Biography
Boy + Kite (“boy plus kite”) was formed in 2009 in an unlikely place - a hot tub. Back then, Boy + Kite’s Darvin Jones and Beth Puorro would often sneak into a spa on the outskirts of Austin to swim and pretend to be members of the bourgeoisie. While lounging in bathrobes and discussing band break-ups, Jones and Puorro realized a mutual connection that would eventually lead to the creation of Go Fly, Boy + Kite’s debut album. Though the pair initially bonded over shared musical interests, they still considered themselves polar opposites, with Jones’s heart based in experimental sounds (B. Fleischman, Ms. John Soda) and Puorro’s leaning towards pop (The Cure, The Pixies). In Boy + Kite, they take advantage of this difference, with lyrics, vocals and melodies developed from the unique combination of Jones and Puorro’s individual viewpoints.
According to Jones, this duality is at the core of the band. “We aren’t trying to tell just one story,” he explains. “We combine our writing, then we cut it up and put it back together to make a new story altogether.” A Go Fly standout track “Alone With A Microphone” was created this way. “We wrote the lyrics independently and then combined them without trying to make it work. We’ve found that the themes will often mesh without having to think about it. It just happens.” Jones continues, “The most important aspect of music for me is to be honest. My inspiration is focused in writing from my gut, not from my head and with Go Fly, we wanted to make a perfect summer soundtrack.”
And like so many summers, the album is full of dynamic energy, but isn’t without its honest, bittersweet and raw qualities. “The one theme that runs throughout every song on the album is that of relationships,” Jones reveals. “And not necessarily girl-boy relationships but relationships in life, with friends, lovers, people from your past, with yourself, with your emotions, with your passion and with your art.” “Ohio” is one of the album’s most poignant songs in this vein. A bittersweet tale of emptiness and shame, it’s also about just wanting to be wanted and to be loved and not just used. On the lighter side is the album’s ridiculously catchy first single “Think In Stereo.” This tune along with the tracks “Skipping Backwards” and “Neighbors” define the Boy + Kite sound, style and direction.
For these initial recordings, Jones handled the bass and drum parts himself. He and Puorro later welcomed drummer Chris Mietus and bassist Giuseppe Ponti to join them in writing and recording the rest of Go Fly. “Our guitar dynamic is similar to our writing style,” says Puorro. “We create structures that mesh, but we are coming from different places. When we auditioned bass players and drummers, we knew we needed people that could confidently work with our odd style while still adding new elements.” Jones adds, “With Chris and Giuseppe, we started writing songs that were more rhythmically oriented where the guitars could be left as accents and layers.” Both Mietus and Ponti have now become permanent members of Boy + Kite.
With a debut album waiting in the wings, and the studio duo now a full-fledged live foursome, Boy + Kite is ready to hit the ground running. “I feel like we have recorded a very solid first album and produced it as well as we could on a shoestring budget,” says Jones. I spent so much time tinkering with all the details. I’ve done a lot of studio recording, but with this record I got to totally geek out and be my complete perfectionist self!” Not bad for a band formed in a hot tub. Go Fly, the debut album by Austin, Texas band Boy + Kite was released on July 26th, 2011.
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