Album Notes

A Little Friction is Amy Tobin and Kevin Carnes. Collaborators since 1999, the band became official in 2005, when Carnes (drummer/ producer) and Tobin (vocalist/ songwriter) went into the studio to arrange the songs for the 2006 release, When sparks fly. The duo performs an electronic cabaret that evokes Liza Minnelli, Joni Mitchell and, apparently, Lucy and Desi, mixing it up with big vocals, lush arrangements, drama, and collisions between rock and cabaret.

Kevin Carnes is a drummer, percussionist, composer, and producer who has played music ranging from jazz to punk rock for more than 20 years. He has performed and recorded with George Clinton and the P-Funk Allstars, world music DJ Cheb i Sabbah, rock band Storm and Her Dirty Mouth, and electronica-driven Soulstice, as well as Consolidated, Little White Radio, UAF, Post Junk Trio, Eric McFadden, Tyler Stone and Sutro, Shaunna Hall of 4 Non Blondes, and Radioactive of Spearhead fame. Carnes is a founding member of Broun Fellinis, a jazz roots trio based in San Francisco, and he co-founded The Beatnigs, a political punk noise band that exploded in Europe in 1988. Other projects include creating and remixing music for commercials and websites and acting for both theatre and television. In 2005, Kevin released two solo recordings, Ethereal Cereal and UAF Live!, as well as a CD sampler of over 1000 original drum loops and sounds. (www.stylusquo.com)

Amy Tobin first began singing her songs unaccompanied in San Francisco clubs and theatres, developing a hybrid style of performance that drew from experimental and rock music, and cabaret-style theatre. She performs and produces multi-media shows featuring her songs and writing, and created and performs The Esther Show, a cabaret rock opera and modern interpretation of the biblical Book of Esther, which has played on an annual basis since 2002 in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and San Francisco. A graduate of the Experimental Theatre Wing at Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, Amy released the EP 4 Choices in 2003; co-wrote and composed the music for Lilith, a musical; sang with San Francisco band The Beanweevils; and performed as a member of the intercultural spoken-word collective Dhaia Tribe. (www.amytobin.com)