Bob Fossil

#6:

Bob Fossil
American Hippo - Northwest Music Scene

Lack of imagination does not seem to be an issue for Bellingham band Bob Fossil, whose second album, American Hippo (released May 1st, 2016), is bursting with inventive arrangements, seamless style-shifting, and an underlying ethos of excitement and playfulness. Fossil’s eclecticism seems endless (slow-reggae in “Footsteps”; psychedelic guitar echoes in “My Friend, Where Have You Gone?”; lounge-jazz, complete with muted trumpet and vocal scat, in “Think About It”), and the way the entire group is able to shift so effortlessly, often mid-song, makes for a thrilling listen. And though this level of variety could come across as disjointed, Hank Miller’s incredibly melodic basslines and the tangible excitement in Kenny Clarkson’s lead vocals are able to hold the songs together magnificently.

“Body & Soul” kicks off the album with funk at the forefront: palm-muted guitars, a Flea-like bounciness on bass, Clarkson switching between grit and soft falsetto, and a rap section to cap it all off. And just when you’ve gotten used to Bob Fossil in funk-mode, “Footsteps” breaks into the steel-drums and soft keyboard of reggae, and features a Mozartian waltz/rap section as well as an over-driven guitar section reminiscent of Car Seat Headrest. “Birds of a Feather” mixes a slow, sweet guitar line with saloon-style piano, followed by “Home”, which leads with an Irish-influenced acoustic guitar and leads into the slow-jazz of “Think About It”. The rest of the album continues to play around with funk (“Blood”), rap (“Decision Maker”), psychedelic (“My Friend, Where Have You Gone?”), and horn-filled pop (“Jewels”), trailing off beautifully with the more straightforwardly fun and funky “Modern Day Cartography.”

Lyrically, Clarkson often switches between a youthful sense of joy and anger with the world, a contrast shown vividly in the two repeating lines of the opener: “I got the body, but I need that soul” and “sobriety’s a vicious animal.” Track 10, “Jewels” is the major lyrical standout, featuring Clarkson musing idly about remaining strong in a world that he can’t be sure isn’t out to destroy him.

Though all of the instrumental contributions on this album are praiseworthy (particularly Corey Teply’s keyboard parts), the work of Russ Fish (Lead Recording Engineer, Mastering Engineer) and Erik Takuichi Wallace (Mixing Engineer) cannot be overlooked. They have done a marvelous job in pulling what could be an overloaded or cluttered album into a consistent and exciting sound.

All in all, American Hippo is an ambitious second album that thrives on a playful sense of adventure and Bob Fossil’s ability to fill every song to the brim with catchy, inventive melodies and structures. - Northwest Music Scene

Text by Halee Hastad

Photo by Sarah Van Houten

The recycling bin is filled to the brim with empty bottles of Corona. Bob Fossil reads a collection of white foam letter shapes in the front window of a grey-blue house. They are visible from the street, along with a shabby white picket fence and small shed, also grey-blue.

Bob Fossil, a Bellingham band and not the television character, practices in this shed – a space roughly 20 feet by 15. The carpet is beige and the ceilings, decorated with posters of The Smashing Pumpkins and The Pixies, are low.

One’s sense, standing in the small space with all six members of the band, is that they get saucy in here. Six jamming, slamming and rocking 20-something men in this space. One thought surfaces above all – sweat. And then passion, because it is evident that these guys are burning with it.

It is just after 1 o’clock on a Friday afternoon and three of the six members patiently await the other half in a living room that looks like it belongs to men in a pseudo-rock band. Gurgling from a coffee maker in the kitchen is audible as one of the tardy members enters the front door.

“Someone took out the recycling. Sweet,” he said. Then, “Oh, and someone is making coffee. Cool.”

Read my mind.

The full band is here at 1:30.

Bob Fossil is composed of Kenny Clarkson (front man), Alan Schellenberger (drums), Bobby Hall (vocals, percussion), Hank Miller (bass, vocals), Corey Teply (keyboard, shouting) and Joe Canfield (guitar).

A milky, peanut butter banana, peach mango potato smoothie is what they would be, they tell me after much debate on each member’s contributing ingredients. Immediately the realization occurs that this is a democratic band. They contemplate, they discuss and then they vote. And they do this before answering most questions. It makes sense, because how else would a band of their size function well without making sure everyone is on the same page, or at least part of the same chapter?

This sextet began making music in 2013 and just released their second full-length album, American Hippo, on May 1. The work was produced at Champion St. Sound Studios last February, over Valentine’s Day weekend, in a total of no more than 72 hours.

“It was like a marathon,” Alan remarked.

The 14-track album follows their self-titled piece as a reflection of the development of a character that is taking place as a metaphor for the group.

“The intention behind this second one is preservation of the self, or the image, that was created in the first album,” Kenny said, who is responsible with writing most of the band’s songs.

Transformation is relevant in both the characters of the band and their music. We are talking about a group of young men who are in the midst of discovering a little bit about a little thing called life, and their sound reflects that.

There is a surprise within many, if not all, of their songs. They like to keep the audience always guessing, always adjusting to change.

“We want our music to inspire people to get freaky,” Hank said. And although the others laugh – half-agreeing, half not – they all sense some truth in the statement.

Their sound is rock and roll meets pop meets funk and soul. Groovy, moody, and determined to get listeners moving.

Bob Fossil, inspired by cribbage, is a band worth listening to. This is due to their being a large band, with each member having different taste and style, and it is possible that this is also due to the closeness they have maintained within the group. The dog house turned practice space, the sandals with socks, the democratic process, empty bottles of Corona, coffee, a shabby white fence and the Styrofoam letters in the window – everything. - What's Up Magazine

Depending on what song you are listening to, or even parts of songs you are bound to be turned on to all sorts of different genres. The band combines elements of rock n’ roll, funk, blues and progressive styles of music to forge their sound. The 5-piece outfit has put out two albums to date, their first, an eponymous release, and a second album, American Hippo. The band has played all throughout the Pacific Northwest and West Coast and looks to continue sharing a meaningful human experience via music with people throughout the world.

As far as recommendations go, we’ll be disappointed if you do not buy American Hippo immediately. At the very least make sure you click on the audio player below. Cheers! - Northwest Music Scene

Known to be the gate keepers of funk in Bellingham, Bob Fossil has earned their stripes as one of the most hart hitting, soul slamming, tightly rehearsed music collectives in the area. The colligate funketeers are well renowned for shaking house show audiences with their fierce rhythmic ballads. Lead singer and guitarist Kenny Clarkson wields a red Fender Mustang guitar that he savagely strums while belching out the heart felt lyrics to Body & Soul the opening track off their newest album entitled American Hippo. All the members of the five-piece band are donning lengthy silk kimono shirts, each uniquely decorated with intricate colors and fabric patterns. Bob Fossil’s coordinated showy outfits along with their professional stage presence accentuated the already astounding performance. The audience moshes crazily, stomping so hard that the wooden floor of the palace begins to bounce along with the show goers. Large LED show lights blast vivid hues upon the band as they delve into hit after hip shaking hit. Audience members were so captivated by the musical talent, they forgot about the horrendous weather conditions that caused Bellingham natives to batten down their hatches and stock up on emergency provisions earlier that day. Bellingham Storm Watch 2016 was a night drenched with hard rocking riffs that poured down bone shaking ballads, even an expert meteorologist could never forecast an audible monsoon of that magnitude.

-Nate Kahn - What's Up Magazine

Bellingham based rockers Bob Fossil are ready to foss the entire Northwest of the US, and the rest of the world while they’re at it. Making noise in everywhere from people’s homes in northern Washington to bars in San Diego, vocalist Kenny Clarkson, bassist Hank Miller, guitarist Joe Canfield, pianist Corey Teply, and drummer Alan Schellenberger have been together for about 3 years. The quintet’s groovy guitar lines and spunky keyboard features are evocative of the rock’n’roll of the 70′s, a place where the band’s fashion sense may actually fit in. We talk about bouncing around in basements, what’s going on in the studio where their new album is being birthed, and paying the rent.



Electric Daze: Congrats on raising over $2,000 on your live stream for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society! Super cool that it was for such a good cause too. How’d you feel about doing it? Is it something you would like to do again?

Really awesome! The fact that people were actually interested was fun, and we think the cause did a lot of the work itself. We weren’t sure what the amount of money would look like or how attainable it was, but it happened. We’re going to work on making it an annual event. As time goes on we’ll get more of a viewer audience participation, so we’ll get to raise more money and help more people as a band. We would like to say thank you to all the people that tuned in and supported, it meant a lot to all of us

ED: I saw you guys played some covers in it. What’s your favorite cover to play live? How does the crowd react to it?

Africa by Toto is a crowd pleaser. 3 years ago when we started out, we would play 2 covers a show. Since then, we really don’t do it as much, other than when we wanna play 40sec of a cover here or there to throw people off their feet. We like to jam on a cover between songs to give ourselves a little break or while we’re tuning. We kinda use covers as a fake out. When we play Africa we play the chorus and it’s fun, and then all of a sudden we’ll throw them a curve ball and start one of our own songs. Next I think we’re gonna try a Limp Bizkit cover, that’d suit us. Corey remembers right before Sasquatch in 2014 when Outkast was headlining, we covered “Hey Ya!” and these white boys did a mighty fine job of covering it. The same can’t be said when we tried to cover “Thriller”, that was a disaster of catastrophic proportions. Thankfully everyone at the house show we were playing at was drunk beyond what the body should probably be able to withstand, so no one really talks about our attempt of “Thriller” much anymore.

ED: Since you guys are self-proclaimed “Fossil Rock”, what exactly does that mean to you as a genre?

The only reason we did that originally, was because we knew we were rock, and we knew that rocks were fossils. It also kind of symbolizes every influence we put in our music: old, and buried in dirt for hundreds of thousands of years then dug up for your enjoyment. We look at it as an organically-genetically-modified crossbreed of rock, funk, grunge, jazz, and whatever the hell the kids are listening to these days. Everyone in the band has different influences musically, which is really cool, and we all are able to incorporate the styles we most relate to individually to something that is a mixing pot full of all five of ours. Our goal is to churn the smoothest butter possible so your ears are pleased with every bite. Sometimes the butter is a little chunky, but once we work out the kinks in certain parts of jams we come up with, it turns to something that is probably worthy of spreading on your toast. We definitely hear different band names from different people, especially age groups, about who we sound like. They’ll be like “OH you guys remind me of _____” and it’ll be something different each time. “Fossil Rock” is a way to avoid the question of what genre are you, because fuck genres. One Kenny thought of recently was “emo grandpa core”. We have influences from the late 60’s to 70’s to early 80’s, but at the same time if we hadn’t listened to these indie and alt rock of the 90’s and early 2000’s, we wouldn’t be the same, at least vocally and lyrically.

ED: Have you ever as a band or personally, pursued or thought about pursuing a different genre of music?

We as a band have a few songs that are more math rock, which are fun to play, but we don’t spend as much time on those. We love what we’re doing. Alan plays bass in a folk rock band, and it’s nice for him to taste some other flavors. Joe plays sitar is a 60’s Indian cover band. Kenny was in a pop punk band in high school, before he ever listened to anything else. He was at that point where he was like “this is all I like, this is all I know, everything else sucks”, and he was 15. The years leading up to when we formed this band really gave him a growing period to open his mind up to playing more than 3 power chord rock music. Corey’s been told he should think about playing piano at the local Nordstroms, so that’s something to maybe consider in his future- but for now, he’ll stick to this.

ED: Being based in Bellingham and living in a college town, do you find there’s a big difference in demographic or vibes between playing a show in Bellingham vs. a show in Seattle? How does that affect your playing?

Bellingham has a really big underage venue and house show scene. House shows are always more wild and more fun. Under age kids just love to get wasted and bounce around in a sweaty packed room, they feel comfortable dancing crazily. People will go to any show in Bellingham, even if they don’t know the band playing. You don’t need to convince a 19 year old to go to a show, they just go. When we first came to Bellingham, 5 years ago, the scene was considerably smaller. We were freshmen going to house shows and there were certain bands that we would go see multiple times, but it’s definitely the biggest it’s ever been right now, besides maybe in the 90’s. These days, every single house show is packed. It’s really cool though, this scene is something that the people who are a part of it will remember for the rest of their lives. But, a show in Seattle has a much for professional aura to it, maybe that might be due to us looking at is as going to the big city and playing a show that has higher stakes to it. At the end of the day, a show is a show, and we’re going to have a good time regardless and treat each as important as any other.

ED: With your latest tour in August, did you see a variation in the music scenes between each city?

It really depends on the demographic of the crowd vs. where we are. Older crowds tolerate and appreciate jamming a bit more. 20 year olds may not appreciate that as much. We try to be in a happy middle, and be a rock band that can jam. City to city, it’s more about who we can get out to our shows. Right now, we do a lot of asking our friends in that city to come out, rather than making a post on social media and having fans come out. But whether it’s 1 person (which did happen to us, we played a show in Olympia that ended up being us, the other band playing, and a guy named Cory. We bought him a tequila shot) or 1,000 people, we try to play our best and make an impact.

ED: What was your favorite show out of that tour?

Actually, Alan got us a really sweet gig in Los Angeles at a smoothie shop. It called itself a cafe, and if you look at photos of the live music there, it looks like there’s some sort of stage and/or corner of a reasonable size. That wasn’t true. It was like if you took a Jamba Juice, and cut it in half. So with that situation, we did have to say “Oh, okay, let’s play music in a way we don’t normally, in a way we don’t practice. Use less of your drum kit, turn your amps down, and get drunk (optional).” But our favorite show was probably in San Francisco at the Boom Boom Room. Hank and Alan are both from there, so they got to see a lot of their family and friends. We played top notch that night and ended up jamming past closing for the owner and manager. It was really special to Alan because all these people who took care of him when he was young got to watch him play the drums and scream at them. Although we don’t give Alan a microphone, he quite enjoys screaming his lungs out to the lyrics.

ED: Do you have any crazy fun stories from tour?

One of the funniest stories was when we were in Oregon, we had two shows in Portland with a day off in between. We decided it would be really smart to not book any places to stay in advance for this tour, we’re gonna camp, we’re gonna crash at houses, and it’s going to be totally fine to go to Cannon Beach in August and find camping. Every campsite in a ten mile radius was full, and we had no cell service. So we end up camping east of Cannon Beach, not in a camp site, on a turnout on the side of the road in the middle of the woods. We have the trailer with the gear, the SUV, and the Kia Soul. We created a buffer with our vehicles around where we slept on the gravel, so if a car did come off the road, it would hit one of the cars first, maybe saving us some damage to our bodies. We woke up several times to this unearthly sound, which turned out to be cars going around the corner at 30 miles an hour which was just terrifying. It was a beautiful area though.

On your website, there’s these really awesome band member bios. If you made one for the entire band, what would it say?

Our friend Mitch who made our website wrote those actually! Let’s call him and get his nice Mitch diction, so it’s authentic.

Mitch: If I was going to describe Bob Fossil, the word fucking comes along. The photo of all five of you on the forest floor with the wood string going across is the connection of the life, beauty, and emotion in your music. The face paint on Hank is the inspiration for his peers for the music that they create. How Allen has a slight grin and Corey has a big open smile, but Hank and Kenny are serious, show that some people find joy while others find subdued excitement. - Electric Daze Magazine

Grunge funk. Complex party music. Melodic Porn Rock.

These are some of the names the members of Bob Fossil have heard their band’s genre described as. They themselves metaphorically refer to themselves as “fossil rock,” nicknamed after their band title, lead singer and guitarist Kenny Clarkson said.

The six members of Bob Fossil, which is named after a character from the British television show “The Mighty Boosh,” have been busy establishing themselves within the music scene in Bellingham, Kenny said. They started from playing mainly house shows to performing in busy venues such as Wild Buffalo and Shakedown, Kenny said.

Bob Fossil has a tour planned for spring break, starting with a house show in Bellingham on March 18. From there they plan on traveling to Seattle, Eugene, Olympia and Portland with the hopes of playing up to eight shows total.

Bob Fossil members also plan on embarking on another tour over the summer with plans of heading to Los Angeles and possibly Texas, Kenny said.

Bob Fossil’s self-titled album is available to listen to on the Bandcamp website, as well as their website, www.bobfossilmusic.com.

Kenny and bass player Hank Miller met through the admitted students Facebook page before the start of their freshman year. This is how they discovered their shared love of music and decided to become roommates. After deciding to start a band after arriving at Western, Kenny and Hank met their soon-to-be bandmates Joe Canfield and Bobby Hall while playing on the campus tennis courts. Bob Fossil was formed soon after.

What/Who has been your biggest musical influence?
Hank Miller: His high school band teacher and Vulfpeck, an instrumental funk band
Joe Canfield: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who and Frank Zappa
Corey Teply: Led Zeppelin, because they do it all
Kenny Clarkson: Classical music, bluegrass, grunge, punk, rock n’ roll
Alan Schellenberger: His dad, who would always play a wide variety of records while he was growing up which exposed him to a lot of different music genres
Bobby Hall: Folk music, Built to Spill and Modest Mouse
Kenny, a senior and journalism major, is originally from Maryland and said he chose Western as his university because of its location and proximity to the music scene on the west coast.

Kenny said the band’s most unique experience was playing a show at Glow nightclub with a bluegrass band, a folk duo and a rap group. He said although playing in bigger venues like that is fun, he still enjoys playing house shows just as much.

“I love all those guys and I know all those guys love me and we love playing music together because we create something that, at the end of the day, we like,” Kenny said. “It’s beautiful to watch other people like it too, but the fact that we’re having so much fun is nice in itself.”

Drummer Alan Schellenberger, a junior at Western, joined Bob Fossil as the new drummer in October 2015. Originally from Livermore, California, he decided on Western after his friend went and liked what he saw in Washington. He began playing the drums at the age of nine and at ten was part of his school’s band. After playing music with a friend last summer, he was introduced to Hank, who quickly recruited him to Bob Fossil.

Alan said the collaborative nature of the band is what he enjoys most, using the analogy of the songs Kenny presents the band with being like a mannequin and the other band members are there to help dress it.

“The way that I feel about a band is it’s a friendship that’s expressed in a very unique way,” he said. “It’s just expressing your friendship without words.”

Senior Joe Canfield, who plays guitar and does backup vocals for Bob Fossil, is minoring in audio technology at Fairhaven and said he also acts as the band’s mixing engineer for their upcoming record. Joe started playing guitar around the age of 12 and said he played in his high school’s jazz band where he took an interest in playing blues guitar.

“What I really like about this band is the music is so inspired; it has feeling in it and it has soul,” Joe said. “Because I live with all the other band members we all have a connection together and I think we all feel the same thing.”

Hank, a senior at Western, has been involved with music for the past 12 years and started out playing the trombone. After listening to his mom’s classic rock records, including The Beatles and Led Zeppelin, he developed a passion for the guitar which later transitioned into a love for the bass after starting to play in his junior year of high school.

Bob Fossil Tour Dates
March 15- Wild Buffalo, Bellingham
March 18- House Show, Bellingham (They can’t give out the address because of the risk of police)
March 20- House Show, Olympia
March 21- Central Saloon, Seattle
March 22- Alberta Street Pub, Portland OR
March 23- Old Nick’s Pub, Eugene OR
March 25- Brewstation, Eugene OR
Kenny Clarkson, lead singer of Bob Fossil Band, belts out a song during a practice session on March 2. // Photo by Daniel Liddicoet
Kenny Clarkson, lead singer of Bob Fossil Band, belts out a song during a practice session on March 2. // Photo by Daniel Liddicoet
Hank loves seeing what six different people add to a song, he said. “It’s not just one person’s ideas, it’s a collective,” Hank said.

Senior Bobby Hall’s role in the band is diverse, including playing the synthesizer, using vocals and occasionally playing the tambourine. He said he began by playing bass when he was 16 and eventually moved into playing the synthesizer for Bob Fossil. After experimenting with poetry during his sophomore year, he and the band began incorporating the poetry into their songs.

“When we come together and we’re on that level where no one’s thinking and it’s all very instinctual and the energy is just there, it almost makes me want to cry sometimes because it’s so emotional,” Bobby said.

Senior Corey Teply plays the keyboard for Bob Fossil. He said after stopping playing the piano after the fifth grade, he only started back up again after being bored at home after an injury during soccer. Corey was in another band with Joe and Bobby in high school in Olympia, and after they all started at Western Corey would occasionally play with Bob Fossil until Kenny approached him one night after a show and told him he was going to be in the band.

“It’s a family, we all get along really well,” Corey said. “One thing is the music and how we mesh there, but at the same time it’s how we get along as friends. It’s definitely the best part of Bob Fossil.” - The Western Front

Funk, grunge, swing, booty shakin’ rock ‘n’ roll – the Bob Fossil debut self-titled album has it all. Bob Fossil’s music is a party. It’s awesome because they rock, and this self-titled 11-track album deals out a tremendous amount of excellence. It’s high energy, with killer jams and good vibes, plus the sound is sweet and the songs are polished. There’s some excellent production bringing together all the parts captured from the seven-piece Bellingham band.

The first track off the album, “Carlos Danger,” starts slow with the harmonica then dips into a nitty gritty groove, like one of those old funky Pink Floyd songs. Lead vocalist Kelly Clarkson shows us what he’s got, and he has definitely got the goods. He is singing all over the place, from the gut, hittin’ the high notes, bringing it down and letting out the roar. Sounds great, and he has got some serious ‘tude, an ability which lets Bob Fossil traverse many different styles. That, and the fact that Corey Teply is a righteous keys player and his skills take jams to a higher level. On the second track, “Going Going Gone,” the guitars and keys start playing together and that groove is so good it could last forever.

“Confusement” is breaking genre boundaries and shows off the original sound that Bob Fossil has now honed; it’s funky, slap bass, sliding guitars, ambient keys, solid beat, and then BOOM – the dude starts rappin’. It sounds pretty legit, he has got some rhymes and the lyrics get at some realness.

The next track, “Breathe,” has a ska-grunge sound to and rocks pretty hard. “Reincarnation” is a trip – a more laid back and psychedelic bluesy tune with great piano and some nice vocal harmonies.

The final track of the album, “Bradbury’s Bad Dream,” is like an epic rock ballad and just sounds like a great time. It picks up quick and charges on punk-ska style and then there is just total shreddery at the end of it as it fades out. Bob Fossil has banjos, kazoos, trumpets, meaty guitars, funky bass, and loud drums. The cuts they released on this self-titled debut album are ripe for rockin’ so if you’re down with some local musical goodness I’d say check out Bob Fossil.

-Mark Broyles - What's Up Magazine

Larrabee State Park’s gargantuan concrete theater is situated at the base of a grassy hill. The stage is lined with a professionally assembled sound system, monitors, mixers and all. As groups of young festival goers start entering the event, laying down picnic blankets and setting up camping chairs, the once quiet park area transforms into a lively gathering of eager music lovers. Dixon and Alexander gave character to event by establishing quaint festivities. From a ‘make your own tye-dye’ workshop, to a roped off security regulated beer garden, the ORGNTRS team (Alex Dixon and Max Alexander) gave a lively heartbeat to a simple a stage in a regular park. With local artisan food stand Buenos ‘Dillas Queseadillas catering the masses, the ever increasing crowd was enthused with what Dixon and Alexander worked to organize.

Local rock power group Bob Fossil, started their set in full funk flagrance. The band, comprised of Western students, is gaining a reputation around Bellingham for rocking house shows and cranking out high quality recorded music. Their most recent release was a 14 track album entitled American Hippo, which debuted in May. Fronting the band, guitarist and vocalist Kenney Clarkson, bellows out the heartfelt lyrics to the band’s emotional anthem “Vanity.” The group maintained high-energy grooves with incredibly well rehearsed synchronicity. As members of the audience stood up and shook their hips to the Fossil rock, lead guitarist Joe Canfield reciprocated by head banging his long curly hair while ripping high intensity solos on his instrument.

-Nate Kahn - What's Up Magazine