Album Notes

Captivating the D.C. scene with crushing guitars, power-charged vocals, and an unstoppable rhythm section are rockers Rubin Kinkaid: Debbie Cohen on lead vocals and guitar, Chris Macica on lead guitar, Ed Morrissey on bass, and Pete Nuwayser on drums. There's no friggin' school bus and Debbie ain't no Shirley Jones!

With influences ranging from Catherine Wheel, The Jam and The Pretenders, Washington D.C.'s very own Rubin Kinkaid delivers alternative power-pop with grated perfection.


Rubin Kinkaid writes and performs original music in some of the area's most coveted venues. Repeat bookings at Mr. Smith's of Georgetown, Luna Park Grille, Zig's Bar and Grill, Rhodeside Grill, and Lewie's has established Rubin Kinkaid as a musical force in the D.C.-Metro area. Highlights include opening for Capital Recording Artists The Figgs at the famed Metro Café, performing at Felix in support of the annual Washington D.C. Aids Ride, and in 2001 being selected as the featured band for the annual Avon Breast Cancer Walk-a-Thon Fundraiser.

The BUZZ continues to generate media attention, including;
*2003 "Washington Post" "LIVE" article by Marianne Meyer.
*2002 "Washington Times" weekend article by Derek Simmonsen.
*Feature story in Washington's Alternative Weekly magazine, "The City Paper".
*CD Reviews by "The Washington Post.com."
*A radio spot on the famed DC101's "Local Lix" program.
*August-September 2000 "Washington Area Music Association" newsletter.


Fresh from the "Don't Ask" studio sessions, Rubin Kinkaid is gearing up for a great 2003 show schedule! Recorded by Drew Mazurek (Jawbox, Dog Fashion Disco), the EP is slated for release in May 2003. Meanwhile, their 2001 release of Pink Elephant continues to inhabit the cd trays of listeners throughout the DC Metro Area. The title track gives voice to the trash no one wants to talk about, while the sonic ear candy of Nightmare offers up swirling guitars and beckoning lyrics. Guilt for Nothing and Apathy find breathy vocals giving way to powerhouse calls of angst amid layered guitars, melodic bass lines and energy-off the wall drumming.



Check out the latest article about Rubin Kinkaid

Washington Post:
By: Marianne Meyer

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28812-2003Feb5.html

Washington Times:
By: Derek Simmonsen

http://www.rubinkinkaid.com/WashTimesInterview/Yeah,%20Yeah,%20Yeahs%20roll%20--%20The%20Washington%20Times.htm

Washingtonpost.com/mp3 Producer:
By Maria Villafana

http://mp3.washingtonpost.com/notables/notables010801.shtml

"Ask any group of local musicians where they're from and the answers can range from around the corner to cities hours away by plane. Washington's "homegrown" music community has long welcomed outsiders who have found themselves settling in the region, whether by accident or design.

Cases in point: Rubin Kinkaid. Rubin Kinkaid lead vocalist and songwriter Debbie Cohen spent most of the '90s at the State University of New York at Albany working on her post-graduate degrees and fronting an acoustic rock band called the Oysters. Along the way she was introduced to Ed Morrissey, a friend of a friend, who liked to play bass. Morrissey introduced Cohen to his long time friend Chris Macica, who liked to play lead guitar.

"Albany is such a small town," explains Cohen. Life split nicely between gigs and classes for Cohen until the big day came - graduation. She suddenly had a doctorate in criminal justice and a real job. "Music has always been a need, like breathing. It killed me to lose a band I spent six years building," she says. "But I always got the message that it's not something you do for a living."

In the fall of 1996, Cohen accepted a position with a federal agency and relocated to the Metro area. She also became a reviewer for DCPages.com, she says, "to keep my hand in things." One night, while at the Rhodeside Grill to see Michael Sheppard, she ran into her old friend Morrissey.

Morrissey, it turned out, had relocated to D.C., too, pursuing a career as a financial adviser. And as fate would have it, Macica was also in town working as a construction manager.

"After I ran into Ed it took about a year to get something together," says Cohen. Rubin Kinkaid (the band is named after the fictional manager of TV's Partridge Family) played its first gig, a benefit for the Washington AIDs Ride, in May 2000 at Felix in Adams Morgan. "It was an acoustic gig," recalls Cohen. "We were still auditioning drummers." Scott Evans, a systems programmer originally from Winchester, eventually filled that void. "He was another friend of a friend. It's like the telephone game with us," Cohen says.

During this past year, the daytime professionals balanced jobs, gigs and recording studio deadlines to come up with Rubin Kinkaid's just-released, first full-length CD, "Pink Elephant." "It's melancholy mixed with melody, but it rocks out, too," says Cohen. Songs from the album can be heard on the band's MP3 page and can be purchased at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/kinkaid."