Location: Cincinnati, OH
What kind of band releases a Christmas album before they even release a regular album?
One that is playing by its own rules.
Kevin and The Octaves is the musical brainchild of two Cincinnatians, Jamie Mandel and Eric Tuffendsam. Both enjoyed previous success playing pop punk, Mandel with The Scrubs and Tuffendsam with Curbsquirrels. Mandel runs Nice Guy Records and Tuffendsam runs Moonlight Studios, and Kevin and The Octaves began as more of a studio band, recording music for placement in TV, film and advertising. As they found success with this, becoming a "real" band followed naturally.
"How this band began is an advantage, because we've never been hung up on typical band things. We feel like we we can put our influences proudly on display and make music across a wide spectrum of sounds, without worrying about what the music critics think, how many cover songs we do, or how similar or dis-similar the songs are to one another," says Mandel.
The music of Kevin and The Octaves has appeared in movie trailers for Chicken Little, Knocked Up, We Own The Night, and Bachelor Party 2 , and it's in the video game Don King's Prize Fighter.
Kevin and The Octaves released their first full length album, Hang Your Stocking Start The Rocking, on Nice Guy Records in October 2008. Their version of Jingle Bells was featured in the Lifetime Network movie Will You Merry Me.
