In March 2003, Kimono Draggin was formed by 3 musicians from the New Haven, CT area with a drive and vision to create a group like no other. Fully willing to leave behind other successful music projects, Joseph Nolan, Joshua Hatton and Chris Swirski believed they found the formula they'd been looking for. Fronted by Guitarist/Singer/Songwriter Joseph Nolan, the trio's influences pull from a wide variety of musical genres to create their patented sound, appropriately dubbed, "Bukkake Rock". Their music can be described as fast, gritty and borderline avant-garde. Although, difficult to sum up in less than a paragraph of words, Kimono Draggin's music has captivated audiences throughout the east coast. Kimono Draggin has an unpredictable, well rounded sound consisting of catchy, limitless guitar riffs, tinged with cosmic sounding reverb effects that are backed by a solid, groove driving rythm section.
A mixed review of "My Summer in Paris" by Dr.Eugene Chadbourne:The erstwhile critic is just about to open the review of this album with a stern complaint about some of the lyrics, particularly the oral sex reference repetition in "Coriander." Joseph Nolan's poetry seems to be a sprinkler as out of control as a spice jar with the top missing. Then another lyric is discovered, kicking off a tune entitled "Hare Krsna, German Sluts": "Eugene Chadbourne is my friend.""Hey, I'm Eugene Chadbourne!" the critic shouted out loud. Right away some of the shortcomings in the texts of the ten songs offered by this hard rock power trio seem less serious. Obviously this is an important album because its sheer intention, unlike most recordings released, is to break down systems. This concept will require a little historical clarification.In the '80s, a band such as Kimono Draggin' might have had an independent release in the cassette medium. Many publications covering the music scene refused to review releases on cassette; in the most interesting reasoning, one famous punk rock monthly claimed the staff of critics would be "burned out" would they be required to listen to every cassette that came in.The cassette underground eventually dwindled away during the oncome of technological innovations, which now allow weirdos such as Nolan to put out their creative productions on pristine compact discs, decorating them with pictures of themselves in their underwear climbing the Eiffel Tower if they so desire.Yet for a moment there was the potential — had the cassette people followed through — to create a barrage of review copies which would have actually burned out all existing music critics, destroying the pretentious system of analysis and description they had created in a delerium of coffee and bad Chinese takeout.This CD is yet another attempt at the same kind of conquest, a bit more clever and much more personalized but in the end a failure simply because Nolan and his scheming sidekicks on bass and drums didn't take into account the immense courage some critics actually possess.Nolan handed off the review copy to the critic at a New Haven gig, part one of the scheme. He assumed critics never listen to the lyrics of a song, not realizing the target of his sordid plot is the same person whose analysis of the opera Carmen was failed at The Royal Academy of Music because no mention was ever made of Georges Bizet's music; only the lyrics were discussed. A person with such a lust for lyrics would hardly miss a reference to himself in the lyrics of a song, especially when a lyric sheet is provided!Nolan created an interesting challenge here. One possible outcome of his ploy was that the critic would write about the CD without mentioning his own reference in it, whether he had heard it or not. A win for Nolan in either case because the review would be judged improper due to a journalistic conflict of interests. Such a state naturally leads to the journalist in question being censured, banned, flogged, fired, stonewalled, blackballed, and possibly even goosed.Then again the critic could point out the reference and discuss it, a suitable approach in some circumstances but not in the All Music Guide, where critics are warned by a strict, probing style guide not to talk about themselves because, after all, the world has room for only one Lester Bangs.Nolan's assumption, it is believed, is that this review would lead to an end, perhaps even abrupt, of this particular critic's status and ability to hold forth on a variety of subjects concerning the music arts. Nolan probably read the All Music Guide "all style guide" in a purlioned form and didn't realize some brave writers violate these rules from time to time and live to talk about it.So, yes, Eugene Chadbourne knows Joseph Nolan because one of Nolan's musical activities is playing in a Captain Beefheart cover band in New Haven. That group, Doctor Dark, may be the best thing to happen to New Haven's music scene since a doo wop group called the Chestnuts cut a series of singles, not forgetting of course the era when Wadada Leo Smith performed magnificent concerts in New Haven for audiences of five people.A guitarist who can play in a Captain Beefheart cover band can no doubt do some fine things on his own, a theory that has been proven both correct and incorrect time and time again. Kimono Draggin' avoids direct stylistic references to this benchmark of avant-garde and is at once freer and more aggressive. Some listeners may dig the sounds so much they would not even bother wondering why the lyrics in a particular song would mention not only the aforementioned guitarist and writer but also guitarist Mike Kenneally, in this case stating he is "a friend of yours."Many songs have been written by musicians about other musicians, often mentioning names. "Smoke on the Water" and "Monterey" come to mind immediately. There are fewer but still some examples of musicians writing songs about critics — it is more often publications themselves that are satirized, such as "Cover of the Rolling Stone" or "Austin Chronicle."Digging deep to define questions of journalistic ethics regarding such circumstances, scientist and historian Dr. Praetorious was consulted. Naturally he brought up Bizet, one of several famous classical composers who doubled as music critics."Do you know that Bizet determined that in the second aria of an opera written by one of his peers, the first letter of the first word of every line actually spelled out 'Bizet is a booger' — en Francais n'est pas! Yet he still wrote an objective review," concluded Dr. Praetorious.Bizet sets a high standard, both musically and critically. Check out "The Toreador Song" in comparison to "Hare Krsna, German Sluts," though, and it becomes apparent so can Nolan. Little bits of his lyrics crest to the top of the jam on golden surfboards, glowing with the essence of sheer stupidity that rock & roll thrives on. Bassist Joshua Hatton and drummer Christopher Swirksi share in the vocalizing, creating the aura of rowdy team work. Some of the musical interludes are so well thought they almost defy the lyrics to express an idea on remotely the same level, a good plan for the future seeing as how the critical system destruction thing didn't work out.
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