Kingdom of Rust is an all-acoustic group from Raleigh, North Carolina.  Their debut album was recorded in 2010 and is scheduled for release in August 2011.  We believe that music is the soundtrack to our lives and share an interest in creating honest, down-to-earth, music about life experiences.  Presently we are working on arranging our live set, loosely referred to as the “patios, theatres, school dances, fraternities, and stadiums” tour and will be touring to support the release thru 2011. 

The genesis of Kingdom of Rust dates back to the late 90’s when two lifetime friends, Kevin Mitchell and Mark Roper, bought a couple of acoustic guitars and a 4-track recorder.  Not really knowing how to use either did not stop them from diving head first into songwriting and having a serious amount of fun.  Their shared interest in creating music resulted in enough ideas to contact another friend, Rich Spillberg and schedule a “working vacation” during the fall of 1999 in the mountains of North Carolina.  Rich at that time was getting into producing and helped the duo to arrange and create the sound of what was then called the Knob Creek Superstars! 

Fast forward, ten years later, Kevin and Mark decided to regroup and again started with writing and recording new demos, on the same cassette 4-track nonetheless!  The next progression was inviting vocalist and lyricist Jeff Ivey to join them.  Jeff’s broad vocal abilities and lyrics gelled immediately and the three then continued to write and record a new set of demos with Jeff.  The group then rounded out the lineup joined by Tim Easley on lead acoustic followed by John Flowers on drums and percussion.  John has over 40 years experience of “hitting things with sticks” and has now added ”hitting things with your bare hands” to his impressive resume.

The Kingdom of Rust debut album was recorded in Stoughton, MA, again with longtime trusted friend Rich Spillberg as the captain of the ship.  Rich’s work recently includes recording albums and video production with Wargasm & Meliah Rage, as well as live sound engineering for Grammy-nominated performer, Josh Groban.  The album was mixed by John Plymale in Durham, NC.  John has worked on recording projects with artists as diverse as Squirrel Nut Zippers and the Grammy-nominated Tift Merritt.

Together, we have shaped a distinctive sound, and other than plugging up the organ for a couple of songs, this album was created using all acoustic instruments.

Stay tuned for the real fun to begin…