KBC Band (also sometimes referred to as The Kantner Balin Casady Band) was formed in 1985 by former

Jefferson Airplane Jefferson Airplane was an American Rock music, rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1965. One of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the San Francisco Bay Area, ...

(later

Jefferson Starship Jefferson Starship is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1974 by a group of musicians including former members of Jefferson Airplane. Between 1974 and 1984, they released eight RIAA certification, gold or Music rec ...

) members

Paul Kantner Paul Lorin Kantner (March 17, 1941 – January 28, 2016) was an American rock musician. He is best known as the co-founder, rhythm guitarist, and a secondary vocalist of Jefferson Airplane, a leading psychedelic rock band of the counterculture of ...

(

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

and vocals),

Marty Balin Martyn Jerel Buchwald (January 30, 1942 – September 27, 2018), known as Marty Balin (), was an American singer, songwriter, and musician best known as a member of Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship. Early life Balin was born Martyn Je ...

(vocals and guitar) and

Jack Casady John William Casady (born April 13, 1944) is an American bass guitarist, best known as a member of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna. Jefferson Airplane became the first successful exponent of the San Francisco Sound. Singles including " Som ...

(

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

). Other members included Keith Crossan (

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

, guitar and vocals),

Tim Gorman Tim Gorman was an American pianist, composer, arranger and record producer. Gorman studied music composition at the University of Portland in Oregon, under Philippe De La Mare, himself a former student of Nadia Boulanger. Biography Gorman graduat ...

(keyboards and vocals),

Slick Aguilar Mark "Slick" Aguilar (born 1954) is an American guitarist. He has worked with a number of notable musicians but is probably best known as a member of Jefferson Starship. From 1974 to 1980 he was an in house guitar player for TK studios in N. Mia ...

(guitar and vocals) and Darrell Verdusco (

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

s). Their sole LP, '' KBC Band'', featured the singles "

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

" and "It's Not You, It's Not Me." The band performed supporting tours from 1985 to 1987 before Kantner left for

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

to investigate the

Sandinista The Sandinista National Liberation Front (, FSLN) is a socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas () in both English and Spanish. The party is named after Augusto César Sandino, who led the Nicaraguan resistan ...

situation. The band did not perform after his return. Kantner said that Balin was becoming "difficult" near the end of KBC's existence. However, Kantner and Casady continued to perform onstage together during

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 ...

concerts in late 1987 and early 1988, and the three reunited with

Grace Slick Grace Slick (born Grace Barnett Wing; October 30, 1939) is an American painter and retired musician whose musical career spanned four decades. She was a prominent figure in San Francisco's psychedelic music scene during the mid-1960s to the earl ...

and

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 ...

for a Jefferson Airplane reunion album and a reunion tour in 1989, along with Tim Gorman on keyboards for the tour. The album included three songs that had been performed by KBC Band: "Planes", "Solidarity" and "Summer of Love". They had also performed "Let's Go", which was considered for but rejected from that album. In 1992, Kantner, Casady, Aguilar, and Gorman reformed Jefferson Starship. Balin would also eventually rejoin them in 1993. All members of KBC Band except for Verdusco and Crossan participated in the recording of '' Deep Space/Virgin Sky'' and '' Windows of Heaven''. Verdusco has been a member of

Starship A starship, starcraft, or interstellar spacecraft is a theoretical spacecraft designed for interstellar travel, traveling between planetary systems. The term is mostly found in science fiction. Reference to a "star-ship" appears as early as 1 ...

featuring Mickey Thomas since 1995.

Personnel

- guitar, vocals *

- vocals, guitar *

- bass *Keith Crossan - saxophone, guitar, vocals *

- keyboards, vocals *

- guitar, vocals *Darrell Verdusco - drums

References

Citations

American musical septets Rock music groups from California Musical groups established in 1985 Musical groups disestablished in 1987 Musical groups from San Francisco 1985 establishments in California 1987 disestablishments in California Jefferson Airplane {{US-band-stub