Kalamazoo, MI– Home to one of the most diverse music scenes in Michigan, Kalamazoo now has
another band to add to the mix: The Parts of Speech.  Made up of Tim
Tapper belting vocals and guitar, Joe Veld switching between keyboard
and guitar, James Duke specializing in percussion, and bassist Jonathan
Takish, they have found their place amongst the eclectic local bands in this old industrial town brimming with new surprises.

The P.O.S. actually started out as a solo act of
Tapper’s that needed a backup band. He had formulated Tim Tapper and
the Terribles after recruiting Duke at a show at
Rocketstar, a local coffee shop/music venue. “After I saw [Duke] play
he had booked my solo show at Rocketstar,” Tapper said. Later Tapper,
knowing that he played bass, recruited Takish. The final member, Veld,
joined after a fated meeting between him and Tapper. “Tim heard that I
played a little and asked if I wanted to be in the band. He gave me
some samples to listen to and I just came up with some stuff I thought
sounded good with it. I just gave the whole thing a try,” Veld said.

Only
days before their first show in October of 2008, The Terribles had
decided to change their name to make the band sound more collaborative
rather than just a solo act with a backup band. “We were talking about
the songs. We listed off a few names and eventually Jonathan said
something about how our song names follow a pattern of ‘a noun and a
noun’ and Joe said ‘The Parts of Speech.’ It just fit,” said Tapper.

The POS have no particular musical syntax.
After discussing how much they hate labeling their style, they finally
agreed upon the delightfully ambiguous decision of not selecting a genre. Tapper said, “I
don’t want to pick a genre,” followed by Veld saying, “It’s too
limiting.”

Then again, with influences such as Yo la Tengo,
Pedro the Lion, Sigur Ròs, and Mineral it would be hard to narrow down
their sound to one specific genre.

While the band is enjoying
playing local venues for the time being, they have no real intention of
touring. “We’re going to record an EP pretty soon but we don’t plan on
forcing ourselves to stay together. We’re just doing this for the sake
of writing music and performing,” Tapper said. Veld followed with, “We
are doing this because we enjoy it and we like it when other people
enjoy it.

Catch them January 10th at Kalamazoo’s corner record shop.

Photo Credit David Doss