STREET BEAT LOCAL ARTIST PROFILE FEATURE 

DOS KALMAS 

by Ernie Thomas 

It has taken some maturation time, but the Hammond-born and bred brothers Michael and Chris Kalmas are finally performing music together again.  The two singing siblings have  “grown up” after having grown apart since the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, when they were rocked region stages together with the quirky pop combo, How Happy.     

“We’re just having a lot of fun together,” said Michael of reuniting with his elder brother in the aptly named, Dos Kalmas.  “We’ve got the bond of brotherhood and music between us.” Watching Chris, four years his senior, play guitar was a major source of inspiration for Michael becoming a musician.        

“I was in a band called The Phonics [mid-‘80s] when Michael put together his first real band,” recalled Chris.  “They were called, The Dean’s List, and I used to have them open shows for us.”  The Phonics were a neo-rockabilly band that landed an indie record deal and headlined venues like Metro, Excaliber and the Vic Theatre.    

When The Phonics broke up, Chris and Michael began a seven year run in clubs as How Happy.  “How Happy were the first band that I know of in this area to perform with a drum machine,” said Chris.  “That’s how we’re doing it now too,” added Mike of the Dos Kalmas show.  “The drum machine let’s us do a lot rhythmically. I put congas in there and all sorts of stuff.”    

“I play electric [guitar], Michael plays an Ovation acoustic and keyboards and we have the drum machine, so we can cover quite a bit of musical ground,” added Chris.  “Dos Kalmas is not just a folky acoustic act.  We rock ‘n’ roll.”   

    Their well blended repertoire of originals/covers has something for all tastes. “We do newer stuff from bands like Third Eye Blind, U2, Train and Coldplay, but we also do The Beatles, The Stones, Cheap Trick and even Marvin Gaye," said Michael.     

For the last decade, the brothers worked apart from each other on separate projects.   “Since How Happy ended, I was pretty much just doing my own thing,” said Chris.  “I was mostly writing and recording my own material.” 

     Chris recently laid down an album’s worth of songs with bassist Chip Z’Nuff and drummer Ricky Parent [of Enuff Z’Nuff].       

During one memorable session, Billy Corgan [of Smashing Pumpkins/Zwan] stopped by the studio on other business.  “He heard us playing and sat down and listened to us for a while,” said Kalmas.  “Billy said he really liked my [original] songs.  He was really encouraging.”    

The album, produced by Chris Sheppard (Wilco/Cheap Trick), is currently being shopped to record labels.  

     Michael’s post-How Happy years included fronting his own pop combo, The Olivers, and more recently playing in the band, Peacefreak.  

 “We had a major label looking closely at [Peace Freak],” he said. “They were talking a lot to us. Then one day, they just stopped talking.  That experience took the wind out of our sales,” he said on why Peacefreak broke up last summer.

      Michael began performing solo acoustic shows around his current Aurora/Naperville home turf late last year.  “I was talking to Chris and he offered to come out and sit in with me. It was a blast and we’ve been doing this ever since.”

 “Since we were going to do this thing, I thought the name Dos Kalmas fit. Michael loved it, even though some people think we’re a mariachi band or something,” laughed Chris.                                                                         

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