Let's take a trip back to 1988. We had a presidential election year - the Democratic convention nominated Gov. Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts for president and the Republicans nominated George Bush for president. We had the end of the Reagan years and the first Bush era. Rap, alternative, and (gasp!) metal music styles were introduced to the mainstream (thanks, Public Enemy and Pixies). We had punk rock and bubble gum pop with the Ramones and Madonna. Kids had Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears, Nintendo and Norman had the origins of Klipspringer. Just for kicks, guess which of these you won't find at Hot Topic? It wasn't until 1993 that Norman rock band Klipspringer took over the name, having gone through titles such as Soul Shaker, Nowhere Band, and Lotion. Klipspringer also went through various members and tragedies, though the original two members - Ty Kamm (vocals and guitar) and Matt Babich (bass) are both still full-time members, along with newer members Alan Hiserodt (drums and vocals) and Chris Bourland (keyboards).

"I was thumbing through the dictionary and randomly putting my finger down and reading the words in the vicinity. On about the third try I landed close to Klipspringer," Ty Kamm said of the band name. "When I read the word we all thought it sounded cool, but had no idea what it was. We thought it sounded like a mechanism in a gun or something. When I read the definition: A small hoofed African mammal with large ears, a leaper, a jumper; we all said, 'that's it, let's rock!' It's also a character in The Great Gatsby, a hard drinking piano player I believe, so that clinched it." I don't know much about African wildlife, and I'm ashamed to say that I haven't read The Great Gatsby, but I am here to tell you about what's currently in my CD player - a CD I picked up at a show hosted by Guestroom Records a few months ago. Klipspringer has recently released their latest album, My Knee Hurts and are definitely still rockin'.

Music has the amazing ability to be addictive, sexy, euphoric, enchantingmuch like the Ramones said, sometimes I just wanna be sedated - by good music. Much like popping in a Ramones CD, Klipspringer has the ability to give me a goofy smile and a bobbing head. Songs like "My Face is Melting", "Losing My Lighter" and "You Dance (Like Steve Buscemi)" (all from the album My Knee Hurts) make me smile no matter what mood crosses my path. "For myself," Ty said, "from making music I hope to create a body of work that would be somewhat of a contribution to society, even if it's just to make a few people laugh or feel good for a little while, something to show what I did with my time here on Earth."

Now the sound. If you're curious, like I was, Ty's personal musical influences are: the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Jam, the Police and Kiss. He said the band as a whole has probably been influenced the most by: the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Ramones, the Pixies, Zappa and Ween. The content of their songs is very much all the sex, drugs, and rock and roll you could wish for, showcased in tracks like "She Just Wants To" (Me Knee Hurts) - which I'll leave up to you, readers, to figure out the word(s) that follow that line - and "I Like Beer" (Sleepwalking and the Married Virgin). With all their pop-punk major-key high energy, they pull off a great live performance. It's no surprise that these guys have the loyal fans that they do - their shows promise a good evening, and if a good evening isn't had at a Klipspringer show, it has to be the result of either being incarcerated (before or after the show) or in a coma - both of which could possibly be the aftermath of a really good time. Just to qualify that, I've haven't actually witnessed either.

Klipspringer saw their beginnings along with other talented Norman bands around the same time, one of those being The Flaming Lips. I was curious to know about their most memorable performances, given the legendary time (musically speaking) of Norman that it was, so I asked Ty. "The most memorable good performance was opening for Ween a few years back. Great guys and quite the partiers," he said. "The most memorable bad performance was opening for the Flaming Lips the night they got signed to Warner Brothers (1992 or 3?) at Rome (in Stubbeman Village). It was Barry's [former guitar player/singer] first gig ever and we fell on our face. We sucked! The second strum of the first song his guitar fell to the floor and we never recovered. We made them look like gods! We've always felt partially responsible for helping them getting the deal with Warner Brothers!"