Mutual Kumquat. Interesting name for a band made up of very eclectic musicians, playing music derived from incredibly diverse influences.

The band consists of Chris Good, guitar; Drue Jones, lead vocals; Justin Peterson, drums; Ben Long, percussion, Liz Geisewite, tenor sax and vocals; Michael Good, keyboards and vocals; Seth Hendricks, guitar and vocals; and Gnome, bass.

“We’ve been together since the summer of 2000,” said guitarist Chris Good. “Originally, though, it was just three of us - Ben Long, Nate Shull, and myself. We were all in school together. My brother Michael did some shows with us when we’d come back. We just had a bunch of musicians from school that started hanging out together and it kind of exploded from there. At one point, we had 11 members.”

In explaining the name of the band, Good added, “The three original guys came up with it. We were on a road trip out west, and I was doing some reading about mutuality being compared to equality. We were sitting underneath a kumquat tree and the name just sort of came out, and it just stuck.”

By the spring of 2002, the band’s lineup had settled into its current form, and they recorded and released their first project, Feel The Vibe.

“The whole process of the first CD happened while we were in school and it was kind of thrown together,” said Good. “Some of the tracks were recorded live.”

After this first recording, however, the band members scattered to different parts of the country. Mutual Kumquat’s members live as far out west as Oregon and as far east as North Carolina. Good, who lives in Michigan, explains it this way: “Being spread out all over the country, after 2002, we recorded then scattered. We were kind of different musicians and different people then. But by Christmas 2003, we decided to do something. We decided to bring the group into the present. We did some stuff at home to send out as demos, then we spent two or three months sending tapes back and forth and took a few weekends to practice and wound up at Monastic Chambers recording studio.”

The result of this long distance effort is the band’s newest album, Dream On It, released this summer. “It has 21 tunes on it. It was out of control, almost,” said Good, “but, we took our time with the new one. It was more of a professional approach. Plus, there was incredible evolution as songwriters and musicians. People have grown a lot.”

This growth is evident to people outside the band as well. In a June 24, 2004 review in whatzup, Jason Hoffman wrote, “... Dream On It is actually a number of different albums squashed into one, a big no-no in the current musical world, where everything must be categorized in order to be properly marketed to the correct niche group. Well, the niche group for Mutual Kumquat are those who find nothing wrong with starting an album with an instrumental composed of various ethnic percussion instruments ... the album reveals many influences ... at well over 70 minutes, Dream On It flies by, thanks to Mutual Kumquat’s infectious fun-loving spirit that permeates each track ... you can hear the musical companions having a blast recording their songs, making it easy for the listener to likewise get caught up in the party.”

What’s also highly evident to both reviewers and listeners alike is the vast array of influences to be found in Mutual Kumquat’s music. The two primary songwriters in the band are Chris Good and Seth Hendricks, and they bring a lot of their own personal tastes to the table. Snatches of Paul Simon, Billy Joel and Bob Marley are there, as well as roots, funk, and jazz. You can even go as far as to want to place Mutual Kumquat into the jam band scene with acts such as Phish.

One thing that is not immediately noticed, though, is the fact that the members of Mutual Kumquat are people who aren’t afraid to speak out for causes they believe in. A quick visit to the band’s website (www.mutualkumquat.com) offers links to activist organizations as diverse as moveon.org, pagancluster.org, foodnotbombs.net, Church Of The Brethren Washington Office, On Earth Peace Assembly, United For Peace And Justice and Dropping Knowledge.

The band will also be performing Saturday, November 20, in Columbus, Georgia for the annual protest rally to close the School Of The Americas at Fort Benning. Some members of the band also played at an anti-war protest July 4 in Charleston, West Virginia, the day President Bush was there.

“The activism comes from everyone in the group,” said Good. “The links on the site reflect individual causes that some of us are into. As a group, we’re pretty like-minded. We’ve played at several protests and have incorporated political messages into our music. We’re tight as people, and we bring that to the music. What better excuse to get together for a show? There have been times when we’ve had concerts with a particular focus.”

Mutual Kumquat’s “particular focus” at the moment, however, is promoting Dream On It.

“We’ve done shows around the CD to promote it,” said Good. “It’s not been easy. Because of the geographic situation, it’s difficult. We’re looking at doing more of a concerted effort in the future. It’s hard with everyone’s personal lives and such.