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The Rum Diary

Formed in February 2000, The Rum Diary is based out of Cotati, CA. A sleepy semi-rural Sonoma County town, 50 miles north of San Francisco, best known for its annual accordion festival. While American indie rock has splintered off into myriad factions and sub-factions, The Rum Diary holds precious the age of noisy rock bands that thrived off of good songwriting and deep melodies. Using a combination of two drum kits, double bass guitar, Farfisa, Moog, layered guitars, soft vocals and a whimsically stunning array of homemade instruments (including the Schuylerphone*, the Electroencephalophone*, and the KotatEbow*) the resulting songs, influenced by such bands as Three Mile Pilot, Mogwai, Dianogah, and good old classic rock, are blasts of sound that are at once experimental, beautiful, and thought provoking. Live, The Rum Diary's creation of an “evocative and eerie” visual sound is enhanced by ephemeral film images projected onstage, ranging from random movie clips to nature footage. Shows often culminate in an “indie-rock-drum-circle,” described by one show attendee as “a final and energizing punctuation mark where Mckenzie and Fee join the two drummers and, all four with drumsticks in hand, pound an indelible mark into your musical psyche.” Their live shows range from simple impressionism to abstract madness, like a dream you can't quite remember but can't ever forget.