I Voted for Kodos | |
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Also known as | IV4K |
Origin | Madison, Wisconsin, United States |
Genres | Ska punk, pop punk, rock |
Years active | 1999–2007 |
Labels |
Snapdragon Records (US) Kick Rock Music (Japan) |
Associated acts | (Firefight), Remember the Maine |
Website | IV4K.com as seen in December 2007 |
Past members | Rick Bisenius Lee Gordon Tyler Christensen Chris Holoyda Ross Gilliland Troy Riechenberger Nick Rydell Andy Anderson |
I Voted for Kodos (often abbreviated IV4K) was an American ska punk and pop punk band, signed to Snapdragon Records.
The band was founded in Madison, Wisconsin in 1999, after the singer-trombonist Rick Bisenius met the guitarist Chris Holoyda at a Reel Big Fish concert. They began playing together when they were in high school and college. The band's name comes from The Simpsons episode, "Treehouse of Horror VII", in which Homer Simpson says, "Don't blame me — I voted for Kodos." Although known for their tongue-in-cheek material (they have noted that celery is the band's official vegetable), their song lyrics have also tackled serious issues such as murder and teenage depression. Their first album, Close Enough for Ska, is considered the success story of a small independent record label, Close to Nothing, which was founded by three teenagers. The band later signed with Snapdragon Records from Milwaukee and released My New Obsession. Snapdragon Records later re-released all IV4K albums and a "compilation of unreleased and best of" songs.
The band members began shows with informal instruction on how to skank so that the audience would appreciate the style of dance associated with ska music. They toured nationally from 2003-2006, and were placed number 7 in PureVolume's top ten unsigned bands in the US. The band played the 2004–2006 Vans Warped Tours, and the music critic Joe Lynch described their 2006 performance as "freewheeling and energetic". During a separate national tour in early 2006, one music journalist wrote that the band "uses a hot horn section, plenty of guitar and on-the-mark lyrics to fuel a high-energy show."
The band stopped working together in 2007, although Bisenius and Holyda continued to collaborate on a new band, Firefight, and Bisenius began a solo project, The Faster We Fall.