ORIGINS: Ulladulla, NSW
GENRE: Punk
YEARS ACTIVE: 1996-1999
MEMBERS:
- Jay Gleeson (Vocals)
- Tim George (Guitar)
- Loukas Kalenderidis (Guitar)
- Conor Prendergast (Bass, Drums)
- Jake Prosser (Drums)
RELEASES:
- Demo
- 1. Homework
- 2. Banshee
- 3. Clown in the Gutter
SUMMARY: Kimba formed as a high school band in Ulladulla, with the band gaining traction through playing shows around the Wollongong and South Coast region. They played two shows as part of the international Warped Festival in the late '90s and released a demo tape around this time as well. Kimba disbanded after the younger members of the band finished high school and moved away from Ulladulla.
SHOWS:
- Vans Warped Tour, Milton Showgrounds, Ulladulla - 18th January, 1998
- Wollongong Youth Centre, Wollongong - 8th January, 1999
- Vans Warped Tour, Milton Showgrounds, Ulladulla - 10th January, 1999
ORAL HISTORY:
LOUKAS: Kimba formed when we were sitting at the art block quad at lunch at Ulladulla High School and Jay said he wanted to start a punk band. Tim, Conor and I had played together for years as kids busking and stuff. Conor ended up deciding he wanted to play bass instead of drums and we found Jake at school somehow. He had just started playing drums but was good enough for a shitty punk band pretty quickly.
Loukas Kalenderidis (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
JAY: I was about 17 and had gotten into punk rock via surf and skate videos. The other guys were a year or two younger and all were into music. I decided one day I was going to sing in a band so I hit them up.
Jay Gleeson (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
LOUKAS: When we first formed we had one rehearsal in my dad's art studio with a different bass player. Jay vaguely knew him and he said he could play bass. He sucked badly, but more importantly he said "I like that it's Kimba the white lion because we don't like black people"... he might have used a slur, I don't remember. At that point we, the close group of school friends, reconvened after and told this fuckwit that the band was breaking up, and then we found a new bass player the next day. Fuck that guy.
Loukas Kalenderidis (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
JAY: We fucked around in the garage heaps and played some school shows. First actual show we played might have been at Wollongong Youth Centre with a band called The Party.
Jay Gleeson (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
LOUKAS: We all loved Bad Religion, Good Riddance, Strung Out, all the Fat Wreck Chords stuff. We just wanted to play music like that. One summer in maybe '96, when we were all in late high school, Jay would drive us in his parents Tarago from Ulladulla to Canberra or Wollongong to see bands. So between that, Warped Tour coming to town, and a few songs in Nowra/Wollongong with Frontside, etc., we had a lot of music to get stoked on. I think we all saw Lagwagon, Strung Out, Sick of It All, Good Riddance, Avail and a few more in Canberra over the course of one summer.
Loukas Kalenderidis (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
REVIEW: Kimba played first to a crowd of thirty people standing five metres away watching. They play melodic punk and do it well... They reminded me of Good Riddance when they played with Sick Of It All and I felt like I was the only one getting into it.
Review of Wollongong show by Luke Logemann, Counter Attack Issue 2, 1999
LOUKAS: Standout shows would be the Warped Tour which somehow was in my home town twice. We played on the local stage in Milton and Ulladulla, whenever that was, maybe 98 and 99.
Loukas Kalenderidis (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
LOUKAS: The band stopped when we all finished school and fucked off to Sydney or Wollongong, (except Jake). When I moved to Sydney a couple of years later, Tim, Jay and I started Betray the Day.
Loukas Kalenderidis (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
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