Falling Star

"It was a four-star hotel, and there was our roadie Gizmo, naked and duct-taped to a cot that was propped up in the hallway," says Kicking K8 drummer Billy Nychay of the band's stay late last year at Chicago's Wyndham Hotel. "[Gizmo] made the mistake of getting drunk and I had the key to his room. He was naked and sleeping on a rollaway cot, so we just wrapped him up in tape and rolled him out into the hallway for all the old ladies to see. It went down to a one-star hotel after that."

Nychay says police were summoned, but no arrests were made.

"We were hiding out in a different room; they couldn't find us."

The four-man group -- originally called Bent -- formed in late 2004 as a jam band. A Kicking K8 EP will soon be released through liquor manufacturers Jägermeister.

"We have a sponsorship endorsement deal with them and [director of brand marketing] Rick Zeiler, who lives in San Diego. He saw we had some stuff recorded, and he said, 'Hey, let's start up a label and put this out for you guys.' We were, like, 'Hell, yeah!' "