walker kong

Walker Kong was formed in the the spring of 1998 when Jeremy Ackerman called upon four musically untrained female friends to help perform a collection of simple pop songs he had written over the course of a long, hot New Mexico summer. Sounding like a cross between the Modern Lovers, Elvis Costello and the Shaggs, the band began a strange assent through the ranks of a Minneapolis music scene. During these early years there was a vital music community in the Twin Cities that shared a sense of purpose and encouraged many styles of music to coexist on the same stage. Minneapolis based groups of the time such as Smattering, Lifter Puller, Triangle, the Selby Tigers and Florida were all friends and inspirations to WK as they progressed into a more refined ensemble. The group quickly advanced through a series of electric live shows while putting out two well received ep's on their collective label "Smoke+Mirrors." These ep's signaled a turning point in the groups sound as they began to add an increasing number of members that helped the Walker Kong style to evolve. Bands like the Talking Heads, the Go-Betweens and Magnetic Fields became a source of inspiration during these growing years.
In 2000 Walker Kong hooked up with Portland based pop label "Magic Marker Records" and have since released two critically admired full length albums. Much to everybodies amazement, WK has just finished work on their latest full length which finds the group making ammends between their raw, high energy live show and their pursuit for produced/orchestrated studio recordings. The current album should be available by fall '06.