The Book of Knots is an American experimental art rock band including Matthias Bossi, Joel Hamilton

Joel Hamilton

Joel Hamilton is a producer, engineer, and musician originally from Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Since the late 1990s he has been based out of Brooklyn, NY. He shares a studio with partner Tony Maimone named Studio G. He has worked with a number of well known artists, as well as writing for various...

, Carla Kihlstedt

Carla Kihlstedt

Carla Kihlstedt is an American violinist, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist from Lancaster, Pennsylvania currently living in Oakland, California....

 and Tony Maimone

Tony Maimone

Tony Maimone is a bass player, producer, and engineer who lives in Brooklyn, New York.He was a member of Pere Ubu from the mid-1970s to the early 1990s, often playing with drummer Scott Krauss...

.

History

The Book of Knots was formed in 2003 by three core band members Joel Hamilton, Matthias Bossi and Tony Maimone at Hamilton and Maimone’s Brooklyn based Studio G. Members of Book of Knots have played or worked with various acts previously, including Skeleton Key, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum is an American experimental rock band, formed in 1999 in Oakland, California. The band fuses classical, industrial, and art-rock themes throughout their music...

, Shiner

Shiner (band)

-History:The group formed in 1992, and quickly found wide exposure, releasing a vinyl EP in 1993 and touring with acts such as Sunny Day Real Estate, Chore, Jawbox, Season to Risk, The Jesus Lizard, and Girls Against Boys. The group released their first LP, Splay in 1996, and a second album, Lula...

, Battle of Mice

Battle of Mice

Battle of Mice was a post-metal supergroup consisting of Julie Christmas , Josh Graham , Joel Hamilton , Tony Maimone , and Joe Tomino .The band was formed when vocalist Julie Christmas and guitarist/keyboardist Josh Graham met in Austin, Texas while...

, Sparklehorse

Sparklehorse

Sparklehorse was an American indie rock band led by the singer and multi-instrumentalist Mark Linkous.-History:Sparklehorse's first album, Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot featuring Bob Rupe of the Silos and Cracker, was a modest college radio success...

, Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...

, Unsane

Unsane

Unsane is an influential noise rock trio that formed in New York City in 1988. Their music also touches on elements of hardcore punk and metal...

, Pere Ubu

Pere Ubu

Pere Ubu is an experimental rock music group from Cleveland, Ohio.Père Ubu may also refer to:* Ubu, the enigmatic central figure of a series of French plays by Alfred Jarry, including Ubu Roi, and subsequent plays Ubu Cocu and Ubu Enchaîné...

, Frank Black

Frank Black

Black Francis is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the frontman of the influential alternative rock band Pixies, with whom he performs under the stage name Black Francis. Following the band's breakup in 1993, he embarked on a solo career under the name Frank Black...

, They Might Be Giants

They Might Be Giants

They Might Be Giants is an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years Flansburgh and Linnell were frequently accompanied by a drum machine. In the early 1990s, TMBG became a full band. Currently, the members of TMBG are...

 and more. Carla Kihlstedt (of Tin Hat Trio

Tin Hat Trio

Tin Hat is an acoustic chamber music group currently based in San Francisco, California. Their music combines many genres of music, including southern blues, bluegrass, neoclassical, eastern European folk music, and avant-garde.Since its formation in 1997, the original Tin Hat Trio has often...

, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum is an American experimental rock band, formed in 1999 in Oakland, California. The band fuses classical, industrial, and art-rock themes throughout their music...

, 2 Foot Yard among others) joined later in 2003 to solidify what would become the group's core quartet.

Together, the Book of Knots decided to release three conceptual records: their first was to be an ode to rotting seaside towns, a self-titled debut which appeared on Arclight Records in 2004. Second would be a tribute to the American rust belt, titled Traineater, the group was signed to Anti- in November 2006, with the albums release follwing in April 2007 and featuring guest spots from the likes of Tom Waits

Tom Waits

Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...

, Mike Watt

Mike Watt

Michael David Watt is an American bassist, singer and songwriter.He is best known for co-founding the rock bands Minutemen, dos, and Firehose; , he is also the bassist for the reunited Stooges and a member of the art rock/jazz/punk/improv group Banyan as well as many other post-Minutemen...

, Jon Langford

Jon Langford

Jon Langford born October 11, 1957, Newport, Monmouthshire is a Welsh-born musician and artist who is presently based in Chicago. He is the younger brother of science-fiction author and critic David Langford...

, and David Thomas

David Thomas (musician)

David Lynn Thomas is an American singer, songwriter, and musician.He was one of the founding members of the short-lived protopunkers Rocket From The Tombs , where he went by the name of Crocus Behemoth, and of punk group Pere Ubu . He has also released several solo albums...

. Third, devoted to all things aeronautical, Garden of Fainting Stars was released on Ipecac Records June 14, 2011 and features Mike Patton

Mike Patton

Michael Allan "Mike" Patton is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and actor, best known as the lead singer of the metal/experimental rock band Faith No More. He has also sung for Mr...

, Blixa Bargeld

Blixa Bargeld

Blixa Bargeld is a composer, author, actor, singer, musician, performer and lecturer in a number of artistic fields...

, and more.

Discography

• Book of Knots (Arclight Records, 2004)
• Traineater (ANTI-
  ANTI-
  ANTI- is an American record label founded in 1999 as a sister label of Epitaph Records.While Epitaph's focus has shifted over the last decade from mostly punk rock, nowadays ANTI- has a more diverse roster, ranging from country , hip hop , reggae , Soul , folk , rap-rock , indie rock...
  
  , 2007)
• Garden of Fainting Stars (Ipecac Records, June 14, 2011)

External links

• Arclight Records official website
• Biography on the ANTI- Records Website.