Mack Flinn & The Whosis Kid

Posted by keenangaynor

Having been swamped with work and school for the past week or so, I haven't had much time to discover new bands - or even devote very much time to reviewing some of the many submissions we have been receiving. Therefore, I am going to tell you about a band that has (literally) been right under my nose for the past year or so. The group I'm talking about is Mack Flinn & The Whosis Kid - a two-piece group, once again hailing from central New Jersey (I know, I can't help favoring bands from New Jersey). Anyway, Mack Flinn & The Whosis Kid consists of Chris Grzan on guitar (and sometimes bass), whom I have had the pleasure of playing drums for in a handful of groups in the past, and Joe Zanko on vocals, a recent Fordham University graduate with one hell of a voice. I, myself, am their pseudo-third member, responsible for their percussion, engineering, and production.

It's hard to place an "exact" genre upon these fellows. About 75% of their tracks are heavily acoustic-based, with some minimal percussion, strings, and effects. But they are also known for having a handful of full-band, more rock-driven songs. Living relatively far apart (Chris attending Ohio State University, and Joe living in Jersey and working everyday in New York) it can be difficult to get things done and perform shows from time to time. When they do, however, they manage to crank out some rather impressive material. To date, they have finished one FULL album entitled "Requests From Abroad and the Girls Who Think They Made Them." Their first record, as explained by guitarist Chris, was written primarily while Joe was studying abroad in Scotland - and the two were overseas from one another. The majority of it is about how "there are songs on the album about people that really don't deserve to have songs written about them considering the kind of people they are, but we wrote them anyway - but for us, not for anyone else." In large, it was an attempt "to document a large span" of their lives.

I'm currently recording drums/working on synth parts/mixing the hell out of their newest album, currently entitled "I'll Bid You Adieu, or Whatever" - which happens to be as equally sarcastic to their first - albeit not entirely intentional. Regardless, they are two extremely talented individuals capable of creating some very elegant and powerful tracks. Below I have posted two songs that exhibit their more "acoustic-based", pretty side that I mentioned earlier, as well as their more "Rock-driven" side. Keep in mind that the second track is still a demo, unmixed and unmastered, which will appear on their new CD later this winter:

"I Should Have Written This Before:"

"Number 13:"

THE SKINNY: Mack Flinn & The Whosis Kid are a one part sarcastic, one part acoustic, two parts rock & roll group from central NJ
FAVORITE TRACK: "Red Harvest" off of "Requests From Abroad and the Girls Who Think They Made Them"
APPROPRIATE FOR: Looking for songs to help you get over a girl
FOR FANS OF: Jimmy Eat World