Kitchen Radio: Itchin' To Boogie With A Twang

X Who they are

Mark Notermann: lead guitar and vocals. T-shirt printer.

Mark Patterson: bass. Tile setter.

David Schmitt: acoustic guitar and vocals. Truck driver.

Mark Boquist: drums. Cook.

X How they got together

Patterson used to play in Blind Horse; Boquist in Ramadillo. Notermann arrived in Seattle from Minneapolis about two years ago.

Boquist: "It kind of fell together. Dave was out in Chicago making a demo tape, he came back with it and by that time my old band had broken up. It was kind of like a side gig - let's work with Dave and realize these songs with a drummer and maybe a band. When we started figuring we had a band . . . there was Patterson."

Notermann: "I think originally we were thinking (we'd) do a couple of gigs."

Boquist: "It was kind of an unlikely thing because Dave's never been in a band and Notermann was adamant about not being in a band. We'd already been in a lot of bands, (we were) tired of being in bands."

Patterson: "I was totally reluctant to get together."

Nothermann: "Then that night you were like, `So, do we have a band?' "

X How they got their name

Notermann: "To me, it's not so much where the name came from, it sort of came out of thin air, but it means something more to me now."

Boquist: "It kind of reminds me of my mom."

Notermann: "Yeah, it's real homey."

Schmitt: "I can just see a woman sitting in the kitchen, doing the dishes or something, with the sun coming through the window, listening to the music on the radio."

X How they describe their music

Schmitt: "Kind of swampy rock, boogie with a twang. Eclectic pop arrangements."

Notermann: "Swampy rock with country, I'd say."

Boquist: "I think the instrumentation pretty much speaks for itself. When you've got an acoustic guitar, an electric guitar, a fretless bass and two-and-four drums, it's pretty straight ahead."

Schmitt: "The emphasis is definitely on the songwriting and song playing. We try to be slaves to the tunes as much as possible and not let anybody's ego get in the way."

Patterson: "We're a band that plays songs, instead of just rocks out."

X Their goals as a band

Schmitt: "In the immediate future, just get on the road."

Boquist: "Delaware, all the way over there. And everywhere in between."

Notermann: "Hit every blue highway in the country."

X Tapes they'd take to Delaware

Notermann: "Almost anything by John Hiatt."

Patterson: "Lust for Life" by Iggy Pop, "Badmotorfinger" by Soundgarden.

Schmitt: "I'm really a fan of Smashing Pumpkins and Screaming Trees. Also a Delta Blues tape, and some Roy Orbison."

Boquist: "I'll listen to the radio."

X Where to hear them

Kitchen Radio plays tonight at the Backstage, April 21 at Fenix Underground and April 29 at the Crocodile Cafe in their first headline gig.