A Horse Named Juan

Majic Bullets

Unyielding and exceptional rock.

A Horse Named Juan is the 3rd album from Majic Bullets. Kirk Rapport (Electric Guitars/Vocals) , Justin Kovalcek (Bass/Vocals/Percussion) & Shannon Mulready (Drums/Vocals/Keyboards/Recorders/Acoustics) collaborated on all of the 10 songs, recording and producing the album themselves. The album's 10 songs are

Unyielding and exceptional rock.

A Horse Named Juan is the 3rd album from Majic Bullets. Kirk Rapport (Electric Guitars/Vocals) , Justin Kovalcek (Bass/Vocals/Percussion) & Shannon Mulready (Drums/Vocals/Keyboards/Recorders/Acoustics) collaborated on all of the 10 songs, recording and producing the album themselves. The album's 10 songs are powerful, raw and unapologetic. The songs are borne out of the desire to challenge the conventions of popular music.

Biography: Kirk & Shannon started playing music together in April of 1991 while they both attended Conard High School in West Hartford, CT. Kirk had been playing with his classmate and bassist Brian Mortenson for a year or two by that time and when Shannon joined them they became a band, sometimes referring to themselves as The Barefoot Band. They played mostly classic rock covers.

Justin, also a Conard High School student, had been playing guitar for a number of years by that point; frequently playing with friends and acquaintances in and around West Hartford including his uncles who had been playing in rock bands locally for years.

After Kirk & Brian graduated High School in June of 1991 The Barefoot Band continued to rehearse, jam and began to compose songs in between college and work commitments. Meanwhile Justin honed his guitar skills in between work commitments as well . In February of 1992 The Barefoot Band played its first professional show at Dean Jr. College. Up until that point they had largely played instrumental music but with the need for a singer for the gig Kirk sang Purple Haze and Too Rolling Stoned and Shannon sang What Is and What Should Never Be, while Kirk’s two roommates sang two other songs with the band that evening.

Over the next two years The Barefoot Band would compose and record demos of their original songs with Kirk & Shannon splitting the Vocal duties. Another gig was booked at Dean in May 1993 but Brian couldn’t attend and another bass player stood in. In February of 1994 Brian left the Band amicably.

In May of 1994 Justin expressed an interest to Kirk in joining the Band as the bassist. Kirk, Shannon & Justin met and played acoustics for a few hours and agreed to try an electric jam. In June of 1994 the three jammed at Shannon’s parent’s house and were thrilled with the sound. Within a week they were practicing in the band room on the second floor of Tom’s Automotive (Justin’s uncle’s business) on Flatbush Ave. in West Hartford. The band practiced four nights a week from June through August learning classic rock covers and working on original material. In July, Justin booked their first gig as an opening Act for Open Arms (an SRV cover band) at Scarlett O’Hara’s on Pratt St, in Hartford, CT. The gig was held on July 27, 1994 and they were billed as Suspension of Disbelief. By the time they arrived at the gig they had already decided on the name Magic Bullets which they came across in a book of medical terms. At their second gig on August 4, 1994 (also at Scarlett O’Hara’s) the Bar Manager had misspelled their name to read Majic with a J. They thought it was perfect and decided to keep it that way.

From 1994 through 1997 the Majic Bullets played many live gigs in New England (mostly in the Hartford area). It was difficult to practice since Kirk was studying music at Berklee in Boston, Shannon was working and going to college and Justin was working full time. Many of the gigs consisted of long extended solo sections with new covers and new originals often added at the last minute without proper rehearsals. In March of 1995 the Majic Bullets recorded their first CD consisting of ten original songs entitled Good Enough for Government Work at Flight Path Productions in Granby, CT with engineer Carl Monty (later mastered by Jim Chapdelaine). The entire album was recorded and mixed in twenty hours for $800.

In August of 1997 Shannon moved to Colorado and the Majic Bullets wouldn’t play together again until the end of 1998. Shannon returned to Connecticut in July of 1998 and began jamming on guitar with Pete Russo on drums and Jerry Amenta on percussion. After a number of jams Kirk and Justin joined them and they wrote a few new songs and played a few gigs over the next two years. In 2000, Kirk, Justin, Shannon & Pete recorded the album Fuzzy Doctor Five at The Coffeehouse in Middletown, CT with engineer and producer Mike Arafeh. Again the album was recorded quickly under a limited budget. The next two years held some sporadic jams and rehearsals but not much in the way of progress. In December of 2001 Kirk, Shannon & Justin (back as a power trio) played a gig at Sully’s Pub. It would be their last for over nine years together. From 2002 through 2009 Kirk, Shannon & Justin played with a number of different acts independent of each other.

On New Years Day 2010 the Majic Bullets reunited. After a few weeks they began writing new songs together. In March of 2011 they played at Sully’s Pub. In June of 2011 they began recording A Horse Named Juan. They engineered and produced the album themselves in Justin’s basement. Finding the time to record was difficult because of work, parental responsibilities and Health Issues but in April of 2012 they finished the last track of the album and in June of 2012 they finished mixing and mastering. A Horse Named Juan was released in July 2012.

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