Damian Joseph Kulash Jr. (born October 7, 1975) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and music video director, best known for being the lead singer and guitarist of the American rock band OK Go.

Early life and education

Kulash was born in

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on October 7, 1975. Kulash graduated from St. Albans School in 1994. He trained as a youth at the

Interlochen Arts Camp Interlochen Center for the Arts is a non-profit corporation which operates arts education institutions and performance venues in northwest Michigan. It is situated on a campus in Interlochen, Michigan, roughly southwest of Traverse City. ...

. The family name was originally "Kulas" when Kulash's great-grandparents lived in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. In a podcast, Kulash states that one of his grandfathers invented the modern day fish stick, and the other found a species of beetle. While in college at Brown, Kulash played in at least three bands – A La Playa, Calixto Chinchile, and Square. He released three CDs in his senior year: an album of experimental

Elvis Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...

covers (for his senior project), an eponymously titled five-song EP from his electronic pop band Square, and ''Appendices'', a collection of more than a dozen miscellaneous recordings from his time in college, including solo songs, collaborations with friends, class projects, studio experiments, and recordings from previous bands. Included on the ''Appendices'' record are the original recordings of "Bye Bye Baby", which was later re-recorded for OK Go's debut record, and four songs from a never-finished EP for his punk band A La Playa. In May 1998, Kulash won Brown University's Weston Prize in music composition. Kulash graduated from Brown University in 1998, with a concentration in Art-

Semiotics Semiotics (also called semiotic studies) is the systematic study of sign processes ( semiosis) and meaning making. Semiosis is any activity, conduct, or process that involves signs, where a sign is defined as anything that communicates something ...

Musical career

As a result of courses he took in electronic music, Kulash became interested in more highly produced, carefully crafted music. After graduation from Brown, Kulash moved to Chicago, and in 1998 formed OK Go. After playing in Chicago and appearances on NPR's ''

This American Life ''This American Life'' (''TAL'') is an American monthly hour-long radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous public radio stations in the United States and internatio ...

'', OK Go signed to Capitol Records. They have released four albums: '' OK Go'', '' Oh No'', '' Of the Blue Colour of the Sky'', and ''

Hungry Ghosts Hungry ghost is a concept in Buddhism, and Chinese traditional religion, representing beings who are driven by intense emotional needs in an animalistic way. The terms ' literally "hungry ghost", are the Chinese translation of the term ''pret ...

''. Prior to this, in 1996, he was in a band named Calixto Chinchile in which he played an early version of the OK Go song, ″Hello My Treacherous Friends.″ He was greatly influenced by many bands from the

area, such as Fugazi,

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists Ted Leo and the Pharmacists (sometimes written Ted Leo/Pharmacists, Ted Leo + Pharmacists, or TL/Rx) are an American rock band formed in 1999 in Washington, D.C. They have released six full-length studio albums and have toured internationally. ...

, and

Lungfish Lungfish are freshwater vertebrates belonging to the order Dipnoi. Lungfish are best known for retaining ancestral characteristics within the Osteichthyes, including the ability to breathe air, and ancestral structures within Sarcopterygii, i ...

. He is also a fan of post-hardcore and

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produc ...

. He was also one half of the Washington, D.C. based independent record label Level Records (1994–1996). Level Records released various 7"s, compilations, and CDs for bands such as Branch Manager and

Frodus Frodus (a.k.a. Frodus Conglomerate International, Frodus Sound Laboratories, FCI, Frodus Escape Plan, Frodus Deposit Insurance Corporation) was an American post-hardcore band formed in 1993 in Washington, D.C. by vocalist/guitarist Shelby Cinca ...

. On March 9, 2010, Kulash announced OK Go's departure from

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

via their YouTube channel. Their new label is called Paracadute. In August 2006, Kulash appeared on an episode of ''

The Colbert Report ''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late-night talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December 18, 2014, for 1,447 episodes. The show fo ...

'' to discuss the band putting their music videos on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

instead of going through the normal corporate video-making process. OK Go made another appearance in April 2010, and performed "This Too Shall Pass."

Personal life

In early 2008, Kulash wrote a passage in

Ben Karlin Ben Karlin (born c. 1971) is an American television producer and writer. He has won eight Emmy awards, and is best known for his work in ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'' and ''The Colbert Report''. He is one of three co-creators of ''The Colb ...

's book ''Things I've Learnt from Women Who've Dumped Me''. Kulash describes one of his previous, unsuccessful relationships, involving a dog which he shared with his partner. On February 19, 2010, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' printed his op-ed piece entitled "WhoseTube?", which discussed the relationship between musicians, record labels, and the Internet. Kulash had previously written two other op-eds in the ''New York Times'': one in 2008 about Net Neutrality and another in 2005 about the

Sony BMG CD copy protection scandal A scandal erupted in 2005 regarding Sony BMG's implementation of copy protection measures on about 22 million CDs. When inserted into a computer, the CDs installed one of two pieces of software that provided a form of digital rights management ...

. He has also testified in

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

in favor of

Net Neutrality Network neutrality, often referred to as net neutrality, is the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) must treat all Internet communications equally, offering users and online content providers consistent rates irrespective of co ...

. Kulash was previously married to artist Shana Lutker and designer

Ambra Medda Ambra Medda (born 1982) is a London based design consultant who is the co-founder and director of Design Miami. She also co-founded the design website L’ArcoBaleno and headed a department at Christie's auction house. Career In 2005, Medda co ...

. He is married to

Kristin Gore Kristin Carlson Gore (born June 5, 1977) is an American author and screenwriter. She is the second daughter of former U.S. vice president Al Gore and advocate Tipper Gore (née Aitcheson). Early life Gore was born in Carthage, Tennessee. She ...

; they attended high school together. In March 2014, Kulash was part of a

viral video A viral video is a video that becomes popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhong Lan, Alexander Haupt ...

, titled "First Kiss".

References

External links

PopGurls 20 Questions with Damian Kulash
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kulash, Damian American male singers American rock singers American rock guitarists American male guitarists Singers from Washington, D.C. Brown University alumni Living people 1975 births Grammy Award winners St. Albans School (Washington, D.C.) alumni American indie rock musicians OK Go members American people of Polish descent Guitarists from Washington, D.C. 21st-century American singers 8in8 members