Broken Frontier

Kirby Krackle, the witty duo from the new comics-loving band chat with BF about funny lyrics, funky beats and pop culture.

Touting themselves as The World’s First Comic Book Rock Band, friends Kyle Stevens and Jim Demonakos have attracted an audience of fanboys and girls eager to tap their toes and sing along to some good old-fashioned nerdcore music. Stevens has been in the music business for over a decade, first as singer/songwriter for the band, Layman’s Terms before going solo. He now also works as a producer. Demonakos is one of the men behind Emerald City ComiCon, as well as The Comic Stop chain of stores in Washington. One listen to any song of theirs and you’ll come to understand their love of not only pop culture, but specifically comic books. For example, there’s Villain Song (“So I took my Death Ray and put it on the shelf,
’cause I found your punches to my face were bad for my health.”) and the single Ring Capacity which finally puts the Green Lantern Oath to a funky beat. And let’s not forget the appropriately titled romantic ballad Naked Wii, the ode to the undead in Zombie Apocalypse or the outpouring of frustrated summer events in Another New Crisis. 

To further their comic book cred, their debut self-titled album cover art was created by Jim Mahfood and Justin Stewart, while Comicraft’s Richard Starkings and J.G Roshell designed their fancy logo. Kirby Krackle can also count well-known industry types such as Joe Quesada and Ron Marz as fans. The musical pair were kind enough to chat with BF about just what it is they do, and why.

BROKEN FRONTIER: Was the band a natural progression of your friendship?

KYLE STEVENS: Yeah, I've been buying comics from Jim's shop for 9 years now so it was in his best interest to be my friend so I could keep funding his summer vacations. Seriously though, we're both idea guys in the fact that we think "what is something that has never been done that we would freak out about if it came around?"

JIM DEMONAKOS: We have the best time simply just making the songs and sitting around trying to find the funniest rhymes we can and the most inappropriate as well. Fans may be a little disturbed if they sat around and listened to our writing sessions...

BF: Kirby Krackle is a perfect name, but what band names did you reject?

JD: My business partner Brian came up with the name and since he did it really has been the only option.

KS: Yeah, it's surprising because usually the naming process is living hell and no one is fully happy with the the compromised result. "Kirby Krackle" just rolls off the tongue and now that I think about it's weird it was that easy. Should I make something up to sound interesting? Ok, we were first called "Morlock Panties". Cool?

BF: Who are your musical influences?

KS: I love bands that first an foremost have a really good vibe. Whatever style that may be, you can feel it when the people are having fun and truly believe in what they're doing. We feel like that and hope it translates to listeners and fans who come to shows.  I was raised on a steady diet of hook driven Rock- Pop so I think that naturally comes out in the songs we write. I just love good songwriting and good music; everything from Ryan Adams to Pearl Jam to Shawn Colvin to Jay-Z.

JD: I have a pretty wide range of favorites, from The Streets to Craig David to The Beatles to Kanye West to Bryan Adams. I think everything we listen to informs our writing and style.

BF: Do you enjoy the same comics?

KS: I think I'm definitely more mainstream taste driven that Jim. I love me some X-Men, plain and simple. Secret Invasion? I eat that stuff up. Still, I hold a strong loyalty to Avatar comics, Image, and the cooler of the creator-owned comics. Again, good stories and original ideas are really what inspire me in anything.

JD: We're both mainstream guys (lovin' Blackest Night!), but I definitely tend to lean towards the Image/IDW & indy end of the spectrum, and I especially dig webcomics as well like PvP, Penny Arcade and Questionable Content.

BF: Your lyrics are very attuned to the inner geek in us all. Do you always take apart the comics, games and films you experience for potential new songs?

KS: Yep, that's kinda of our M.O.! We were talking about this the other day and it was kinda cool what we figured out. People love songs they can relate to, and so what is it about us that appeals to folks?

For example in the song "One Of The Guys" is a day in the life of The Thing from Fantastic Four, no one really really knows what it's like to be him of course, but everyone knows the feeling about not feeling like they belong at some point in their life. That's really it. Same with "Marvelous Girls". When you break that song down, it's really just about a celebration of women in general. "Back To The Beginning"? Hope. We don't really sit down all the time and get super deep on that but to answer your question, we try to write about the characters/stories that move us on a deeper level. Otherwise, it's just some guy yelling "Silver Surfer" into the mic. Though that wouldn't be the worst idea...

BF: What’s the response from comic book fans and pros been like so far?

JD: We have the BEST fans around. We love communicating with them on Twitter and Facebook and hope they feel like they're in the KK club, because they are. We wanted to create something that hadn't existed yet in this form and we've been lucky enough to be greeted with love and acceptance from our listeners. Pros have been really cool to us too. At first they seemed confused as to what we actually were, but then more and more we get emails and calls saying something around the lines of "You know what? This is actually not horrible". Win!

BF: And, lastly, which one of you gets the most groupies?

KS: Do you really think guys singing about teabagging in Halo get groupies?!  Well, Jim's mom has been to more shows than my own, but again my mom lives in Hawaii and has her whole horse barn staff singing, "Naked Wii". Does that answer your question? I would think not, but maybe we can have some more enticing tales of comic rock debauchery next time we talk. We do love the nerd girls though, especially Genoshan ones...

Kirby Krackle next perform at the Long Beach Comic Con on October 3. For song samples and more, check out their official website. or their myspace page.