The K.G.B. (band)

The K.G.B.
Origin	Oakland, California, USA
Genres	Ska, Rock, Funk
Years active	1997–2005
Labels	Dreamworks Records
Website	Fan site
Members	Toby Wincorn Ben Kramer John "Johnny Genius" Murphy Tom Peyton Leo "Moses" Kramer

The K.G.B. was a band formed in the 1990s in Oakland, California, which was signed briefly with Dreamworks Records and was a member of the East Bay All Stars (The K.G.B., The Locals, Solemite).

The members of The K.G.B. met as sophomores at The Head-Royce School in Oakland, California. Singer-guitarist-keyboardist Toby and bassist-singer Moses quickly formed a musical bond. Says the former: "I found out Moses was playing bass and I was teaching myself guitar. We started jamming Elvis songs, The Stones, whatever had three chords. Somehow we got into discordant space rock - David Bowie lyrics with kind of an Elastica vibe. It was very stupid. We called ourselves The Vermicious Knids." Moses illuminates, "They're the evil aliens in Roald Dahl’s Charlie And The Great Glass Elevator."

The Knids suffered through a handful of sub-par drummers before hooking up with Tom (who also plays valve trombone and sings) of the local ska-punk band Alien Spy. The son of a noted choral singer, Tom was then going steady with Toby's ex-girlfriend. He, Toby and Moses got to talking at a Halloween party at a house with a drum kit in the garage. Tom displayed his chops for his future bandmates, who were sufficiently impressed to recruit him on the spot.

Toby remarks of the band's early efforts: "It was a very innocent high school thing. Our moms drove us to practice". The boys jammed a blend of classic rock staples, alternative rock anthems and their first originals. A unique musical identity eluded them, however, until the following year, when Toby and Moses took a school trip to England.

They spent their first nights there perusing the rock-steady/reggae record racks in Brixton and growing close to classmate Ben. Turns out Ben blows a mean trumpet (as well as playing organ and singing). According to Moses, Ben began playing trumpet because "he was an avid Dungeons And Dragons player, and he thought the trumpet would be the most medieval instrument, like guys heralding the king's arrival."

"When we came back, Ben joined up and we became more of a rock-steady band," says Toby. "I don't really know how it happened, but it probably had something to do with Rancid's 'Timebomb.' There was something so spy-ish about it."

With a new sound blossoming, the boys needed a new name. "The K.G.B." was fittingly mysterious. It may refer to the Soviet version of the C.I.A., but the three letters actually mean much, much more. "We could tell you, but then we'd have to kill you," Moses insists. The most common conception around the East Bay Area, where most of the band is originally from, is that the name stands for "Kensington Garage Band," a reference to Toby and Moses's hometown of Kensington, a small suburb near Berkeley, CA.

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Wikipedia