Available sizes: S, M, L, XL

WHITE on CACTUS

Available sizes: S, M, L, XL

WHITE on SMOKE

Available sizes: S, M, L, XL

These items are currently only available for purchase through our Kickstarter fundraiser. To help us create a new live show (and also pick up one of these sweet shirts on the way), CLICK HERE.

Available sizes: S, M, L, XL

WHITE on BLACK

Available sizes: S, M, L, XL

These items are currently only available for purchase through our Kickstarter fundraiser. To help us create a new live show (and also pick up one of these sweet shirts on the way), CLICK HERE.

Available sizes: S, M, L, XL

BLACK on PEACOCK

Available sizes: S, M, L, XL

These items are currently only available for purchase through our Kickstarter fundraiser.  To help us create a new live show (and also pick up one of these sweet shirts on the way), CLICK HERE.

Truth is, we have actually already been hard at work on this new live show for a while now. Over the past few months, we (and our fancy filmmaker friends) have been scheming up some crazy ideas for a new projector-powered video triggering live show extravaganza!  We’re talking about a completely new format here with all new videos, new transitions, and new songs!

Explaining this new concept in writing just doesn’t do it justice… so we made this nice little video:

Things really are usually easier said than done though. We recently hit a road-block…. we can’t build our new live show concept around our current projector. It just doesn’t work… and we are too poor to buy a new better-suited one. There is a glimmer of hope left though…

Kid Meets Cougar was just officially approved to start our own Kickstarter Project! Haven’t heard of Kickstarter.com? Basically, Kickstarter is a “grass-roots” fund raising website built to help creative projects become a reality. Right up our alley.

Our Kickstarter page will give you ALL of the details on our “New Live Show” fund raising project but in a nut shell:

We would like to raise $6,000 to buy a new projector, make new “live visual” videos, and create a brand new mind-blowing live show!

Whadaya say buddy? Could you spare a dime for a Kid and a Cougar? If so, head on over HERE.

You won’t walk away empty-handed though! We have a ton of neat rewards you can claim with your donation.  Here are just a few (pictures coming soon):

• A special KMC Paper Airplane and Helicopter Set
• Digital Downloads and physical copies of our debut album, “For Breakfast”
• Free entry into a special “Kickstarter Donators Appreciation Show.”
• KMC Poster and Sticker Fun Pack by uber-designer, Corlene Byrd w/ a special message handwritten from us the on reverse side.
• Brand new “Attack” KMC T-shirt or Tank Top designed by pro inline skater, Tony Rivituso. (currently only available for purchase from this kickstarter project and select live shows)
• A luxurious 8″ x 10″ photo portrait of our famous cat, Moonshine, being held by our robot buddy, Boltronix 5000 (autographed by Moonshine and Boltronix, of course).
• Custom made KMC Flask designed by Kid Meets Cougar.
• Guaranteed roll in one of our upcoming music videos.
• Hand made KMC Purse or Messenger Bag designed and sewn by Courtney.
• Studio time at our studio.
• A spot on our guest list… FOR LIFE!

+ A LOT MORE! Check out our Kickstarter page already!

“Kid Meets Cougar are the furthest thing from the flashing-light glitter of the Vegas Strip, and their DIY aesthetic and irresistibly adorable electronic-fed indie pop has the two set as indie rock’s next buzz couple.” – Best New Band in Nevada 2010, 50 Bands in 50 States Summer Feature. – The Boston Phoenix

“The ideal combination of humility, vulnerability, melody — and grooves that make you wanna wiggle — is hard to achieve, but Las Vegas’ Kid Meets Cougar is on the right track. The band’s songs also branch off from cute: some go all raw-and-screamy, while others get oblique ‘n’ funky. Expect earworm choruses and pristine harmonies — and expect this band to go somewhere.” -Ian S. Port,The SF Weekly

“For Carroll and Bolton, a real-life couple who make up the electro-pop duo Kid Meets Cougar, the do-it-yourself ethic isn’t the usual artistic dogma, but what gives their act its charm and uniqueness — and KMC has charm and uniqueness in spades. It’s why their enthusiastically delivered live performances have become talk of the downtown music scene. It’s why people stare so attentively at their stage set-up, an complicated network of hardware and instrumentation that somehow produces such humanistic bliss. It’s why they can talk talented local filmmakers like Jeremy Cloe and Mike Thompson… into producing accompanying shorts for their live show. And it’s why, even in a year already crowded with local releases, For Breakfast is one of the best Vegas albums of 2009.” – Mike Prevatt, Las Vegas City Life

“Best Local Band” 2010 – The Rebel Yell

“So it’s just after 10 on a Friday night. You park, stroll up to the Bunkhouse, open the door and catch sight of … a dude in a Viking helmet holding a guitar and rapping? A chick in a wife-beater with fake tattoos running up both arms, banging on drums … and rapping? The video for Dr. Dre’s “Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang”—the song the duo is covering in semi-serious fashion—rolling onscreen in the background? You’ve just witnessed Kid Meets Cougar. And yeah, that really happened.” – Laura Davis, The Las Vegas Weekly

“Kid Meets Cougar’s indie dance pop is a hit among robots and hipsters alike” – Jason Bracelin, Las Vegas Review Journal

But wait! Before you call up your copyright lawyer friend looking to sue us for the $50 we currently have in our account… WE HAVE GOOD NEWS! These samples have just been approved for use and we couldn’t be more excited about how the entire situation panned out!

So without further adieu, we give you… the talented Adams Elementary School Cougar Cheerleading Team from Castine, Maine!

Here’s the full story (as told by Brett):

While I was writing the song “It’s All in Your Head”, I kept feeling like the song was missing something. Spastic beat? Check. Dueling vocals? Check. Completely unnecessary “middle of nowhere sound” breakdown? Double check!  The song needed something to add a little bit of fun to the recording. I could hear some sort of cheer in my head so I decided to search around the internet for inspiration to help me make my own cheer… (sounds logical right? yeaaahhhh)

I eventually stumbled onto the AES Cougar Cheerleading YouTube page. I was immediately intrigued by how unique the cheers sounded, chanted by children in a wide open gym and recorded with a lofi camcorder microphone. The fact that the cheers were being done by KIDS on a team named THE COUGARS was just icing on the cake… I HAD to use these samples!

When we originally wrote the song we imagined it would just be a fun little tune we shared with our friends and family. Accordingly, we didn’t worry about (ahem) “borrowing” the samples of the cheers without permission. Recently, however, with a heavy heart and some expert advice from our good lawyer buddy, Jason Swallow,  we decided to make things right and try to get approval from the AES Cougar Cheerleaders.

I sent an email/plea for help to “Coach Jen” (Jennifer Henderson). She got back to me the same night saying she would forward the email to the school’s principal. This is where I started to stress out a little. Without their approval, I would have to re-record the samples in that song, take all of our music off the internet, and re-release a new version of that song and album. Not fun. It would be a lot of work but it was my own dang fault for going around taking samples from YouTube.

Fortunately, I woke up to find an incredibly nice email from Coach Jen and the AES Cougar Cheer Team the next morning. They liked our song and they let us use their samples! I guess the principal even played the music video for “It’s All in Your Head” at their school assembly the following day! Haha pretty neat.

In order to show our support and gratitude, we are sending them some money to buy the team a new tumbling mat. We are pretty excited we could help them out and that everything turned out so well… We can distribute the song “It’s All in Your Head” without fear, we got a neat little story to tell, we learned a ton about copyright law, and (best of all ) we also made some nice new friends up in Castine, Maine!

Go show them some love.

We just got back to Las Vegas this afternoon after a 24 hour drive straight from Austin.  SXSW kicked our butts, took our money, and left us exhausted… but it was well worth it!

We went to SXSW with the intent to just get a feel for the festival, see some good bands, and come back next year well prepared to showcase our own music… Fortunately, however, we were actually lucky enough to get in contact with some generous people and make a few waves of our own this year.

It’s tough to describe, or even list, all of the adventures that have happened over our past week in Austin, TX because way too much stuff happened… both good and bad.  So here are the highlights:

- We hung out with some great friends and even made a few new ones. We rented a sweet house with our buddies Afghan Raiders, and James from Neon Reverb!

- Watched a TON of great bands including: Minus the Bear, The Kissaway Trail, Afghan Raiders, Rainbow Arabia, Wallpaper., Casiokids, Autumn Owls, Chew Lips, and Electric President.

- Learned what “last call” means and then witnessed the creepiest/most dangerous/ most entertaining parade of party-goers flood the streets of Austin. Fights were started, cops on bikes were hit by frat guys in cars, and some cool dude even parked his car in the middle of the road… on a one way street …facing the wrong way… just to “holler” at some fine young ladies. Haha and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

- We played our first SXSW show at the Beauty Bar/Ryan Pardey Showcase at the Palm Door

- We got lucky enough to slip onto the Neon Reverb/Epicsauce.com show at the Music Gym!  This show was by far the best time we had throughout SXSW. Great bands, great promoters/sponsors, and an INCREDIBLE crowd! The entire venue had a really laid-back and welcoming atmosphere to it… as soon as we showed up looking to see if we could jump on the bill, Kevin from Epicsauce.com and James from Neon Reverb said we could just start our own small show on a second stage inside the venue and play in between the main bands. How awesome is that?! Cool guys.

- We met Paul Beahan, the owner of Manimal Vinyl!

- We did an interview with the super friendly Whitney Pastorek from Entertainment Weekly! Here’s the full article :

“SXSW Q&A with Kid Meets Cougar, one of the best little bands in Las Vegas“

See you next year SXSW! Prepare to be dominated!

-Brett and Courtney

Full Article Here: http://music-mix.ew.com/2010/03/22/kid-meets-cougar-sxsw/

SXSW Q&A with Kid Meets Cougar, one of the best little bands in Las Vegas

Image Credit: Corlene Byrd

Another SXSW has come and gone, and now that we’re all battling post-festival pneumonia, it’s time for one last post. Over the past five days, we brought you coverage of Muse and Smokey Robinson. We battled crowds and climate to see moonlighting Dixie Chicks and surprising visits from Snoop Dogg. We witnessed the returns of Hole and Stone Temple Pilots. But what about the other 2200+ bands playing in Austin without publicists or managers or major label deals?

Kid Meets Cougar is a lo-fi, high-tech duo from Las Vegas, with no publicist or manager or label deal. They drove to Austin in their 1995 GMC Safari conversion van, nicknamed “Yo Yo Ma,” which features a teal carpeted and wood paneled interior, complete with VHS player. They arrived in town with no badges or wristbands, and only one show to play. When I sat down with Courtney Carroll, 29, and Brett Bolton, 23, on Saturday and offered to buy them a drink, they opted to split a Guinness. They are, in a word, adorable.

You can visit Kid Meets Cougar on the web at www.kidmeetscougar.com, where you can stream their debut album, For Breakfast, in its entirety. I’ve also embedded their video for “Hey Hey” after the Q&A below. The first time I saw it was on a friend’s cell phone. I’d estimate I’ve watched it 40 or so times since. I find it freeing. Viva new music!

Entertainment Weekly: You two seem to be the poster children for the point of SXSW: to discover great bands and give them the chance to gain new opportunities and exposure. Do you think this experience was worth it for you guys?
Brett Bolton: Originally we were just going to come out here and have fun and check it out. But then we got on a showcase at the Palm Door, and then this Epicsauce.com/Neon Reverb show last night. It was awesome. We talked to Kevin from Epicsauce when we got there, and he was like, “Hey, if you want to play inside, there’s a PA in there.” And it was one of the best shows we’ve ever played.
Courtney Carroll: We got to do our own sound!
B: It was a small room. Probably about 50 people inside. It was packed.
C: It had a real house party feel. Everybody was dancing.
B: We had our videos going behind us. We were pretty much given free rein. It was one of the best shows we’ve done. The first couple days we felt kind of like little fish, you know? There’s this many bands, and you’re like, “How can I do anything?”
C: Yeah, how do you even go about it? But last night, there wasn’t anyone who knew we were going to be there.
B: We weren’t promoted at all. And we ended up getting there, playing for a packed room. C: It felt really friendly.
B: They took a lot of CDs.
C: We gave them out for free.
B: We want to be heard.
C: I would rather 100 people have our CD for free than five people have it for $5.
B: We have download codes, too.
C: We can sell our CDs later.
B: The show last night turned my world upside down. I have so much energy and so many good contacts now. I think SXSW has a certain magic to it.

Courtney, I originally know you from a great Vegas-based alt-country band called the Clydesdale. How did that band get started?
C: I used to work at a bar with an open mic night that I hosted, and when that bar closed, they moved the open mic night to a bar behind the Double Down. And Paige and Andrew, who are in the Clydesdale, used to come do open mic night there. They stole me from my old band, the Swing Bastards.

How did you and Brett meet? How long have you two been going out?
C: Two years.
B: She was in another band called Love Pentagon. It’s like an all-girl, tech-spacey-retro rock band. They were having a CD release party, and I had another band called Jr. Anti-Sex League, and we played the party. We kind of had a band date night, to hang out and get to know each other, and that’s where I met her.
C: We started hanging out all weekend and playing music together for fun, just to do something. I don’t think it started off as a plan to be in a band.
B: We’re both drummers.
C: He’s the really good drummer. I’ve learned more in the two years that we’ve been dating than I learned the whole other 10 years I’ve played drums.
B: But we started writing some beats, and then picked up some guitars, played some keyboards, had fun with it. Eventually we had enough songs to make an album. We recorded it pretty much over the course of a year.

Did you record it yourself?
B: Yeah, on LogicPro. It’s Apple’s version of ProTools. Learning how to play music, make music, and record it all at the same time is a really fun experiment.
C: That’s kind of how we make our songs. We record something, and then add stuff. And then figure out how to play it live. [laughs]

How would you describe your music to people who haven’t heard it?
B: [to Courtney] That’s you.
C: Someone told me that we sound like a mix between Dr. Dre and Belle and Sebastian. [giggles]
B: Like electro-acoustic…
C: I like saying we’re “organic electronic.” It’s organic because we’re still playing real instruments.All the stuff in our music that’s electronic sounding is stuff that he plays organic and records, and then chops it up.
B: I play guitar, but now I have 18 drum pads. I used to just trigger things with my laptop…
C: And if he would hit the pads too much, sometimes it would crash the laptop.
B: But then I was like, Hey, we’re drummers, we can have fun with this. So we got 18 drum pads lined up right next to me that I can sit there and trigger a song or a piece of a guitar part, and play it almost like a drum part. She plays keyboards. And we both sing.
C: The type of music we play is mostly the type of music we listen to.
B: Minus the Bear is one of my favorite all-time bands. We waited three hours to see them at the day party on Cedar Street this week. It was amazing. And there’s this whole label called Morr Music, based out of Berlin. Early in college I started getting into this label, and all the bands are so weird. They’re electronic-y, but they still have an organic feel to them. They’d take samples of like them hitting tables, or them snapping and doing stuff, and chop it up and make these electronic beats out of it. So it had this weird vibe to it. I really got inspired by that kind of stuff.

What were your plans for the record once it was done?
B: We didn’t know. We just liked doing it. We had a big CD release party at this warehouse.
C: That was crazy. It was a new place that no one had ever used for a show, because it was just a warehouse where his other band practiced. We named it “Whiskey Wolf Warehouse,” and I think just the name alone, people were like, “What is this ‘Whiskey Wolf Warehouse’? I’ve gotta go there!” We had like 200 people.

Do you think people know how big the independent art scene is in Vegas?
C: I was actually talking to a guy last night and told him we’re from Vegas, and he was like, “There’s a music scene in Vegas?”
B: Wasn’t that Paul?
C: Oh yeah!
B: We met the owner of Manimal Records last night. He was super cool. We were playing with [Vegas band] Afghan Raiders, too, and he was like, “What? Vegas? You guys are having a showcase here?”
C: I feel like our music scene is getting really friendly and tight-knit.
B: It’s exciting.
C: Everyone is supporting each other. I feel like it’s a really good place right now.
B: There’s a couple more scenes that we’re not really familiar with. Like the whole screamo scene.
C: One Pin Short is here. They’re from Vegas. But I think they’re ska. I don’t know anything about that.

Are you looking to get signed? Are any of your other bands on a label?
B: No. We’ve been close a couple times, but it’s kinda scary.
C: His old band almost got on Columbia. But there’s too much small print.
B: We have a good lawyer now. I’m not afraid anymore.

We just found out our debut album, “For Breakfast” was chosen as one of Las Vegas CityLife’s top 10 albums of 2009! That’s a pretty nice way to end an awesome year….

Can’t wait to see what 2010 has in store!

Here’s an excerpt from the article:

Kid Meets Cougar

For Breakfast (self-released; www.myspace.com/kidmeetscougar)

“One of Las Vegas’s 2009 breakouts fast-tracked a full-length just as its word-of-mouth factor spiked. The band had been known for its energetic live shows, where duo Brett Bolton and Courtney Carroll were instrumentally multitasking to the point of exhausting even their audience. That experience has now been formatted for your headphones with For Breakfast, which hones in on the duo’s particular brand of tuneful, loop-friendly electro-pop. And, as if the rhythms didn’t liven things up enough, the playful lyrics and irony-free delivery — even during the rap exchange attached to “Dr. Dre” — ensure fun is had for all. M.P.”

Link to Full Article