FUNKY AND CHIC CD Review from the Worcester Phoenix, Worcester, MA Boston's SmokStik are an anomaly on the groove and jam circuit. Songs like "Alternative" take aim at chain-smokers equipped with dreadlocks, piercings, oversized pants, skateboards, and courier bags. It's hard to tell whether John Kiehne (who performs on the part guitar/ part bass Chapman Stick) and drummer Hillary Koogler are serious, sarcastic or moody by nature. They can be jazzy ("Dinosaur"), groovy ("Fish"), or angry ("Fuck"); which makes their Bugs EP more eccentric than the genre's typical releases. [This message has been edited by SmokStik (edited June 07, 1999).]
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CD Review from the Spotlight weekly arts supplement from the Portsmouth Herald newspaper from Portsmouth, NH. (12/10/98) SmokStik-Bugs Just how much noise can two people make? A hell of a lot apparently. Especially if one of them has a Chapman Stick. Huh? Sit tight. We'll get to that first. First things first. SmokStik are John Kiehne and Hillary Koogler, a pair of New Englanders who have been playing together for almost three years. Bugs is their first CD, an EP containing seven tracks of high-octane vibes. What kind of music is this? Well, imagine a bicep that's been injected with about 100 CD's of a battery-acid peyote cocktail and that's your visual. This is powerful stuff. Meaty/ Skating through a spectrum that runs from vintage Black Sabbath/Rage Against the Machine/Suicical Tendencies through to, believe it or not, licking of jazz and funk. But all with a trademark force not usually found in those latter forms. Mark that up to the players. Kiehne's Chapman-which looks like a chunk of floorboard with strings but yields sound like a bass guitar- is like a one-man onslaught. Koogler's drumming, meanwhile, augments the big Stick perfectly, filling and accentuating and daring Kiehne to go further all the time Take a listen to the bitingly sardonic opening track "Alternative" and you'll get the message quick. The Stick roars like a beast while the lyrics snap fillings loose. Then there's the funky and kooky "Fish", the disturbing "Trampoline" and the jazz-laced "Dinosaur". Dark, psycho, witty, fun. Bugs is all that stuff and more. A yard glass of molten lava. But if you like the hard stuff, check this one out. They'll stick it to ya.[/b] (Adrian Zupp) [This message has been edited by SmokStik (edited June 07, 1999).]
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