Kid Kilowatt

Kid Kilowatt
Background information
Origin	Boston, Massachusetts
Genres	Indie rock, post-hardcore
Years active	1996–1997
Labels	Hydra Head, Second Nature Recordings
Associated acts	Cave In, Piebald, Converge
Past members	Kurt Ballou Stephen Brodsky Adam McGrath Matt Redmond Aaron Stuart

Kid Kilowatt was a rock supergroup formed in 1996 and dissolved in 1997, including members of Cave In, Converge and Piebald. They wrote only one album, Guitar Method, first released by Second Nature Recordings in 2003.

Stephen Brodsky described the band as their "little softie rock outlet from the metal of Cave In", giving a sound "much mellower" than that of the members' main projects.

Kid Kilowatt was initially created as "Ester of Wood Rosin" by Cave In's Steve Brodsky in August 1996, "inspired by [his] love for Giants Chair and [his] need for an alter-ego to Cave In". He recruited Adam McGrath, also of Cave In, on bass guitar, local drummer Matt Redmond and Piebald guitarist and vocalist Aaron Stuart. Brodsky took the role of guitarist and lead vocalist, and with this line-up they, in the words of Brodsky, "began to formulate some good ol' sappy-but-not-too-sappy rock n' roll tunes".

They wrote the first material destined for Guitar Method within the first few months, including "Teg Nugent" and "the original, 9 minute long opus version" of "Tug of War". In Autumn 1996, they recorded a four-song demo with Kurt Ballou at his 8-track home studio, GodCity. Brodsky hand-crafted the demo inserts in his high school graphic arts room, and about 400 copies of the demo were pressed. According to Brodsky, they were "gone in no time". In Spring 1997, Aaron Stuart left the band in order to concentrate on his primary project, Piebald. Kurt Ballou, of Converge, who had recorded and produced their prior 4-track demo, joined the band in his stead, and they renamed the band "Kid Kilowatt". The name was inspired by a Guided by Voices song entitled "Cool Off Kid Kilowatt", from their 1993 album Vampire on Titus.

Now with Ballou as a full-time member, the band re-developed songs written Stuart, including "The Bicycle Song", "7th Inning Song Formation", "The Scope", "Peeping Tomboy" and "Red Carpet", and resumed writing with "Radio Pow for Now". In their first show as Kid Kilowatt, they performed with Brodsky's "heroes", Giants Chair, in his home town of Methuen, Massachusetts. For the following six or seven months, all the band members were preposessed with other musical projects, resulting in infrequent rehearsal and intermittent live performance. They did play live during this period, however, performing with bands including Piebald, Jejune, and Regulator Watts.

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