ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, MARCH 7, 1986
By Steve Newton
A lot of Rank and File’s Vancouver fans were thrown for a loop when the Los Angeles-based band was booked for two nights at the Town Pump. They hadn’t expected to see the Kinman brothers and company in such close surroundings, especially since the last time they were in town they sold out the Commodore Ballroom.
“We haven’t been up there in while,” explains Tony, bass-playing brother to guitarist Chip Kinman. “We’ve played the Commodore twice and done real well, but right now we don’t have a record out. So we just decided to kinda like sneak into town and sneak back out again.”
At press time nearly all the tickets were sold for both Pump shows so it’s not likely that Rank and File will be able to get out of town without attracting a little attention. But it is understandable that–without a major label to back them up–the group has opted for smaller venues and better probability of sellouts. They’ve just split from Slash Records, where they enjoyed distribution by WEA Records.
Now it’s demo shopping time, and one thing prosepective labels may look positively toward is recognition by the Everly Brothers of the Rank and File song “Amanda Ruth”. Originally released on RAF’s 1982 Sundown album, it’s now the first single from the Everly’s new LP.
“We were just kinda thrilled,” says Tony, “because when we started singin’ together we always used the Everly Brothers as models.”
Over the years Chip and Tony Kinman mingled the rockabilly stylings of the Everly’s with strains of country and punk to achieve a sound sometimes labelled punkabilly or cowpunk. Today Tony just calls it “rock and roll music.”
“We’ve gotten pretty bored with the country thing recently, because everybody else started doing it too. It got to be so that every time you turned around there were all these other bands doing the same thing. So we decided just to pull that part of it back a little bit. There’s still some of it in our music, but not as much as there used to be.”
The Kinman brothers will be joined by guitarist Jeff Ross and drummer Bobby Kahr when they play Vancouver tonight and Saturday (March 7 & 8).
“We love it up there,” claims Tony. “We have a bunch of friends in Vancouver, and we always have a good time.”