Kyle Gass Band
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Kyle Gass Band (KGB) is an American
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
band formed in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
,
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
in 2011. The band is fronted by
Tenacious D Tenacious D is an American comedy rock duo formed in Los Angeles in 1994 by the actors Jack Black and Kyle Gass. Their music showcases Black's theatrical vocal delivery and Gass' acoustic guitar playing. Critics have described their fusion of ...
lead guitarist
Kyle Gass Kyle Richard Gass (born July 14, 1960) is an American musician and actor, best known for being a member of Tenacious D, a Grammy-winning comedy band. He is also a member of Trainwreck and the Kyle Gass Band. Early life Kyle Richard Gass was ...
and vocalist and guitarist Mike Bray. The backing band consists of electric guitarist
John Konesky John S. Konesky (born November 19, 1980) is an American guitarist and record producer, best known for his role as the lead electric guitar player for Tenacious D. Career Konesky was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, where he performed in a ba ...
, bassist Jason Keene, and drummer Tim Spier. The band have released two studio albums, ''Kyle Gass Band'' (2013) and ''Thundering Herd'' (2016). The band also occasionally tours acoustically (without Keene and Spier) as The Kyle Gass Company.


History


Background

Gass and
Jack Black Thomas Jacob "Jack" Black (born August 28, 1969) is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is known for roles in family and comedy films, in addition to his voice work in animated films. His awards include a Children's and Family Emmy ...
formed the band
Tenacious D Tenacious D is an American comedy rock duo formed in Los Angeles in 1994 by the actors Jack Black and Kyle Gass. Their music showcases Black's theatrical vocal delivery and Gass' acoustic guitar playing. Critics have described their fusion of ...
in 1994 whilst they were members of
The Actors' Gang The Actors' Gang is an experimental theatre and nonprofit group based at the Ivy Substation in Culver City, California. It was founded in 1981 by a group of actors, including Tim Robbins, now a member of the board and artistic director of the ...
theater company in Los Angeles. Black's popularity as an actor began to increase in the early 2000s, with appearances in films such as ''
High Fidelity High fidelity (hi-fi or, rarely, HiFi) is the high-quality reproduction of sound. It is popular with audiophiles and home audio enthusiasts. Ideally, high-fidelity equipment has inaudible noise and distortion, and a flat (neutral, uncolored) ...
,
Saving Silverman ''Saving Silverman'' (internationally titled ''Evil Woman'') is a 2001 American romantic comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan and starring Jason Biggs, Steve Zahn, Jack Black, and Amanda Peet. Neil Diamond has a cameo role playing himself. In th ...
'' and ''
Shallow Hal ''Shallow Hal'' is a 2001 American romantic comedy film directed by the Farrelly brothers, Farrelly Brothers. The film stars Gwyneth Paltrow and Jack Black, with Jason Alexander, Joe Viterelli, and Susan Ward in supporting roles. Filming took pla ...
.'' These appearances meant that Black was unable to dedicate as much time with Gass for Tenacious D, causing Gass to form the side-project Trainwreck in 2002. In the summer of 2010, the lead singer of Trainwreck, JR Reed, was unable to make a party Gass had been invited to play, causing Gass to form a one-off band called Kyle Gass' Falcon, an early version of what would become the Kyle Gass Band. Trainwreck later split in 2011, causing Gass to form a new project.


Formation and beginnings (2011–2013)

Gass and Konesky were both of Tenacious D and former members of Trainwreck. Mike Bray was hand-selected by Gass to front the Kyle Gass Band. Mike came to Los Angeles from Mahomet, Illinois in 2007 and formed "Band of Bigfoot", where each band member dressed up as bigfoot. After doing some shows in the Pacific Northwest opening for Trainwreck in 2009 and '10, Gass noticed talent in Bray, and invited him to be the lead vocalist. Bassist Jason Keene was picked for the group, an old friend of Gass. The drumming position in the band was originally filled by Trainwreck's
Nate Rothacker Trainwreck with Kyle Gass is an American southern and comedy rock band formed in Los Angeles, in 2002. It was founded by Tenacious D guitarist Kyle Gass and actor and singer JR Reed. The band originally started out as a three-piece, with Reed ...
until mid-2013, it was then given to Jamie Douglass in late-2013 and then Tim Spier in mid-2014. The band recorded their first material throughout 2011 and some recordings in 2012, with their self-titled debut album releasing independently in July 2013. The album was re-released on
SPV GmbH SPV GmbH (short for ''Schallplatten Produktion und Vertrieb GmbH'', "Vinyl Production and Distribution Company") is a German independent record label. Founded on 1 January 1984, it has slowly grown to be one of the largest independent distributors ...
in April 2015 for Europe. In June 2015, the band released their first music video for ''"Our Job to Rock"'' with the Jash Network. In September 2016, their second album, ''Thundering Herd'' was released in Europe, and in November 2016 worldwide.


Touring (2011–present)

The band played their first gig at the 2011
NAMM Show The NAMM Show is an annual trade show in the United States organized by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), which describes it as "the industry’s largest stage, uniting the global music, sound and entertainment technology commun ...
opening for Mike Campbell in early January. They played their first independent show at DiPiazza's in Los Angeles on June 18, 2011. The band would tour Europe regularly in the mid-2010s. In February 2025, the band announced an acoustic The Kyle Gass Company tour across Europe in May, including their debut in Ireland.


Discography

Studio albums *''Kyle Gass Band'' (2013) *''Thundering Herd'' (2016)


Band members

*Mike Bray – lead
vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...
,
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 ...
(2011–present) *
Kyle Gass Kyle Richard Gass (born July 14, 1960) is an American musician and actor, best known for being a member of Tenacious D, a Grammy-winning comedy band. He is also a member of Trainwreck and the Kyle Gass Band. Early life Kyle Richard Gass was ...
– lead
acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...
, vocals,
flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...
(2011–present) *
John Konesky John S. Konesky (born November 19, 1980) is an American guitarist and record producer, best known for his role as the lead electric guitar player for Tenacious D. Career Konesky was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, where he performed in a ba ...
– lead
electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...
,
backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...
(2011–present) *Jason Keene –
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 ...
,
harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...
(2011–present) *Tim Spier –
drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...
(2014–present)


Former members

*
Nate Rothacker Trainwreck with Kyle Gass is an American southern and comedy rock band formed in Los Angeles, in 2002. It was founded by Tenacious D guitarist Kyle Gass and actor and singer JR Reed. The band originally started out as a three-piece, with Reed ...
drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...
(2011–2013) *Jamie Douglass –
drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...
(2013–2014)


Former touring member

*Jokin Salaverria – bass (2014)


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kyle Gass Band Rock music groups from California Musical groups established in 2011 Musical groups from Los Angeles Tenacious D 2011 establishments in California