KooKooNauts retire amid ‘boot party’ allegations and satirical site - By N.L. Belardes
There were two KooKooNauts bands in Bakersfield recently. But now there’s only one: the KooKooNots. Upon request, they’re even going to play a live show April 7th at the Boiler Room. Yes, those are two different spellings as the KooKooNots band is a dark satire of the original KooKooNauts. Why a dark satire of the original KooKooNauts? Straight and simple: there’s bad blood between rival groups of kids in town. One group claims derogatory messages were sent out about their band, while the other claims their rivals have egos and big mouths, so they thought a fun satire was in order.
The KooKooNots - satire in rural rock punk
Jordan, frontman for the newly formed KooKooNots recently wrote: “The KooKooNauts have a serious ego problem. We don’t tend to bash on other bands, because everyone has to start somewhere, and it’s all about getting along and just having fun with your music. But when a band like the KooKooNauts comes along and makes the biggest deal out of themselves and thinks they’re Operation Ivy, and has a big mouth when it comes to degrading other local bands, they kind of have it coming that someone will come along and mock them. It happens every day all around the world, and as Panic at the Disco says, "if you talk, you better walk, you better back your shit up." If you're gonna have an ego, you better be prepared for people to challenge you.”
And that’s just what happened when the KooKooNots recently formed a satirical band to cause a fun stir in the local music scene.
Rivalries are normal. There have been rivalries between local Bakersfield bands for years for a wide number of reasons. Some people just don’t like each other. Some are friends who have had fallings out, and some rivalries get personal (I can’t repeat THAT gossip). With such rivalries comes bantering and sometimes even satire. This is America, the land of free expression, and that includes poking fun. Heck, I do it. The KooKooNots have poked fun using the tool myspace.com in a creative manner that has kids talking, mud slinging, and even talk on local KRAB radio.
But do rivalries go too far? I don’t have evidence of the KooKooNauts having big mouths. Maybe they do, maybe they don’t. But who is to say there isn’t bad blood and trash-talking between both bands? Trash-talking is harmless as long as people are adults about it. Political figures do it all the time then shake hands at gala dinners. I talk trash on Bobblehead on Condors, especially with the much-hated Vegas Wrangler site and Falcon Blog. In the end, we just shake hands. I took a hockey stick to the head the other night in a hockey game. It was a blatant hit. I was pissed off for a while, but then the instigator and I laughed it off. It’s hockey. We trash-talked.
Although Ray Harwood admits a certain level of paranoia after the recent attack on his son Bryan (lead singer of the now defunct KooKooNauts). He believes poking fun has possibly gone too far, saying messages claiming to be the original KooKooNauts may have went out into the public… He wanted images of the KooKooNauts taken off the new KooKooNots website after being informed by the Bakersfield Police Department that such images could be damaging to potential people other than the KooKooNots who might try to cause some form of harm to band members. “Although there are pictures of the KooKooNauts all over the Web, the police felt it was a myspace.com related problem, so myspace.com pictures should come down to protect the band members,” Ray said.
Protect the KooKooNauts from what?
The KooKooNauts are a group of Bakersfield area kids who perform hardcore punk tunes (They have a song called Birds of Prey on the Growing Up Fighting CD) and actually disbanded this past weekend amid allegations of a possible ‘boot party’ attack. The KooKooNauts blame the satirical site for possibly inciting behavior that might cause an attack on Bryan of the KooKooNauts. And so, yes, the KooKooNauts recently decided to trade in their guitars and drumsticks for fishing poles. Oh yes, gone fishin’ because of a possible boot attack. Harwood claimed that the Bakersfield Police indicated that as a parent he needed to make a choice to keep his kid safe by keeping him away from downtown. “No one wants to be kicked to death,” Ray said.
Harwood indicated further in a telephone interview, “All of the KooKooNauts thought the new website was hilarious, but then after being tipped off Friday night, we had to try to get the KooKooNauts photos off both the original and the fake websites.” Why? Eight police officers arrived at the Harwood residence to find a bloodied and black-eyed Bryan who they interviewed, but who may not have told the entire story. Ray indicated that someone at Jerry’s Pizza was overheard interviewing people about a ‘boot party’ attack, which in simple terms means a group of people kicking someone to death. Did Bryan know more?
I don’t know. I didn’t speak with Bryan.
But that doesn’t mean Bryan is innocent of not being part of a rivalry. There’s obvious bad blood between the two KooKooNauts bands. And I have yet to see evidence that the KooKooNots coordinated a possible attack through a myspace.com hate campaign. No evidence of KooKooNauts bad-mouthing, no evidence of KooKooNots hate campaign, but plenty of evidence of a bad blood rivalry that’s every bit as tough as the Falcons against the Condors.
When I recently received emails from the original KooKooNauts claiming there was an imposter band, a group of evildoers out to not only mock the original band, but to pose as them, and possibly send out hateful messages to punk gangs that might spark another attack on Bryan of the KooKooNauts, I had to sit and think: do satires indicate evil-doing? No. Satires are fun and funny and we laugh at them all the time. Sometimes satires get vicious. But in no way does that mean a satire is meant to cause death to those being made fun of.
Are the original KooKooNauts so hated that I can even suggest on this website that the KooKooNots wanted them dead? Or is this just a case of bad blood turned myspace.com trash talk? I delved a little deeper and asked that very question of the KooKooNots and discovered not only that there was bad blood, but that two of the KooKooNots had stints in the original KooKooNauts band. Those stints led to sour feelings and a mutual dislike because of not just egos, but from animosity due to borrowed equipment and possible bad-mouthing of rival bands.
Let it be known I am not lending either KooKoo band my rusty banjo… And although I am poking fun, I can’t help but think about the rival hockey blogs and the fun that the Dorktown guys and I have regarding hockey trash talk.
What you’re going to read goes a little beyond trash talk, as the bad blood KooKoo feud comes to light in a group of kids who went so far as to put together a satirical band that has practiced three times. Here’s what Jordan from the new KooKoo band had to say:
“Jeff has known the members of the KooKooNauts since they were MIA and then Urban Regression, and Brad was their original drummer. He actually came up with the name KooKooNauts when he saw it on a board game at Bryan's house. Devery has known them for a while from school and music in general. I went to an Urban Regression show back in the day and actually thought it was pretty cool. I’ve since become really good friends with their old singer, Doug.
“One day, my good friend Jon Tanaka, who was then drumming for Skullgrinder (Kurt from the KooKooNauts is in Skullgrinder) for the sole purpose of being able to borrow their equipment, asked if it would be OK if Kurt borrowed my bass equipment. I consented on the condition that Kurt return my equipment, mainly my bass, in its current immaculate condition. Upon its return, my treasured no longer in production lava swirl aluminum-finish $1200 Revered Rumblefish 4 bass had a myriad of scratches on the back from Kurt’s collection of gigantic gaudy spiked belt buckles and bracelets and such, not to mention the once shiny pickguard was now marred with scratches from his pick. In addition, I had to replace the strings because he dyed his hair pink or some other color before practice, and the stuff stained his hands and got all over the pickguard and practically turned my round wound strings into flatwounds with all the shit that flaked off of his fingers. Can you tell I'm a little bitter? Anyways, that’s how I know the KooKooNauts; and I just know of them from all the attention they go so far out of the way to draw to themselves.
“Jeff was pretty cool with the guys when they were in Urban Regression. The main thing that caused the bad blood between he and them is that while they were in Urban Regression, his band Blue Collar Resistance played shows with them. And when they did, Bryan always asked to use his guitar stuff. Seeing as he was lending him expensive equipment when he could have easily declined, he was shocked to hear that Bryan was still talking shit about BCR. Plus, the two brothers drove his friends Jeff and Kevin to quit MIA, so he always had a kind of biased view toward their personalities. Brad’s main falling out with them occurred when they kicked him out of the KooKooNauts, although he now looks back on the occurrence with relief. Jordan’s falling out is pretty effectively described above, and Devery just thought it would be fun and funny to make the KooKooNots, having also one been in the KooKooNauts for a very brief amount of time.”
Jeff also indicated that Brad had seen a post on the KooKooNauts website that indicated no amount of trash talk could ever break up their band. He took that as a fun challenge for a mock-band not to break the KooKooNauts up, but to have fun with people he thought had egos...
Bad blood, yes. Murderous? I highly doubt if that’s the case. No one wants to go to prison. It seems the old KooKooNauts have bowed out amid a flurry of harsh words. I asked Jordan if they were trying to stop the KooKooNauts in any way. “We aren’t trying to stop them from making music, they have every right to do whatever they want. We don’t want to even discourage them from making music. Lots of local bands aren’t that great, but as long as you're in it for the good time, it really doesn’t matter if you suck. What we would like to discourage, however, is their attitude. On that note, they have a very different outlook on trying to stop us; they called the police (supposedly, it’s not like the police care about stupid shit like this), but even sadder was the fact that they contacted school authorities on an issue so entire non-school related. The Dean told us the same thing: it is definitely not a school issue. Even worse was the fact that they completely fabricated a story about us "sending them death threats," and supposedly conspiring against them with other bands or some nonsense. None of us got in trouble. The dean said he was obligated to contact our parents because they called (which he still hasn’t done) but our parents don’t care. They actually think it’s funny. We had a fun chat with the dean about ‘talking your way out of speeding tickets’ while he ate his sushi. We said our goodbyes and went back to class.”
As for the KooKooNauts retiring. I don’t think they should. I think they should still make music. In fact, I think both bands should appear on Growing Up Fighting: Bakersfield Hockey Vol. 2.
Sounds like a perfect pairing to me.
(Images coming soon! And don't forget to add both bands on myspace: KooKooNots/KooKooNauts)
The KooKooNots - satire in rural rock punk
Jordan, frontman for the newly formed KooKooNots recently wrote: “The KooKooNauts have a serious ego problem. We don’t tend to bash on other bands, because everyone has to start somewhere, and it’s all about getting along and just having fun with your music. But when a band like the KooKooNauts comes along and makes the biggest deal out of themselves and thinks they’re Operation Ivy, and has a big mouth when it comes to degrading other local bands, they kind of have it coming that someone will come along and mock them. It happens every day all around the world, and as Panic at the Disco says, "if you talk, you better walk, you better back your shit up." If you're gonna have an ego, you better be prepared for people to challenge you.”
And that’s just what happened when the KooKooNots recently formed a satirical band to cause a fun stir in the local music scene.
Rivalries are normal. There have been rivalries between local Bakersfield bands for years for a wide number of reasons. Some people just don’t like each other. Some are friends who have had fallings out, and some rivalries get personal (I can’t repeat THAT gossip). With such rivalries comes bantering and sometimes even satire. This is America, the land of free expression, and that includes poking fun. Heck, I do it. The KooKooNots have poked fun using the tool myspace.com in a creative manner that has kids talking, mud slinging, and even talk on local KRAB radio.
But do rivalries go too far? I don’t have evidence of the KooKooNauts having big mouths. Maybe they do, maybe they don’t. But who is to say there isn’t bad blood and trash-talking between both bands? Trash-talking is harmless as long as people are adults about it. Political figures do it all the time then shake hands at gala dinners. I talk trash on Bobblehead on Condors, especially with the much-hated Vegas Wrangler site and Falcon Blog. In the end, we just shake hands. I took a hockey stick to the head the other night in a hockey game. It was a blatant hit. I was pissed off for a while, but then the instigator and I laughed it off. It’s hockey. We trash-talked.
Although Ray Harwood admits a certain level of paranoia after the recent attack on his son Bryan (lead singer of the now defunct KooKooNauts). He believes poking fun has possibly gone too far, saying messages claiming to be the original KooKooNauts may have went out into the public… He wanted images of the KooKooNauts taken off the new KooKooNots website after being informed by the Bakersfield Police Department that such images could be damaging to potential people other than the KooKooNots who might try to cause some form of harm to band members. “Although there are pictures of the KooKooNauts all over the Web, the police felt it was a myspace.com related problem, so myspace.com pictures should come down to protect the band members,” Ray said.
Protect the KooKooNauts from what?
The KooKooNauts are a group of Bakersfield area kids who perform hardcore punk tunes (They have a song called Birds of Prey on the Growing Up Fighting CD) and actually disbanded this past weekend amid allegations of a possible ‘boot party’ attack. The KooKooNauts blame the satirical site for possibly inciting behavior that might cause an attack on Bryan of the KooKooNauts. And so, yes, the KooKooNauts recently decided to trade in their guitars and drumsticks for fishing poles. Oh yes, gone fishin’ because of a possible boot attack. Harwood claimed that the Bakersfield Police indicated that as a parent he needed to make a choice to keep his kid safe by keeping him away from downtown. “No one wants to be kicked to death,” Ray said.
Harwood indicated further in a telephone interview, “All of the KooKooNauts thought the new website was hilarious, but then after being tipped off Friday night, we had to try to get the KooKooNauts photos off both the original and the fake websites.” Why? Eight police officers arrived at the Harwood residence to find a bloodied and black-eyed Bryan who they interviewed, but who may not have told the entire story. Ray indicated that someone at Jerry’s Pizza was overheard interviewing people about a ‘boot party’ attack, which in simple terms means a group of people kicking someone to death. Did Bryan know more?
I don’t know. I didn’t speak with Bryan.
But that doesn’t mean Bryan is innocent of not being part of a rivalry. There’s obvious bad blood between the two KooKooNauts bands. And I have yet to see evidence that the KooKooNots coordinated a possible attack through a myspace.com hate campaign. No evidence of KooKooNauts bad-mouthing, no evidence of KooKooNots hate campaign, but plenty of evidence of a bad blood rivalry that’s every bit as tough as the Falcons against the Condors.
When I recently received emails from the original KooKooNauts claiming there was an imposter band, a group of evildoers out to not only mock the original band, but to pose as them, and possibly send out hateful messages to punk gangs that might spark another attack on Bryan of the KooKooNauts, I had to sit and think: do satires indicate evil-doing? No. Satires are fun and funny and we laugh at them all the time. Sometimes satires get vicious. But in no way does that mean a satire is meant to cause death to those being made fun of.
Are the original KooKooNauts so hated that I can even suggest on this website that the KooKooNots wanted them dead? Or is this just a case of bad blood turned myspace.com trash talk? I delved a little deeper and asked that very question of the KooKooNots and discovered not only that there was bad blood, but that two of the KooKooNots had stints in the original KooKooNauts band. Those stints led to sour feelings and a mutual dislike because of not just egos, but from animosity due to borrowed equipment and possible bad-mouthing of rival bands.
Let it be known I am not lending either KooKoo band my rusty banjo… And although I am poking fun, I can’t help but think about the rival hockey blogs and the fun that the Dorktown guys and I have regarding hockey trash talk.
What you’re going to read goes a little beyond trash talk, as the bad blood KooKoo feud comes to light in a group of kids who went so far as to put together a satirical band that has practiced three times. Here’s what Jordan from the new KooKoo band had to say:
“Jeff has known the members of the KooKooNauts since they were MIA and then Urban Regression, and Brad was their original drummer. He actually came up with the name KooKooNauts when he saw it on a board game at Bryan's house. Devery has known them for a while from school and music in general. I went to an Urban Regression show back in the day and actually thought it was pretty cool. I’ve since become really good friends with their old singer, Doug.
“One day, my good friend Jon Tanaka, who was then drumming for Skullgrinder (Kurt from the KooKooNauts is in Skullgrinder) for the sole purpose of being able to borrow their equipment, asked if it would be OK if Kurt borrowed my bass equipment. I consented on the condition that Kurt return my equipment, mainly my bass, in its current immaculate condition. Upon its return, my treasured no longer in production lava swirl aluminum-finish $1200 Revered Rumblefish 4 bass had a myriad of scratches on the back from Kurt’s collection of gigantic gaudy spiked belt buckles and bracelets and such, not to mention the once shiny pickguard was now marred with scratches from his pick. In addition, I had to replace the strings because he dyed his hair pink or some other color before practice, and the stuff stained his hands and got all over the pickguard and practically turned my round wound strings into flatwounds with all the shit that flaked off of his fingers. Can you tell I'm a little bitter? Anyways, that’s how I know the KooKooNauts; and I just know of them from all the attention they go so far out of the way to draw to themselves.
“Jeff was pretty cool with the guys when they were in Urban Regression. The main thing that caused the bad blood between he and them is that while they were in Urban Regression, his band Blue Collar Resistance played shows with them. And when they did, Bryan always asked to use his guitar stuff. Seeing as he was lending him expensive equipment when he could have easily declined, he was shocked to hear that Bryan was still talking shit about BCR. Plus, the two brothers drove his friends Jeff and Kevin to quit MIA, so he always had a kind of biased view toward their personalities. Brad’s main falling out with them occurred when they kicked him out of the KooKooNauts, although he now looks back on the occurrence with relief. Jordan’s falling out is pretty effectively described above, and Devery just thought it would be fun and funny to make the KooKooNots, having also one been in the KooKooNauts for a very brief amount of time.”
Jeff also indicated that Brad had seen a post on the KooKooNauts website that indicated no amount of trash talk could ever break up their band. He took that as a fun challenge for a mock-band not to break the KooKooNauts up, but to have fun with people he thought had egos...
Bad blood, yes. Murderous? I highly doubt if that’s the case. No one wants to go to prison. It seems the old KooKooNauts have bowed out amid a flurry of harsh words. I asked Jordan if they were trying to stop the KooKooNauts in any way. “We aren’t trying to stop them from making music, they have every right to do whatever they want. We don’t want to even discourage them from making music. Lots of local bands aren’t that great, but as long as you're in it for the good time, it really doesn’t matter if you suck. What we would like to discourage, however, is their attitude. On that note, they have a very different outlook on trying to stop us; they called the police (supposedly, it’s not like the police care about stupid shit like this), but even sadder was the fact that they contacted school authorities on an issue so entire non-school related. The Dean told us the same thing: it is definitely not a school issue. Even worse was the fact that they completely fabricated a story about us "sending them death threats," and supposedly conspiring against them with other bands or some nonsense. None of us got in trouble. The dean said he was obligated to contact our parents because they called (which he still hasn’t done) but our parents don’t care. They actually think it’s funny. We had a fun chat with the dean about ‘talking your way out of speeding tickets’ while he ate his sushi. We said our goodbyes and went back to class.”
As for the KooKooNauts retiring. I don’t think they should. I think they should still make music. In fact, I think both bands should appear on Growing Up Fighting: Bakersfield Hockey Vol. 2.
Sounds like a perfect pairing to me.
(Images coming soon! And don't forget to add both bands on myspace: KooKooNots/KooKooNauts)
This entry was posted by N.L. Belardes, on
Wednesday, March 15, 2006.
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Brilliant journalism, thanks again NL for the coverage.
interesting story there. nice to know that so much teenage dramarama still exists. lol. i know there's still gotta be more story there that you have to dig for...
Very interesting story! Such drama in the music scene... can't we all just get along? I agree, there's definitely more to this story than has been revealed so far...
Nice piece of writing NL.
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