60 Watt Kid

While living in poverty, singer Kevin Litrow had to resort to stealing light bulbs from his apartment's laundry room on a regular basis to keep his place lit. In reaction to his petty crimes, the manager of the apartment complex posted a bulletin that warned tenants to "watch out for the 60 watt kid." This alias spawned the name for Litrow's folk-noise project. Formerly of Dance Disaster Movement, in 2002 he abandoned his noisy dance-punk duo to play solo acoustic freakout sets around L.A. and Orange County before pairing up with multi-instrumentalist Derek Thomas and recording a demo of droney psychedelic pop onto a CD-R. After deciding on a move to the birthplace of psychedelic music, San Francisco, they picked up drummer/xylophonist Garrett Pierce and started making a name for themselves playing Café du Nord, the Hemlock, and various warehouses in the area. The band added 8-mm footage to their live shows, creating a tasty '60s kitsch backdrop for the ambient swells of sound within their improvisational pop melodies, and based on the merits of a single live performance, Absolutely Kosher signed 60 Watt Kid to its roster and released their debut self-titled LP in early November of 2007.