Kirk Huffman

The skinny on Kirk Huffman.

Kay Kay And His Weathered Underground and Wild Orchid Children is the love child of Seattle's Kirk Huffman. Starting with Kay Kay, this multi-instrumental experience sounds something like a zany dress up party dream sequence. In this dream, all your friends are there laughing and smiling and drinking and dancing and everything feels right. Taking a step outside of the dream sequence, Kay Kay has been very busy since their start. The band launched with a 4 track cassette EP and quickly turned it into their first true release titled "Live At The Pretty Parlor," a live DVD filmed at a Seattle boutique with one audio and one video disc. And not far after, the band gave us a proper full length record self titled and we were forever sold.

Bouncing to alter ego, Wild Orchid Children, the band is something like the Beastie Boys meets acid meets a crazy house party meets pixie sticks. Self described as a malotov cocktail, the sound of Wild Orchid Children is loud and in your face, raging with freakout vocals and punk vs. psychedelic instrumentals. The band entered the world with four track The Elephant EP and is set to return with a brand new album titled Wild Orchid Children Are Alexander Supertramp, in the new year.

Kirk channels his brilliance into two project equal more obscure as the other. And we think he's on to something. No. We're positive he's on to something.
 

Chatting with Kirk Huffman of Kay Kay And His Weathered Underground and Wild Orchid Children.

Q: Best coffee in the pacific northwest?
A: No bullshit when I say that Kyle O’Quin makes the best coffee in Seattle.  The espresso comes from beans that are selected by a northwest company called Stumptown Coffee and Kyle makes it at his fine establishment Oddfellows Café in Seattle.

Q: 3 things or ideas you’re currently inspired by?
A: Brian De Palma. Fela Kuti. The combination of fresh espresso and good indica.

Q: Favorite record covers of all time?
A: The list could go on forever, but these are just a few:

Cream – Disraeli Gears
Herb Alpert – Whipped Cream And Other Delights
Kool And The Gang – Live At The Sex Machine
Neil Young – American Stars N’ Bars
Leon Russell – Stop All That Jazz
July - July
Led Zeppelin – Houses Of The Holy
Ol Dirty Bastard – Return To The 36 Chambers
Bo Didley – The Black Gladiator

Q: More fun - performing as Kay Kay And His Weathered Underground or Wild Orchid Children?
A: They’re just as equally powerful out of body experiences both in completely different respects. When Kay Kay performs I am a peon of a musician in respects to everyone else on stage so personally I just sort of space out during Kay Kay sets and try to absorb the sound of everyone around me and capture the moment. Wild Orchid Children is like my bi-weekly exercise plan.  A huge factor for starting that band I think was just so that we could still capture a sense of being young and having vitality, while at the same time still pushing our technical abilities and musicianship together.  A lot of the stuff from the ...Are Alexander Supertramp full length that people haven’t heard is based entirely off of afro-beat rhythms which is why I suppose I zone out during those sections in the Wild Orchid Children sets too. In that respect it’s as if both bands are on separate planes arriving at the same destination.

Q: What are your favorite magazines?
A: Back issues of national geographic and comic books.

Q: Percentage chance we’ll get a Kirk Huffman dance record in the future?
A: If you aren’t already dancing at one of our shows you’re too cool for school.

Q: Instrument that didn’t make it into the Kay Kay record or Wild Orchid Children EP that you wish did?
A: Baritone sax.

Q: If you were president of the United States, what’s the first thing you’d change?
A: The legalization, taxation and decriminalization of marijuana or maybe throw a 365 day a year music festival on the white house lawn. But who seriously wants that job?

Q: 3 places we have to go to when we’re in Seattle?
A: Golden Oldies – the best record store in town if you’re not a total dingus. Than Brothers Pho – dirt cheap, fucking delicious, immediately brought to your table and the best Vietnamese cream puff pastry in town is free with your meal. Bam. Bruce Lee and son’s grave – The first date my wife and I ever went on was a walk to Bruce Lee and his son Brandon Lee’s graves located at the Lakeview cemetery high up in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle overlooking Lake Washington.  Super super tranquil and if you listen closely the wind whispers “boards don’t hit back."

Q: What would be success with either band?
A: We didn’t really have any expectations for these bands other than to try and write ripper tunes, so because there aren’t really any expectations, everything that happens brings with it the excitement of success without the inevitable let down and mind fuck that success carries along with it too.

Q: You have $500 and 5 hours to spend it. What do you do?
A: Similac. Baby wipes. Similac. Diapers. Similac.

Q: Favorite photographers?
A: Haley Young. Lance Mercer. Kyle Johnson.

Q: If you weren’t living in Seattle, where would you be?
A: Big Sur, CA. or Ashland, OR. My wife spent a good amount of time in Nice, France growing up. That’d be nice, but for the most part we really love it here in the Emerald City.

Q: Do you have any pets?
A: One black cat.

The Top 5 songs Kirk has listened to while tripping on Salvia.

5. Led Zeppelin – No Quarter
4. Miles Davis – Pharaoh’s Dance
3. The Beatles – Blue Jay Way
2. Outkast – Return Of The “G”
1. War – The Cisco Kid

Thanks to Kirk Huffman of Kay Kay And His Weathered Underground and Wild Orchid Children for helping us put this together. Get connected with Kirk on Myspace [Kay Kay] and Myspace [Wild Orchid Children]. Click here to download Kay Kay And His Weathered Underground and here to download The Elephant EP.

Stream the entire Kay Kay self titled album and grab three brand new songs below.

Kay Kay & His Weathered Underground - Diggin

Wild Orchid Clildren - Gasoline Rainbows

Kay Kay & His Weathered Underground - Passed Out