Kid Jupiter was a transition band in more ways than one. Kelp had called it quits with Rena moving to Detroit and Gary to Columbus. Jim and Kent wanted to continue doing -something-, and teamed up with MB Camp who had taken over on bass for Gary. With no singer they put out ads and finally had an eye-opening audition with Sara Hutchinson. Sara’s style leaned more towards blues and jam band, which wasn’t really where Kid Jupiter was headed, but her style and spark were powerful enough to see where things might lead.

They landed some interest right off the bat, but things were strange. The rehearsal space they had known and loved decided to stop being rehearsal space, and trying to find a new home was more stressful than any of them expected – and the rehearsal schedule itself was getting complex.

Though scoring some sweet gigs (playing at the Cincinnati Gardens in front of a packed house as the half-time show for the Cincinnati Roller Girls was off the hook!), things just never quite seemed to mesh.

After some ups and downs, Sara left the band and the search was on for a new singer. Where in years past, Kent had been surprisingly successful placing ads in the local arts mags, it just wasn’t moving as fast as the band would have liked. Jim ended up on a trip to Rome for three weeks, and MB and Kent tried to find someone in that time. After a couple of pretty bad false starts, about three weeks after Jim returned, MK McGrath finally came on the scene, and they continued where they had left off.

In the end, though, Kid Jupiter took just a little too long to get off the ground, and there may have been some ‘rebound band’ angst going on with Kent and Jim after how successful Kelp had been. After recording a handful of tunes, mostly in the rehearsal room, Kid Jupiter disbanded after a total run of about a year and a half.

Being a transition band makes for some interesting recordings though – tunes that ended up on Kelp’s “Dead Band Walking” album when they momentarily regrouped a couple years after this, and another couple on Kent’s next (and current) project – “Oh So Luminous”, and with early versions of “Three Miles, Two Cans” and MK’s alternate lyrical/vocal take on the same called “Big Fish” make for some interesting contrasts.