Knight's Past was formed in 1978 in Indiana. With the self-titled LP "Nights Passed" completed in 1983, founding member Mark Dailey along with John Ehresman, Mike Kelsey and Tim Palsson moved to Boston in 1985. Work began on a second album in 1986. With a working title of "The Dance Project" the band made changes in personnel and direction. Work continued on the second recording at Courtlen Recording with Fred Danner as engineer and Mike Kelsey on lead guitar.
In 1995, a new line up emerged with drummer Geoff Lucente, guitarist Geoff Valentine, bassist Ed Gontarz and Mark Dailey on keyboards. After working out the kinks of live performance the quartet began work on "Apathy Reigns", a 10 track CD with songs ranging from the mournful ballad "Just Us Fools" to the wild, swinging "Rubber Woman". Released in 1997 "Apathy" was supported by an aggressive live schedule and was well received.
The new millennium brought yet more changes, as the quartet became a duo. With the change in lineup came a different perspective as well. Mark and Ed began work on "Antidotes and Remedies for the Common Man" during the summer of 2000. This time the objective was to create music with a greater focus on production and quality. Several talented Boston musicians were called in to contribute to the project along with the lead and rhythm guitar work of long time KP member, Mike Kelsey. Pete Abdou played drums on all the tracks and also acted as engineer on several sessions. Other featured musicians are: Joe Boyle, Katrin Roush, Dan Foley and Dan Gontarz.
Featuring 11 tracks, the CD was released in December 2003. The songs contain a more introspective flavor and consider some factors that everyone encounters in life: love, fear, death, anger and common sense. Although the songs were all written and arranged by Mark and Ed, they encouraged all of the musicians to contribute their own personalities leading to the powerful personality of the CD.
The future holds
infinite possibilities of Knight's Past. Work has begun on restoring "The
Dance Project" and of course Mike Kelsey is featured on lead guitar.
Be sure to check out one of the live shows with the band or an acoustic performance.