Artist History The history of Octopus Inc. is long and segmented. The band started around 1999, and its first members consisted of Kiel Harell, Sam Vogel, Joel Korte, and David Larson. Sam would naturally play the bass, Kiel lead guitar, Joel rhythm, and Dave the drums. The band was destined for failure when young Sam expressed that no, he would also like to play guitar. Thus opening the door for beginning bassist Dustin Aro... and you have the first five members of Octopus Inc. There was also some talk about Ben Conley playing the tambourine but that never solidified. The band met quite regularly that first fall, and was starting to form some songs. Kiel understood music more than anyone else did, so he shared some of his knowledge with everyone. The song "Blue-C," an instant classic, consisted of Kiel and Joel alternating a catchy blues rhythm while playing solos as Dave experimented with drum fills. Other notable songs included "The River" (a Super Joe hit), "The song similar to the one the Jane Lady plays," the terribly named "Vanishing Existence" or as most call it "Giant Acorn," and of course the unforgettable "Johnny's Travels." Oh yes, there was also that song where Joel played that stupid little lead part that Kiel thought was cool. It should be noted that Johnny's Travels is currently under production by Chris Lofgren and Joel Korte and will also be on this site. There was also one music video made of the song "Vanishing Existence" which was mildly horrific, consisting of several Nazi salutes, and other tomfoolery. It should also be noted that Dave's mother, Rose, was very much appalled by the film. The band hit its creative peak when "Johnny's Travels" was written. Kiel wrote a catchy, spacy guitar riff while Joel and Sam wrote some groundbreaking lyrics. To this day the lyrics are still being searched for, and the whereabouts of the lyrics are currently unknown. They are thought to be somewhere in Dave's house. The lyrics themselves were about a mythical figure named Johnny. He was the hero in a series of cartoons made by Chase Korte called "Johnny's Travels" on "Spiderman Cartoon Maker." The cartoons themselves were primitive really, and were at times rather absurd. The basic story line was that Johnny was lost and he had to fight insects. The insects themselves were of course abnormally large and scary. Chase thought the cartoons to be magnificent, and for the technology at the time, he was right. It should be noted here that every single cartoon was lost in a terrible accident. One time when the Korte's were away on a vacation, and Matt Cruz, the neighbor boy, was asked to watch over the house and the dog. Naturally, Matt had to feed his obsession with the computer game "Command and Conquer," and he was frequently on the computer. Inexplicably, all of the data on the computer was erased when the Korte's returned from their vacation, and Matt Cruz could provide no explanation. Many things would go wrong on the Korte's computer on future vacations when Matt was in charge. However, Matt always received his full pay, and was frequently commended by Linda Korte for "taking such good care of the dog." Getting back to the primary subject, "Johnny's Travels" the song was renowned as Octopus Inc.'s largest accomplishment. The band even added a sixth member for a short period of time for vocals, Dan Larson. His passion and exuberance were unmatched and all who witnessed "The Johnny's Travels sessions" would tell about it. If you don't believe me just ask Greg Larson, you know, the witty little Larson boy. Dan's self-made echo of "Johnny... Johnny... Johnny..." would forever haunt band member Joel Korte's dreams. Joel one day said, "That self made echo by Dan, the one that goes 'Johnny, Johnny, Johnny,' I mean Christ, Jesus Christ... it will forever haunt my dreams." In spite of the overwhelming popularity of "Johnny's Travels", Kiel Harrell was not a fan. He was known to roll his eyes at times during the playing of "Johnny's Travels," and would sometimes cite the general awfulness of the lyrics. This also was about the time when bassist Dustin Aro, upon playing three successive notes on the D string of his bass (not in the key of the current song), said, "I like to bass solo." The sad fact was that Dustin was not bass soloing at all, he was merely hitting random notes on his guitar that he claimed sounded "good." Also, one time when the band was rehearsing "Vanishing Existence" Joel said something like, "hold on you guys, that bass part sounds way off." Joel was no music genius, but he had written the bass part himself (granted, he frequently had to look at the little piece of paper Sam made him that said what all the notes on the fret board were, but damnit it was right), and Joel was sure that the bass part at that time was not sounding right. Joel approached Dustin only to find that Dustin was not playing the notes on the E string as instructed, but he was playing it on the A string because it "sounded better." With instances such as these, Kiel's disgust had reached in all-time high, and he could no longer deal with the chaos that each rehearsal most certainly meant. He began to spend more time with his then girlfriend, Ruth Bohn (currently married to Armando Guiterrez). On one ugly occasion, when Kiel could not make a rehearsal, the band decided it would be a good idea to drive to Kiel's house, kidnap him from his home, tie him up, and force him to play his guitar. The Kiel-less Octopus Inc. jumped in Dave's van, and made the fifteen or so minute trip to Kiel's house. Everybody got kind of scared when we finally did reach Kiel's door, and it was kind of an unspoken agreement that no, the kidnapping would not take place, but we would instead try to get Kiel to come with us by reason. It was arranged that Sam would do the talking, as he had known Kiel the longest. In the moments that followed, we were politely told by Kiel that he would not be able to attend the rehearsal that evening because he had other matters to attend to. We were also reminded that Kiel had a job, and a girlfriend, while the rest of us where busy frolicking in our adolescence. The fact was, Kiel was a young adult, and the rest of us were silly little boys who were too scared to make-out with girls in the movie theater. Actually, Joel was probably the only one too scared to make-out with girls in the movie theater, but the point stands that Kiel had grown-up things to do, and Dustin Aro liked to bass solo. As if the business of Kiel was not a big enough tragedy for the band, they also had to deal with the death of the local bird, Dicky Luther King. One day, Sam, Dave, and Ben Conley were out shooting stuff with Dave's shiny beebee gun. Sure, shooting soda cans was fun for awhile, but soon their attention went to living things. There Dicky Luther King stood, on the pole of Dave’s dock, enjoying a fine day under the Minnesotan sun. They all took their shots, or so the story goes, until Sam Vogel took aim. Sam compensated for the crooked sight, and took his shot about 60 yards away from the bird, an incredible distance for the gun. Sam fired, and to the trio’s dismay, Dicky Luther King fell to the ground and lay motionless. D.L.K. was later buried on the beach merely feet away from where he had been murdered. He was a martyr in his death and will forever remind us to take aim when we shoot. The band was unraveling at the seams. Determined to revitalize their sinking spirits, the band proposed the idea that Joel make an Octopus Inc. banner one rehearsal, and he obliged, but his grotesque depiction of what looked to be some sort of strange blob was displeasing to the band members. Joel thought it was a decent octopus, and he proudly wrote "Octopus Inc." over the drawing. The band thought Joel was a good artist, and he was pretty good, but honestly, what can one do with a magic marker on a bed sheet. After this, the band seemed to go on a bit of a break, only to triumphantly return under a new name, "Oil Can Boyd." However, "Oil Can Boyd," never practiced, because well, nobody really felt like it. Dustin got progressively worse at bass, but he joined the church band. The church band's drummer was Chris Lofgren. Chris Lofgren says that the band director was known to say to Dustin, "I think we need to tune you up." Well, again, the sad truth was that Dustin's bass guitar was perfectly in tune, he just didn't understand that in music, one needs to play certain notes in order for it to sound good. In defense of Dustin, he did play the right notes during the talent show, when Kiel, Sam, Blake Adams, and himself performed "Faith" at the junior high talent show. However, he did miss a few notes when he stood up on his amp and made some weird hand gestures and jumped off. Dustin eventually moved to Duluth where he devoted his life to Hockey, and had a successful senior season as a Greyhound. Dave kind of stopped playing the drums, but excelled in dance, winning countless awards. The remaining members of Kiel, Sam, and Joel pursued their musical interests somewhat individually. Obviously, being very good friends, they would get together from time to time and "jam." Many of these jam sessions would involve the song "Blue-C." Currently, there exists a version of "Blue-C" with Solomon McIntyde rapping to it, and it is pretty cool. Kiel began to amass recording equipment and was starting to do some minor recording of his own. Kiel and Joel tried recording "Vanishing Existence" or "Giant Acorn," whichever you prefer, but they got bored with it, and they stopped recording it. It was not a very good song anyway. Maybe an acoustic version of it will show up on here someday. One fateful day, Kiel and Sam got together and recorded a brand new Octopus Inc. song entitled "Pedro and the Mountain." It was a glorious day indeed, and tremendous joy filled the hearts of all band members, past and present. Thus came the emergence of the new Octopus Inc. With a new-aged version of "Johnny's Travels" currently in the works by Joel and new band member Chris Lofgren, the future is much brighter for the once extinct band. With that, the current band members are Kiel Harell, Sam Vogel, Joel Korte, and Chris Lofgren. Kiel and Chris have had or are currently working on side projects entitled "Milk Plus," "Triclops," "Absynth," "Gorgeous George," and "Acoustic Animal." Sam, Joel, and Chris were in a band called "Super Joe" over the spring of 2002 where they put words to Octopus Inc. hit "The river," while also writing several other songs. Joel also writes songs individually, under "Bowl Korte."

Group Members Kiel Harell, Sam Vogel, Joel Korte, and Chris Lofgren

Press Reviews "Those Memoirs chronicle the band's history to a 'T'" -Ben Conley

Location Elk River, MN - USA

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