Artist description The Northwest's Best Kept Secret!

Music Style Blues Rock

Musical Influences Delta Blues, Dave Weckl, Neal Peart, Fiona Apple, The Stones, and Flea.

Artist History In 1996, Jes Fagerness and Jim Fleming discovered a guitar in a university biology lab and started picking out some funky tunes. They smuggled the guitar into Jes' basement one night and launched an assault on his roommates with Jim playing the guitar and Jes howlin' the blues. Actually, it was Jim's guitar that he'd been playing for several years and Jes had always wanted to be a rock star; but, they weren't destined to play the coffee house circuit in Spokane, Washington. They needed a band. Fortunately, Darren Taitch showed up one hot afternoon with a bag of sticks and a drum kit. Darren was an analytical chemist, but he was no science nerd; this guy had been poundin' the skins since middle school. He'd played gigs ranging from his high school marching band in the Orange Bowl parade to the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival. These guys were starting to sound like a band and began to have notions of stardom. Then, it all came together. Jes spotted Sam Lett carrying a twead case on the Express to the University one morning and said "hey, what's inside"? Sam whipped out a tenor sax and wailed all the way to school. That guy could not only blow, but he knew a bass player named Drew Turnbaugh, a music major at Whitworth College. So began The Carcinogens, a band with a name befitting the infectious nature of their music. They wrote some songs, emerged from the basement and hit the open mic circuit with a fervor. These guys gathered a devoted following in Spokane and debuted in early 1997 to rave reviews from the audience. It was too much for Drew, who left for Scotland the next day. The Carcinogens managed to land the legendary Redgy Smith on bass, a six-string wizard who had been playing the guitar since he was a kid in Moses Lake. He picked up every song in a week and they were back on the scene in a month. Influenced by a range of music from the delta blues to Neil Peart, Flea, and the Stones, their music can best be described as a horn-drenched blues/rock, complete with thick slide guitar, punchy bass lines reminiscent of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and hot drum licks infused with a touch of jazz fusion. In 1998, The Carcinogens released their first CD of original blues rockers, Fallout, to critical acclaim with compelling lyrics "that successfully strut the line between serious and sarcastic" and "a hip swaggering attitude with righteous blues licks" that can get down and funky. Dynamics is the essence of their live performances where they might pull out a revved-up Robert Johnson tune or a Howlin' Wolf cover layered with horns. The group was voted 2nd best band and best band name by The Inlander reader's poll in 1999 and they were featured on local radio spotlights and have made several TV appearances. In late 1999, the band regrouped after some of the horn players (Ryan Braun and Jed Green) graduated from college, Sam joined a cruise ship and Jes left for Boston. The band recruited Melissa Mills, a classically trained musician with a vocal style inspired by the likes of Fiona Apple and Janis Joplin. The band was fortunate again to land great players like Skye Waggoner on baritone sax and Brendan Biele on keyboards and harmonica, both music majors at Eastern Washington University. The current Carcinogens, with their mighty sound and blues-based vocal style of Melissa Mills has gathered a new dedicated fan base. They continue to raise the roof with guest appearances from long lost horn players and have recently recorded a new CD. The final touches are still in the works.

Group Members Melissa Mills- Vocals, Jim 'Big Daddy' Fleming- Electric and Acoustic Guitars, Redgy Smith- Bass Guitar, Darren Taitch- Drums, Brendan Bieles-Harp and Keyboards, Skye Waggoner- Saxophone

Instruments Vocals,Guitar,Bass Guitar,Drums,Saxophone,Harmonica

Albums The Carcinogens

Location Spokane, Washington - USA

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