Kinematic in 100 words or less

Kinematic have been making music for ages and it's something they love doing.  A truly independent band, their songs have still turned up on radio, podcasts, TV shows and documentaries in Australia and overseas, and fans on three continents have made music videos for them.  They perform as a band in electric and acoustic modes and their albums showcase plenty of both styles – from their debut Time & Place (2005) to their concert film/album Live at Bakehouse (2019) and their latest acoustic outing The Long Divide (2022). #independentaf

Welcome to The Punters Club

Where there's a bit of info and trivia about the band Kinematic.  But why is the About page called The Punters Club?

Well, in Australia, a punter is someone who likes placing a bet (otherwise known as "having a punt").  The term also came to be used for people who went to see live music and, when Kinematic was starting out, The Punters Club was one of the must-play venues in Melbourne - their third album Kites even features a song called The Punters Club.

Who's who?

Mike Mike
Mike

Michael Owen
Vocals, guitars, keys, harmonica.

Mike Mike
Gordo

Gordon Clarke
Vocals, guitars, mandolin, keys.

Mike and Gordo formed Kinematic as a duo in 2000. Mik and Ozi joined in 2002 to make it a band. Jippa joined the live act in 2023, but has been playing on the band's records since 2003.

Mike Mike
Mik

Michael Clarke
Bass, double bass, vocals.

Mike Mike
Ozi

Mark Olszewski
Drums, percussion, loops.

Mike Mike
Jippa

Jaime Pitman
Violin, vocals.

Trivia

Kinematic have been making music since 2000. They've been a band for over twice as long as the average Australian marriage lasts (12.1 years apparently).

Mike plays baseball for Sunshine Eagles.

This American Life featured In Between in the episode Americans in China, making it one of Kinematic's most popular songs online. Nine years later, TAL tracked the band down and paid a license fee for it. Freakin' unheard of!

Snorkel Aspirin

Mik is the glue that binds the band - before Kinematic, he played with Mike and Ozi in Aspirin, and with Gordo in Snorkel.

Ozi is a Polish vodka enthusiast.

Mike and Mik share two names (Michael and Owen) but they are not the famous footballer or cricketer, despite what comes up on Wikipedia.

Gordo and Ozi share a birthday so there's two Geminis in the band - it takes a lot of "seeing both sides" to get stuff done.

Kinematic's song Championship Vinyl appeared in ep.11 of the US sitcom Cavemen which aired for a few short weeks in 2007. Naturally the show was cancelled before ep.11 aired so the anticipated Friends-style royalties never materialised.

Mik is a tai chi instructor.

Gordo and Mik are brothers. Gordo bought Mik his first bass for $189 when they were teenagers, and they've been playing in bands with such memorable names as Snorkel, Griffin, Winfield Blues, Hack and The Gaffered Hamsters ever since.

In February 2023, Kinematic clocked over two million streams on Euro music site Jamendo. It's no Shape of You by Ed Sheeran, but it's not bad for a little indie band from Melbourne.

Gordo kept the vase that Lily Allen gave him flowers in.

Mik's daughter Karri was the artist behind all the covers for The Long Divide and its related singles.

Aussie blues legend and Screaming Jets guitarist Jimi Hocking let Kinematic take over his Biscuit Boy studio to record Kites in 2008, and performed the insane solo on Beat Poetry.

Once upon a time, the noted Australian actor and comedian Shane Jacobson booked a fledgling Kinematic to play at his work Christmas party. It was their first gig and they performed their own songs and Fake Plastic Trees by Radiohead.

Jippa plays his great-grandfather's violin.

Over the years, the members of Kinematic have held down dozens of different jobs to fund their musical endeavours ... bartender, cardboard box counter, chainsaw operator, children's book illustrator, data analyst, editor, e-learning developer, electoral vote counter, estate clearer, digital content creator, fencing contractor, fruit picker, hay carter, house painter, gardener, graphic designer, jingle writer, junk mail deliverer, landscaper, librarian, kitchen hand, newspaper restorer, renderer, roadie, software engineer, sound engineer, toilet cleaner, TV hand double, waiter, warehouse manager, web developer and wedding DJ.

Timeline

2026 A fair bit going on behind the scenes and between gigs this year. Two more remixes from Time & Place arrive on Bandcamp and streaming services - Louder in February and Tripitaka-san in June, plus the band releases a new version of Harmony to coincide with the premiere of Ooops I Bought A Pub on the Seven Network. Friends of the band, show creators and publicans Shane Jacobson and Dean Murphy loved the original so much, they used a slightly updated version as the show's theme song.

2025 Playing gigs and releasing new singles - Seaside Town in February, Don't Be Afraid in May and Art Deco Hotels in August, all tunes from the forthcoming sixth studio album. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the debut album Time & Place a remix of Tripitaka-san is released in December.

2024 You know what? Some years just fly by and not much seems to happen. That said, the band played a bunch of shows and did a lot of recording, with long-time friend and collaborator Jaime 'Jippa' Pitman becoming a regular feature of both. Jaime first appeared as the violinist on Kinematic's debut album Time & Place and we'll start hearing his latest work with the band when the new recordings bear fruit in 2025.

2023 By around the halfway mark of the year, the band had released Versatile Comfort and Harmony, the final singles from The Long Divide and played a few shows in and around Melbourne to launch the album. Vesuvius is released at the end of the year as the first single from their forthcoming sixth studio album.

2022 With the pandemic lockdowns finally over, Kinematic dusted off their instruments and performed a bunch of acoustic shows in and around Melbourne, trying out material from their new album and making up for lost time. The single Four Things I'll Forget comes out in September and the long-delayed acoustic album The Long Divide is finally released in October, a long eight years after the last studio album. Oh, and they released a bona fide (and suitably cheesy) Christmas song, Christmas Forever.

2021 Another year of the COVID-19 pandemic sees the music scene suffering enormously, and Kinematic's home city of Melbourne has the dubious honour of undergoing the most days of lockdown of any city on the planet. Despite this, they stay in touch with weekly Zooms, keep recording and release three new singles (Monday 8am, June and Old Leaves) from the long-delayed acoustic album (now slated for release in 2022, seven years after it was begun).

2020 The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic saw Kinematic, like everyone else, stuck at home in isolation. So, like everyone else, they recorded some live performances, available on their YouTube channel. A compilation album, No. One Fan, curated by listeners, and the single Speakeasy were released in July. The single West Gate Bridge was released to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the bridge collapse in October 1970, and also features in a documentary about the event – West Gate Bridge Disaster: The Untold Stories. A song about the "annus horribilis" 2020 Epic Fail gets the most radio play Kinematic has received to date in their home country.

2019 Kinematic's live crowdfunded film and album Live at Bakehouse is released in March. The acoustic single Two and accompanying video are released in July. And, holy heck, another single Cookie Cutter (with a video of the band enjoying the Golden Plains festival) appears in October. That's a movie/album combo, a soundtrack and two singles in one year ... prolific by Kinematic standards!

2018 For the first time since So Green the band releases a single and its accompanying video at the same time when Let's Go Out Tonight is released in April.

2017 A live concert special is recorded and filmed at Melbourne's legendary Bakehouse in March, thanks to a successful crowd-funding campaign.

2016 After a run of shows ending at the world-renowned Speigel Zelt, a new band recording begins in April. The single started in 2015, Special, is released in May.

2015 Love & Graffiti is re-released in August, to coincide with the completion of a music video eight years in the making. Recording begins on a single and new acoustic album. The 10th anniversary show for Time & Place is played in October.

2014 The Come Into The Light single and video are released in July. Kinecism is released in November.

2013 Recording of Kinecism finishes in June. Epic, right?

2012 In between moving house, starting new jobs, having kids or doing all three, Kinematic keep recording Kinecism. The podcast This American Life features In Between on their Americans in China episode, making it our most popular song overnight.

2011 Recording of Kinecism begins in September.

2010 Kinematic give away their entire catalogue on a song-a-week basis. Not that big a deal now that streaming exists, but at the time it was kinda cool.

2009 Kites is released in October. Four music videos are released during the year and The High Singles come out on limited vinyl.

2008 Kites is recorded between March and November.

2007 The 38th Parallel and a video for Carnivàle are released in April. Championship Vinyl makes an appearance on the ill-fated US sitcom Cavemen.

2006 The Love & Graffiti single is released in July.

2005 Time & Place is released in October.

2004 The 38th Parallel is recorded during another long week in November.

2003 Time & Place is recorded during a hectic nine straight days in November.

2002 Mik and Ozi join on bass and drums. The So Green single and video is released in July. Their first gig as a band is the single launch in September.

2001 Starting Again, a raw, home-made, acoustic EP is released.

2000 Singer/songwriters Gordo and Mike start writing together.