Carp 18 is a MInneapolis band who formed in late 1990 after playing together in a pop-rock band called the Tangents (who were formerly unknown as The Pungent Reflection).
Carp 18 played most of the main clubs in the Twin Cities throughout the 90s, releasing a series of cassettes and their debut CD Russian Racehorse in 1997 which received some very positive reviews. Their band newsletter, the Catch O' the Day, became a bit of a cult favorite within the local music scene. The band found themselves as finalists in a couple best band type contests over the years, received some indie & major label interest, received mention from the City Pages for things like best band name, an honorable mention from Jim Walsh in their Picked To Click feature, etc.
The band received a fair amount of airplay on local music shows in the Twin Cites, Galway Ireland and on NPR's Car Talk show. The song Muscle Car Blues (Tell Me Another) appeared on Car Talk's CD Born Not to Run.'' Carp 18's song Me & My Computer was used as background music on the Cities 97 during updates on the (then) looming Y2k Disaster. The song Yellow Dye #5 became the theme song for the KQRS Homegrown Show's Roving Reporter segments and at one time, was Peter Jesperson's pick for his radio show theme song on REV 105 in the early 90s (he ended up going with something else but it was cool to be considered).
On December 1999, Carp 18 took the freight elevator up to the Third Ear Recording studio in Minneapolis to work on their second CD bug rump. Because of the Y2K Disaster and the fact that the freight elevator was controlled by a non Y2K-ready 286 MHz processor, the band and the record were lost in a sea of Mellotrons and echo chambers until the Fall of 2006 when it was discovered that were were 2 stairwells available for exiting the building.
On October 27th, 2006, Carp 18 held a rocking CD Release Party at the 400 Bar celebrating the release of their lost album bug rump and Carp 18 member Joe Fahey's solo debut Tote Bag. The band members and their fans were reminded that Carp 18 likes to rock. Look for more dates soon and a possible 3rd CD which will be a back to basics rocker for sure, you can count on it.