Secrets of Kaplan are an alternative rock 3 piece from Leeds, UK, predominantly influenced by rock bands of the 1990s and early 2000’s .The group was founded in 2009, and is comprised of Damien Selby (songwriter/vox/guitar), Gareth Kent (bass), and Ben Hirst (drums).
Overview
The band first formed in 2009 as a duo, after unsuccessful attempts to lure a drummer, by using a drum machine as their beat maker. After months of rehearsing and getting ready to gig, they placed an advertisement on the off chance that a drummer would respond, as they had doubts whether they could pull off a band live using a drum machine with the songs they had written. Ben answered the ad and the band began rehearsing the songs that had been written with the aim to take them to the live circuit.
The band’s name.
The bands name derives from an Alfred Hitchcock film called “North by Northwest”. In which one of the characters (Thornhill) is mistaken by a gang of spies, who believe he is a CIA agent called Kaplan, and that he has committed murder. Thornhill has to find Kaplan to clear himself of a murder it is believed he committed.
The band’s name is usually shortened to SOK.