pennsylvania People from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania RatDog members The Other Ones members Kingfish (band) members 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians Rainforest Band members