The B List: Five Unanswered Questions

3. Why did Steve Kimock leave Phil and Friends?

Just a few days into Phil Lesh and Friends’ 1999 Fall Tour, guitarist Steve Kimock left the band after posting a cryptic message on his website, “”I ain’t going to work on Maggie’s farm no more.” The closest we’ve ever come to getting an answer for what led to Kimock’s abrupt departure came from an interview with Paul Barrere and Fred Tackett in which they insinuated the issue was between Steve and Lesh’s wife, Jill. There are at least two sides to every story and the yenta in us would love to know each of those sides.

4. What did the Pacific Northwest do to piss off the Disco Biscuits?

From October 31 to November 3, 2001 the Disco Biscuits embarked on a successful tour of the Pacific Northwest in which they provided a “live” soundtrack to famous movies as part of the show at each stop.  Nearly nine years later the band has yet to return to the area. Did something happen on the brief tour that led to the group’s PacNW hiatus? Is it simply a matter of economics?

The Disco Biscuits have acknowledged the situation a few times. At Caribbean Holidaze in 2008, guitarist Jon “Barber” Gutwillig told the crowd the band would be returning to the Pacific Northwest soon to which bassist Marc Brownstein retorted something along the lines of “it’s Barber’s turn to destroy his credibility.” Also, when one of our previous B Lists listed 10 Rejected Planet Anthem Pre-Order Items one of the entries was “Biscuits will play the Pacific Northwest ($1,000,000,000).” The band actually used our entry in the actual pre-order and sadly no one ponied up the billion bucks. A Facebook Group asking the band to return was started last year and a few weeks back the Biscuits posted an update to their official Facebook page asking for a role call of people who lived in the PAC NW and wanted the band to visit. Will this lengthy hiatus finally come to a close soon?

5. Who put the kibosh on MGMT’s taping policy?

Back in June, MGMT’s website was updated with an announcement stating that the band was embracing an open taping policy including the availability of a taper’s section at each show. Soon thereafter the news item disappeared from the site and despite the band’s publicist telling us an announcement about the taping policy would be forthcoming, three months later there’s been no word. Did the record label freak? Did the band want to hone their live show before sharing recordings with the world?

Feel free to leave your thoughts on any of the questions above in our comments section as well as other questions regarding bands we cover that you’d love to know the answers to.