DN File Photo
WITH ONLY ONE full-length album under its
belt, Kid Quarkstar calls it quits as band mem
bers pursue other ventures.
u
We are all still best
friends. We have nothing
but love and respect for
each other y
guitarist for Kid Quarkstar
a DN File Photo
I KID QUARKSTAR, seen here
| performing at the Big Red
Welcome Aug. 24, ends its
| two-year gig this weekend,
I playing for the last time
I Friday and Saturday nights
at The Brass Rail, 1436 0
I st. ....
kid
Quark
Dual concerts conclude, commemorate Lincoln group’s career
By Bret Schulte
Senior Reporter
The star that burns twice as bright burns
half as long.
After only two years as one of Lincoln’s
most original club bands, Latin, jazz and hip
hop hybrid Kid Quarkstar plays its last concerts
this weekend at The Brass Rail, 1436 O St.
Appearing Friday and Saturday at 9 p.m.,
the band has different plans for both nights.
Reuniting former members, Friday’s “All Star
Blowout” will be a night of energy, reminis
cence and dance, said keyboardist Jesse Becker.
The same applies for the final show Saturday,
except only the group’s current members will
perform, and it may be a bit more sentimental.
“There is some nostalgia there, definitely,”
Becker said. “I’m not too emotionally caught
up in it. If I was, I’m over it, and want to have a
great couple of shows.”
While the band is reluctant to offer details
regarding specifics of the breakup, members
agree they will part amicably.
“We are all still best friends,” guitarist
James Valentine said. “We have nothing but
love and respect for each other.”
DIVIDE AND CONQUER
Facing the losses of trumpeter Nate Wallcott
to Lincoln’s newest national offering, Lullaby
for theWorkingOfass^-and vocalist Ruth Oda,
the group was at a crossroads concerning its
future. Wallcott will join Lullaby on its upcom
ing international tour, while Oda soon will be in
New York trying to make a break on Broadway.
With the departure of the two, some band
members felt it was time for Kid Quarkstar to
go supernova.
However, some members - including
Valentine, Becker and drummer/vocalist
Carson Young - ignored the growing pains and
wanted to continue with the project. The three
expressed dissatisfaction about the band’s dis
solution, but deeper reasons disrupted Kid
Quarkstar’s inertia some time ago, Young said.
While Young admits the varied avenues
explored by the group may have divided it, he
said the real cause was much less tangible.
“Kid Quarkstar was kind of driven by this
force that was beyond the human capacity for
understanding,” he said. “Along the way that
balance became unsettled, and we saw no other
alternative but to disband and discontinue this
project just so it was written and it was done.”
The composition of the band itself may have
caused its undoing.Young said while some
members wanted to continue with the Kid
Quarkstar project, others were ready to explore
different avenues.
The breakup, he said, was inevitable.
Kid Quarkstar is notorious for its eclectic
arfd continually evolving sound, ranging from a
lounge jazz groove to Latin-flavored hip-hop.
Young said the band’s varied sounds divided
the group into two camps: one focused on
instrumentally heavy jazz, the other on hip-hop
and acid jazz. However, band members never
had problems reconciling the different schools,
Young said. If at all, varied musical visions
played a minor role in the disbanding, he said.
The breakup comes on the heels of a sum
mer or heavy touring, which included several
shows in Colorado and California.
Spending weeks on end in a dilapidated van
could make a wreckage of any love story.
Becker said the summer tour was a pivotal
moment for the future of the group.
“There was a point early in the summer
when we had decided we fdfafdke
really strong push toward being successful or
just break up,” he said. “We tried to make that
the final push toward getting signed and mak
ing some money at it. It just wore on us.”
It seems although several members are
unhappy about the abbreviated future of Kid
Quarkstar, the reasons for the breakup remain
intentionally ambiguous and as individual as
each member of the band.
IN THE BEGINNING
It may have been the inherent individuality
of Kid Quarkstar members that propelled their
group so rapidly in local quarters.
Kid Quarkstar was forged from a passion
for jazz. Initially an after-school combo, the
Southeast High students moved from detention
hall to beer hall during Fall ’95 when they land
ed a nine-month gig at Club 1427, 1427 O St.
There, the band played every Thursday
night in front of a public audience. The experi
ence, Valentine said, was invaluable.
“(Club 1427) totally trained us,” he said. “It
was like a laboratory for compositions, and it
allowed us to develop and learn a lot.”
During the stint, Kid Quarkstar shifted
phases of musical expression and style, evolv
ing from lounge jazz to Latin-based grooves
and finally to hip-hop. Despite gliding through
a kaleidoscope of genres, Becker said the heart
of Kid Quarkstar’s sound was always in place.
“It’s black music,” he said. “Everything we
play is from an African-American influence and
we took an Afro-centric approach to it.”
The band’s education at Club 1427 during
the 1995-96 academic year provided it with a
sense of purpose and the foundation for further
growth, Valentine said.
“We went from sitting down and playing
background music to having a ‘listen to us’ atti
tude,” he said.
About the time Kid Quarkstar finished its
contract with the club, the band had evolved pri
marily into an acid jazz and hip-hop ensemble
and rapidly established a strong following
locally and in Lawrence, Kan., Becker said.
By this summer, the band settled into
many of its members and fans felt was a satisfy
ing groove.
Of course, others felt differently. Although
the summer tour met with limited success -
including a San Francisco show at the infamous
acid venue Elbow Room - record label repre
sentatives decided against signing the group
after seeing it perform in Los Angeles.
Back in Lincoln, band members hope Kid
Quarkstar is remembered for its contribution to
local music.
“I want people to feel like the show was the
best thing that happened to the Lincoln music
scene in a long time,” Becker said. “I hope peo
ple will be saying, ‘I am glad I was here to be a
part of that.’”
