Kilgore (formerly Kilgore Smudge) is an American heavy metal band formed in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...

in 1991. The band is named after the character

Kilgore Trout Kilgore Trout is a fictional character created by author Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007). Trout is a notably unsuccessful author of paperback science fiction novels. "Trout" was inspired by the name of the author Theodore Sturgeon (1918–1985), Vo ...

in the

Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut ( ; November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American author known for his Satire, satirical and darkly humorous novels. His published work includes fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfict ...

classic ''

Breakfast of Champions ''Breakfast of Champions, or Goodbye Blue Monday'' is a 1973 novel by the American author Kurt Vonnegut. His seventh novel, it is set predominantly in the fictional town of Midland City, Ohio, and focuses on two characters: Dwayne Hoover, a Mid ...

''. Through a number of band name and line-up changes, Kilgore released two albums, ''Blue Collar Solitude'' (1995) and ''A Search for Reason'' (1998). The band landed a slot on the 1998

Ozzfest Ozzfest was an annual music festival tour of the United States and sometimes Europe and later Japan, featuring performances by many heavy metal music, heavy metal and hard rock musical groups. It was founded by Sharon Osbourne and her husband O ...

. They followed with a 1998 national tour with

Slayer Slayer is an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California, formed in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King, drummer Dave Lombardo and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya. Slayer's fast and aggressive musical style made them ...

and

Fear Factory Fear Factory is an American industrial metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1989. Throughout the band's career, they have released ten full-length albums and have evolved through a succession of sounds, all in their main style of industrial met ...

and a 1998 European tour with Fear Factory and

Spineshank Spineshank is an American nu metal / industrial metal band from Los Angeles. The band released four studio albums: '' Strictly Diesel'' (1998), ''The Height of Callousness'' (2000), '' Self-Destructive Pattern'' (2003), and ''Anger Denial Accept ...

History

The band started in 1991 at Rhode Island Catholic high school

La Salle Academy } La Salle Academy is an American private, Catholic all-boys' high school in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York. The school is run by the Eastern North American District of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. ...

in Providence. Once or twice a semester, the bands would gather for concerts attended by most of the student body. This allowed many of the musicians their first concert opportunities. Outside of the school, the band began to work on original music influenced by

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris (musician), Steve Harris. Although fluid in the early years of the band, the line-up for most ...

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

and

Faith No More Faith No More is an American Rock music, rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1979. Before September 1983, the band performed under the names Sharp Young Men and later Faith No Man. Bassist Billy Gould, keyboardist/rhythm guitarist ...

. The band was composed of songwriter Brian McKenzie (guitar), Bill Southerland (drums), Jason Smith (bass), Erick Linsao (guitar), and Jay Berndt (vocals). The band was first known as Regicide during high school and played its first shows at band concerts at La Salle Academy. After high school they changed their name to Smudge, and started to develop and fine tune their sound. The music became more aggressive containing a groove element with hints of their early influences as well as elements of the

New York hardcore New York hardcore (also known as NYHC) is both the hardcore punk music created in New York City and the subculture and lifestyle (sociology), lifestyle associated with that music. The scene established many aspects that are fixtures of hardcore ...

scene. Jay Berndt's lyrics were influenced by the

Beat Generation The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-World War II era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by members o ...

authors,

Fyodor Dostoyevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist. He is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in both Russian literature, Russian and world literature, and many of his works are consider ...

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of Litera ...

and

Charles Bukowski Henry Charles Bukowski ( ; born Heinrich Karl Bukowski, ; August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994) was a German Americans, German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambien ...

. His vocal style was sometimes compared to

Glenn Danzig Glenn Allen Anzalone (born June 23, 1955), better known by his stage name Glenn Danzig, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actor, film director and record producer. He is the founder of the rock bands Misfits, Samhain, and Danzig. He ...

of the Misfits or

Scott Weiland Scott Richard Weiland (, ; né Kline; October 27, 1967 – December 3, 2015) was an American singer and songwriter. He was best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Stone Temple Pilots from 1989 to 2003 and again from 2008 to 2013, r ...

of Stone Temple Pilots. The fast almost hardcore-like songs, along with Jay Berndt's lyrics and vocal melodies, allowed the band to really stand out. They released their first demo cassette called ''Spill'' (1993) and began playing shows at numerous Providence clubs and opening for established acts as The Cro-Mags,

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Sheer Terror Sheer Terror are an American hardcore punk band from New York City. The band was one of the first to combine elements of heavy metal with a hardcore punk base, pioneering a heavier style of hardcore that would create many bands in the followi ...

and

Life of Agony Life of Agony is an American alternative metal band from Brooklyn, New York City, formed in 1989 by singer Keith Caputo, bassist Alan Robert and guitarist Joey Z. The band has released six studio albums to date, most notably their 1993 debut '' ...

. After discovering an Australian pop-punk band by the same name, they changed their name to Stain. As Stain, they released another cassette demo, ''Die Cast'', in 1994. It was the release of ''Die Cast'' that brought the band to the attention of manager

Scott Cohen (music business) Scott Cohen (born 1965) is a British music executive. Cohen's music career started in the late 1980s in independent and major label artist management. In 1997, he and Richard Gottehrer (the co-founder of Sire Records) founded The Orchard. In 20 ...

and Giant/Revolution Records (subsidiary of

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

), with whom they signed a recording contract. Around this time Berndt suggested the band name "Kilgore Smudge" as a nod to the protagonist from the classic

novel ''

''. By the end of 1994, Mike Pelletier replaced Linsao on guitar.

''Blue Collar Solitude'' (1995)

In 1995, Kilgore Smudge released ''Blue Collar Solitude'', recorded in Los Angeles with producer

Howard Benson Howard Michael Benson (born July 20, 1956) is an American record producer from Havertown, Pennsylvania. He has been nominated for two Grammy Awards for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical in 2007 and 2008, among two wins and 16 total nominati ...

. The band opened for acts such as

Marilyn Manson Brian Hugh Warner (born January 5, 1969), known professionally as Marilyn Manson, is an American rock musician. He is the lead singer and the only original member remaining of the Marilyn Manson (band), same-titled band he founded in 1989. Th ...

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Clutch A clutch is a mechanical device that allows an output shaft to be disconnected from a rotating input shaft. The clutch's input shaft is typically attached to a motor, while the clutch's output shaft is connected to the mechanism that does th ...

and Sublime. The months spent on the road took its toll on Jason Smith (bass), who was replaced in 1996 by Steve Johnson.

''A Search for Reason'' (1998)

The band flew out to Los Angeles for four months to write, rehearse and record ''A Search for Reason'', which was produced by

Ed Stasium Ed Stasium is an American record producer and audio engineer, who has worked on albums by the Ramones, Talking Heads, Motörhead, the Smithereens and Living Colour. Early life and education Raised in Green Brook Township, New Jersey, and gradua ...

Marty O'Brien Marty O'Brien is an American bassist. He plays professionally for live touring musical acts, recording sessions, television, and film scores all of which encompass a range of genres such as pop and rock, thereby collaborating with various musi ...

was then asked to join the band to replace Steve Johnson. The band marked the release of ''A Search for Reason'' with a string of east coast dates starting at New York City's Coney Island High club. As a new management deal was inked, the band shortened their name to just Kilgore and then landed a spot on

1998. While on tour with Ozzfest, Kilgore recorded a cover of

Pantera Pantera () is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Arlington, Texas in 1981 by the Abbott brothers (guitarist Dimebag Darrell and drummer Vinnie Paul), and currently composed of vocalist Phil Anselmo, bassist Rex Brown, an ...

's "

Walk Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined as an "inverted pendulum" gait in which the body vaults over ...

" for

Extreme Championship Wrestling Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) was an American professional wrestling promotion that was based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and operated by its parent company HHG Corporation. The promotion was founded in 1992 by Tod Gordon as Nationa ...

. The song was used as

Rob Van Dam Robert Szatkowski (born December 18, 1970) better known by his ring name Rob Van Dam (frequently abbreviated to RVD) is an American professional wrestler. Known for his unique ring style—which includes his variety of kicks, acrobatic movemen ...

's entrance music. They followed Ozzfest with a 1998 national tour with

and

, and finished the year with a European tour with Fear Factory and

Break-up and reunion

Singer Jay Berndt left the band and the music industry in early 1999. In 2005, he returned to music by fronting Providence country band The Revival Preachers and released an album, ''Breathin' Through a Bruise''. He is currently signed to North Carolina record label Rusty Knuckles and released a solo album called ''Sad Bastard Songs'' in October 2010. In 2003, guitarist Brian McKenzie began performing as a solo singer/songwriter and released two solo albums. In 2009, McKenzie began working with Jay Berndt who produced his forthcoming album, ''Resolution'', to be released in 2010. Pelletier, Southerland and O'Brien moved to Los Angeles in 2000 to look for a new singer for Kilgore. Shortly after arriving,

began playing with

Tommy Lee Thomas Lee (born Thomas Lee Bass; October 3, 1962) is an American musician who co-founded and plays drums for the heavy metal band Mötley Crüe. He also founded rap metal band Methods of Mayhem and has pursued solo musical projects. Early ...

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as well as providing session work for other artists. He now plays with

We Are the Fallen We Are the Fallen is an American-Irish hard rock band formed in 2009, comprising Irish singer and former ''American Idol'' contestant Carly Smithson, guitarists Ben Moody and John LeCompt, drummer Rocky Gray, and bassist Marty O'Brien. Moo ...

. Mike Pelletier began scoring video game soundtracks and was playing with In for the Kill. Bill Southerland returned to Providence and has been working with children for the last few years. In 2008, Southerland and Berndt reunited for a short time in a heavy metal band called Bloodwitch which also featured members of Massachusetts band Seemless. In 2007, original members Jay Berndt, Brian McKenzie, Bill Southerland, and Jason Smith reunited to play a benefit show in Providence, RI called "Fight to Remember". The band helped to raise over $13,000 and all proceeds went to Susan G. Komen for the Cure and

National Philanthropic Trust National Philanthropic Trust (NPT) is an American independent public charity that provides philanthropic expertise to donors, foundations and financial institutions. NPT ranks among the largest grantmaking institutions in the United States. NPT s ...

for breast cancer treatment and research. Stated on their Facebook page, they are going to record new music and tour in 2017. On December 23, 2017, the band released a new song titled "Death on the Installment Plan". An EP titled ''Someday This War Is Going to End'' was released on December 29, 2017.

Discography

Studio albums

*''Blue Collar Solitude'' (1995) *'' A Search for Reason'' (1998) *''The Complete Die Cast Sessions'' (2016)

EPs

*''Someday This War Is Going to End'' (2017)

Members

Current members

*Jay Berndt – vocals (1991–2000, 2007, 2016–present) *Bill Southerland – drums (1991–2000, 2007, 2016–present) *Brian McKenzie – guitars (1991–1997, 2007, 2016–present) *

– bass (1998–2000, 2016–present)

Former members

*Erick Linsao – guitars (1991–1994) *Mike Pelletier – guitars (1994–2000) *Jason Smith – bass (1991–1996, 2007) *Steve Johnson – bass (1996–1998) *Ronnie Saran - guitars (1995-1997)

References

External links

Kilgore (Smudge)
on MySpace * {{Authority control 1991 establishments in Rhode Island American alternative metal musical groups American post-grunge musical groups American groove metal musical groups Heavy metal musical groups from Rhode Island Musical groups established in 1991 Warner Records artists