Merle Knurling is a more-or-less one-man musical act. Merle was invented a bunch of years ago as one quarter of a Rock and Roll combo called The Knurlings who were based in Ottawa, Canada. You see, there were these four friends who decided to start a Garage band and they each took a stage name ALA The Ramones. Not a very original idea, I know, but it sure was fun for the people involved. The name The Knurlings was taken from a Machining textbook owned by the band's drummer. (Look it up and find out all about tool and die making. Learning is fun!) The names of The Knurlings were Earl Knurling, Pearl Knurling, Stirling Knurling and of course Merle. Stirling left town after a few years and was replaced by a fellow named Grog. Grog was already a cool enough nickname so no one needed to invent another name for him. He simply retained the Grog and added the Knurling part.

The Knurlings had a life of about three or four years. I can't remember. They put out some records, played some shows and enjoyed giving birth to a big pile of silly ideas. Anyway, back to Merle. Around the second or third year of The Knurlings existence (again, I can't remember) Merle went downtown to an Ottawa club to see a show by Art Bergmann. That would be cool enough but Merle was even more excited about witnessing the opening act, Mr. Chris Houston. Merle owned some Chris Houston records and knew a bit of his musical history and was quite excited about seeing a live performance by a guy who had made him laugh so much in the past on all those cool It Came From Canada compilations and such. So there stood Chris Houston up on the stage, and there stood a youngish, impressionable Merle Knurling in the audience. Chris played a set of songs on an acoustic guitar. He had no backing band. Merle listened and laughed and had his mind completely and thoroughly blown.

After that, Art Bergmann took the stage and depressed the shit out of everyone, which isn't a bad thing because it seems that everyone left the show feeling something at least. Art's fans went away feeling depressed as shit yet satisfied that they had just enjoyed an amazing musical performance. Go Art! Chris's fans left happy that he had played the Forgotten Rebels songs that they had requested and could happily sing along to. Go Chris! Merle left inspired and sporting a stupid grin. Merle had an idea that he wanted to experience more stupid grins and that he also wanted to inspire other people to grin stupidly. Go Merle!

Merle then went home to his record collection. He pulled out all the records that had caused him to enjoy stupid grins in the past. He pulled out and played records by Deja Voodoo and Mojo Nixon. He wigged out on Fish Karma and The Dead Milkmen. He rolled on the floor soaking up the genius of The Young Fresh Fellows, The Evaporators and The Gruesomes. He got positively giddy cranking his stereo volume to the sounds of Jerry Jerry, The Dik Van Dykes and Hasil Adkins. He got confused and somewhat baffled listening to The Shaggs but he still continued to grin like an idiot.

Merle then picked up his guitar and started writing songs. He went down to the Royal Oak pub with his notebook and scribbled down some lyrics. He secured a place where he could practice at high volume and eventually started playing some shows. He's shared the stage with some of Canada's coolest underground musical acts. He's played on the radio a whole bunch of times and now, thanks to his friends at Music For Cats Records has a full length CD out. To top it off, he's recently hired a backing band to help him flesh out his crazed sound in a live setting. What's next for Merle Knurling? Who knows? Fortunately (or unfortunately) he won't be going away any time soon. As for now, enjoy the new recordings and be sure to check him out live at a dirty poolroom or tiny pub near you.