Hollister native Kirk Ward returns home to a rockin’ comedy
gig
Hollister born and reared Kirk Ward and New Yorker Michael
Rivkin were on the ground floor of their careers when musician and
actor Jack Black and his partner Kyle Gass
– friends of Ward and Rivkin – formed the super duo Tenacious
D.
Hollister native Kirk Ward returns home to a rockin’ comedy gig
Hollister born and reared Kirk Ward and New Yorker Michael Rivkin were on the ground floor of their careers when musician and actor Jack Black and his partner Kyle Gass – friends of Ward and Rivkin – formed the super duo Tenacious D.
Not wanting to rip off Tenacious D’s style of folk metal (however you’d imagine that) and classic rock mingled with irreverent comedy, the Hollister duo went a slightly different direction when they formed Supafloss, a band that will perform in Hollister on Nov. 11 before moving on to Orange County where it will come full circle again by opening for Tenacious D on Nov. 18.
The four have been friends for more than a decade and it was immediately clear that Black and Gas had tapped into something great when they first came upon the Tenacious D concept. Rivkin and Ward knew they wanted to do a similar act as Tenacious D, but they didn’t want to seem like knockoffs of their friends.
Tenacious D is an acoustic rock duo whose style meshes multiple musical styles and are known for their upbeat classic-rock style and vulgar comedy. The band first gained popularity in 1999 when they starred in a self-titled HBO television series, in which Black and Gass established themselves as “The D” and the “Greatest Band in the World.”
The journey of Ward and Rivkin took the unsigned duo through many performances in people’s backyards and living rooms, but one of the biggest vehicles helping spread their music to the masses was MySpace.
From there the band exploded. Suddenly they had hundreds of fans who were logging onto their Web site and viewing their comedy video for the song “Chuck Norris,” featuring some of their other friends, including actor John C. Reilly from such movies as “Boogie Nights,” “Magnolia” and “Taledega Nights,” and comedian Chris Parnell from “Saturday Night Live” in the title role.
Ward first had the idea to form the duo back in 1998-1999, when hip-hop was booming. Despite that Ward is less musical than his counterpart, he had always loved hip-hop and loved the idea of forming a band like Run-DMC or the Beastie Boys, where he could get into another character and goof around with musical backing.
Ward first got started with acting after his mom bought him a box of wigs when he was a kid. He said he loved coming up with all these alternate personas and pretending to be different people.
In Supafloss his alter-ego is Mister Twister and Rivkin’s is Grotzy Redoodyhouse.
The name for the band comes in part from a movie with enough soul to fill a battleship, the 1970s “Super Fly.”
Ward and Rivkin recorded some songs and shared their demo with Black and Gass and they loved it. Tenacious D had recently been signed to Epic Records and they were playing a private performance for a select group of people when they brought Supafloss out during the middle of their set.
“They brought us up there and everyone absolutely hated it. It wasn’t until a few days later that we were looking back on the experience and laughing,” Ward said.
Now Supafloss is coming full-circle and will be Tenacious D’s opening band on Nov. 18 at the Gibson Amphitheater in Orange County. Additionally the band will also be opening for the band Ozomatli later this month.
“We wanted to make Hollister our first stop,” Ward said. “I came back here to do my one-man show two years ago. I wanted this band to be polished before I brought it back here. I always think of Hollister no matter what I do, it’s who I am and where I come from.”
Ward, 36 and Rivkin, 39, have been thick as thieves since they met at Tim Robbins’ at The Actors Gang Ensemble Theater Troup in Hollywood in 1994. It was a case of city mouse/country mouse, as Rivkin grew up in Manhattan’s West Village while Ward was born and raised in Haybaler country, but they both had a style that meshed.
Ward talks passionately about his hometown – he often returns to Hollister to try new material. Rivkin, in turn, has been influenced by Ward and likes to think of Hollister as his “honorary hometown.” Both men are anxiously looking forward to performing here next week.
The duo will be performing their musical comedy act The Vault on Nov.11. The show will include a lot of physicality from both Ward and Rivkin. The bands CDs are available through their website, supafloss.com, and will be available at the show.
“It should be a great show,” Ward said.
