Kimmy Gibbler brings a taste of ska and energy to Fargo-Moorhead
Surrounded by a sea of country and classic rock lovers, the Fargo-Moorhead area seems to be an island, giving more diverse acts a chance to flourish.
The island recently found room for Kimmy Gibbler and it’s brand of ska-punk.
Kimmy Gibbler brought ska, a dying genre of music, to life when they formed in spring 2005.
They then showed the genre could conquer others when they won last year’s Band Day competition at NDSU.
Kimmy Gibbler, which shares it’s name with a character from “Full House,” focuses on a ska-punk sound similar to Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Reel Big Fish and Five Iron Frenzy, though their influences are wide.
Like many ska bands, Kimmy Gibbler is a large band, consisting of MSUM music education senior Gavin Hetletved on vocals and guitar, NDSU economics sophomore Ron Storhaug and NDSU student John Dosch on trumpet, NDSU industrial engineering senior Mark Henning on saxophone, UND student Jeremy Manstrom on trombone and NDSU music education senior Mike Goodwin on drums.
Kimmy Gibbler said it tries to focus on style and energy to compensate for lack of strong material.
They said they often get complimented on their energy, which they said helped win the MSUM Battle of the Bands in Fall 2005.
The group claims members Manstrom and Dosch pull in a lot of younger people into their concerts.
“(Dosch) is also possibly our most attractive member,” Henning said.
The band’s emphasis on style and energy roots back to it’s origins when Hetletved and Dosch formed the band for a MSUM performance class, and it recruited members in January 2005 to perform a few songs for an audition to earn the credit.
“We put together two songs that we wrote then put together a medley of covers,” Hetletved said. “Then we played that, and it was awful.”
The band, however, stayed together after the audition was done while recruiting members to fill in needed positions.
Kimmy Gibbler performed their first show outside of MSUM at Billiards before it closed down.
Only two of the members could actually perform, but they played for a group of close friends that were very supportive, which Hetletved said was the best first show a band could ever want.
The band remained dormant over the summer before winning the MSUM Battle of the Bands in the fall and eventually winning NDSU’s Band Day competition the following spring.
Kimmy Gibbler has since played across Minnesota and North Dakota with venues ranging from bars to festivals.
The band enjoys performing at the Red Raven Expresso Parlor in Fargo.
“It’s really intimate and you’re up right against the guys because it’s packed ... not much more than 100 kids can fit in there,” Henning said.
When choosing songs to perform, Kimmy Gibbler plays a variety of original material and covers.
Hetletved said their original material consists of about 10 songs, and Kimmy Gibbler is rerecording almost all of them for their new album.
Mainly Hetletved and Henning conduct the writing process for the songs. Henning said it gets messy when the large band is involved.
The group then pulls out a large variety of covers with their ska-punk twist.
One of their most popular covers is “Walking on Sunshine,” which was originally done by Katrina and the Waves.
Hetletved said it’s their “main stay” cover and it energizes the crowd.
“It’s a lot of fun going to shows where it’s all the hardcore kids with the spiked hair,” Henning said. “Then all of the sudden, they get a smile on their faces and they start dancing ... it’s kind of weird.”
Other popular covers include ska-punk versions of “Take on Me” by A-Ha and “Crazy in Love” by Beyonce and Jay-Z.
Their new album, which they expect to release sometime this spring, will finally give fans a taste of this variety outside of Kimmy Gibbler’s shows.
People can check out samples of Kimmy Gibbler’s original music and their show dates at www.myspace.com/kimmygibblerska.
While Kimmy Gibbler’s future is uncertain as each of the members plan on pursuing their own careers after college, the members are putting strong effort into their newest CD release and seeing where things go from there.
While Kimmy Gibbler enjoys the ride, they hope their fans enjoy the shows until that ride ends.