Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Killer Filler

Killer Filler hails from Hillsborough North Carolina, and is the brain-child of Chris “Crispy” Bess.  Crispy has a knack for writing insanely catchy tunes, so he assembled a band of insane musicians to record and perform his creations.  Well, maybe not completely insane, but certainly crazy enough to take on the challenge of playing songs that typically clock-in at less than 3-minutes, yet require countless hours to rehearse and perfect.  

In addition to large outdoor events (Artsplosure, First Night Raleigh, Festival For The Eno, Carrboro Music Festival) and local clubs (Cat's Cradle, The Cave, Slim's Downtown, Local 506), Killer Filler plays private and corporate events. From festivals and concert halls to weddings, pool parties, and backyard barbecues, folks respond to a sound that's fresh and familiar at the same time. Instrumental music sets a vibe at your party that isn't overbearing, but infectiously groovy.

To find out what makes these boys tick, use your mouse to click on your musician of choice.  We’ve assembled bios and even played “20 Questions” with each one of ‘em.  But be forewarned... sometimes they say the darnedest things. 

History by Crispy - Read on...

Before I had decided to start a full-fledged instrumental band again, I was making demos in my home studio for what was going to be a solo album called “Crispy’s Organ Grab”; each song was going to feature one of the eight different vintage organs I had on hand in my home.  I got into the habit of playing the demo songs for any musician that came by, including Teddy Zarras, the drummer for both the Chicken Wire Gang and Countdown Quartet.  Ted, good sport that he is, listened and smiled, enjoying most of ‘em, in spite of my use of Casios and other low-tech gizmos in lieu of drums. When I was finished, he nodded, and said, “That’s pretty killer background filler, Crispy,” Now, plenty of other people talked about what great filler it was, but Teddy was the man who dropped the “Killer” bomb.

 Later, when Pravda Music Publishing offered to pimp the demos for cable TV, I was reminded of Teddy’s words, and that became the title of the first production music CD-R I sent out into the public.  And, when I finally figured out this stuff was good enough to be played live, the name carried on.  By the way, should “Killer Filler” ever get snatched in some unexpected legal ambush, Bryon came up with our backup name:  The Obstinauts!