New Wet Kojak

New Wet Kojak came together in 1995 as a five-piece outfit from New York whose arty, jazz-inflected rock sound drew on the talents of Girls Against Boys’ Scott McCloud and Johnny Temple. The pair brought in guitarist and engineer Geoff Turner, previously of Grey Matter, along with drummer Nick Pelleciotto, once of Edsel, and saxophonist Charles Bennington; all three recruits shared the Washington, D.C., roots of McCloud and Temple’s primary band. Touch & Go Records issued the group’s self-titled debut that same year. Even with limited live appearances and the two leaders’ ongoing obligations to Girls Against Boys, New Wet Kojak delivered the follow-up Nasty International in 1997. The band then moved to Beggars Banquet, which put out the third album Do Things in spring 2000, an EP the following year, and the 2003 full-length This Is the Glamorous.