Kirk Henry this weekend with three tracks recorded post-Christopher Milk between 1976 and 1977. All produced by Kirk Henry.
Since last week, and the discovery of the never-thought-existed tape featuring the very last performance of Christopher Milk as a group, I wondered what happened to the individual members of the band; where they spun off to, what they wound up doing.
Kirk, whom I’ve managed to stay in touch with, lo these many years, provided some insights and samples of what is a very active solo career on his part, one that has also included C. Milk alumnus as support. Although these were his sessions, and Kirk plays most of the instruments, the other band members tossed a few cents in here and there to complete the picture.
The other band members went off to other projects. John Mendelssohn formed The Pits, Mister Twister and Donnie formed Chainsaw, and because the band broke up on good terms, they worked on each others projects in various capacities and continued to collaborate over the years.
Not always the case with some bands, as well some of you probably know. Band breakups are much like a divorce – sometimes you wind up on speaking terms and actually become friends, while other times the notion of seeing, let along working with each other is a possibility, but not anywhere remotely during in this lifetime.
You could categorize Kirk’s music as solid, no-nonsense Pop. With liberal dollops of Beach Boys and certain aspects of Sunshine tossed in. It is tight, well-executed and immaculately produced – and even though Kirk has considered some of this material to be demos, the excellence of production and the overall strength of the songs themselves would not suggest “scratch tracks” or “works in progress”
It’s always nice to be able to unearth these gems and to make them available to an audience who has probably never heard them. It can make for new fans and it can remind old fans what the fuss was really all about.
Crank it up and enjoy.
