Tim Parsons / Tahoe Onstage
A vintage Carson Valley heavy metal band is back in the game with a retooled lineup. Kut-Pile is appearing at PB&J’s, the Psychedelic Ballroom and Jukejoint, in Reno on Saturday, April 16.
The band is Jesse Rollins (drummer), Wes Deputy (guitar), Charles Untereiner (lead guitar), Steven Blummer (vocals), and new addition Aaron Craig (bass).
Kut-Pile first came together when Rollins, Deputy, and Untereiner started playing music together in 2003 and 2004.
“What happened was that there was just a weird click,” Rollins said. “We weren’t necessarily all the best musicians, but as a unit we could really just kick ass, and make a song with five different people contributing different ideas.”
The name was a workplace inside joke among the original members.
“The name is actually a kind of a carpet,” Deputy said. “When the band first formed, all the members of the band were carpet layers, so we changed the “C” to a “K,” and that was it.”
The group started out promoting their act among a tight-knit group of several dozen friends, appearing at venues around the Reno-Carson area.
“It actually turned out that they liked it and we were good, it wasn’t just a sympathy thing,” Rollins said. “Next thing you know we’re selling out the Knitting Factory.”
The group had just released a demo album in 2010, and was working on promoting the product around the United States and Europe, when a former member’s struggles with drugs and alcohol led to a breakup.
“We just hit a rough patch. That’s when things kind of hit the fan,” Rollins said. “We were just ready to move on.”
The three musicians continued to play in various projects around the area for a few years, before rejoining for an attempted reunion show in 2015. The original vocalist never showed up, but the other members rekindled their musical chemistry.
“That night we wrote two songs,” Rollins said. “We hadn’t played together in five years, and we looked at each other and were just like ‘you wanna’ jam?’ ”
The band soon found Plummer for the role of frontman, through Rollins’ brother. Craig joined the group on bass in early 2016, anchoring a spot that had seen lots of rotation throughout the band’s history.
“Our Achilles’ heel, I would say, has been the bass position. We’ve never had a solid bass player that stuck in there until Aaron came,” Rollins said, noting Craig’s passion and experience for metal, where prior bassists had not had that same shared background.
Kut-Pile serves up a meaty, aggressive take on the sounds of vintage American and international metal, citing acts such as Pantera, Slayer, Slipknot, Sepultera and others as influences.
“I’d say it’s an awesome take on the great ’90s metal that has kind of fallen by the wayside lately,” Deputy said. “It’ll definitely rip your face off.”
“You’re gonna get a different feel from every song — every song is a different story,” Rollins said. “We’ve got a lot of originality, a lot of different types of groove. Metal has lost a lot of its rock ‘n’ roll; we’re trying to get back to that.”
Kut-Pile currently is focused on getting Craig up to speed on the band’s repertoire, songs such as “Witness” and “Killing Spree.” Then, the metal band plans on getting back to performing regularly at venues around the Reno and the Carson Valley area, as well as spending some time in studio.
“We’ve got some offers on the table. There’s a couple places that would like to record us, and it’s definitely going to happen in the near future.” Deputy said. “At this point we really just want to get out there and play, and enjoy our craft, and get in front of as many people as possible and just have fun.”
Joining Kut-Pile at PB&J’s on Saturday, April 16 will be Angerhead, White Minorities, BlackWater and From the Ruins.
Kut-Pile, Angerhead, White Minorities, BlackWater, From the Ruins
When: Saturday, April 16
Where: PB&J’s, Reno
Tickets: $7 presale, $10 at the door
