Akimbo

About

Akimbo came out of Seattle with a sound built on DC hardcore and punk, and ended up on labels run by some of the heaviest names around. Bassist and vocalist Jon Weisnewski and drummer Nat Damm were the constant core, playing their first show on Halloween of 1998 and cycling through eleven guitarists over the years. Jared Burke Eglington helped shape the band's signature sound in the early 2000s, and Aaron Walters later became the sole guitarist. After opening for Jello Biafra and the Melvins, they landed on Biafra's Alternative Tentacles, releasing Forging Steel and Laying Stone and Navigating the Bronze. Neurosis members then pulled them onto Neurot Recordings, which put out Jersey Shores in 2008. That one is a concept album inspired by the 1916 shark attacks along the New Jersey coast, and it marked a real shift toward one cohesive piece of music. The band split in 2012 after Walters left, and Weisnewski and Damm went on to play in Sandrider.