Tahlena Chikami, frontwoman of Orange County, CA ska/pop/punk faves Bite Me Bambi, and Scott Klopfenstein of Littlest Man Band, Reel Big Fish, have teamed up on a spirited cover of the classic Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton duet “Islands In The Stream” (written by The Bee Gees).
Musicians appearing on the track include: Scott Klopfenstein: Vocals, Electric and Acoustic Guitar, Bass, Tahlena Chikami: Vocals, Matt Appleton (Reel Big Fish): Sax – Trumpet – Trombone, Ryland Steen (Reel Big Fish & America): Drums, Steve Fekete: Guitar
Track produced by Ryland Steen
Mixed and mastered by David Irish
Written by: The Bee Gees
Stream the single on Spotify and Bandcamp.
“The tune came about in the only way things in my career tend to…by someone saying something random while in front of an audience, then realizing that you have to live up to it,” says Klopfenstein.
He recalls, “Tahlena said “You know what would be crazy and fun…? And I said, “I like crazy and fun!” And the fans said, “We want crazy and fun!” So we gave it a go. I’m not sure if what we did is crazy and fun, but I’m positive…for the most part…that we did something crazy and I had fun.”
Tahlena Chikami adds, “You ever just blurt something out of your mouth and not really think it through? That’s how this cover of “Islands in the Stream” came about. While streaming on Twitch, I just sort of said, “Wouldn’t it be funny if Scott and I covered Islands in the Stream? We’ll dress up and everything. Hilarious!”. And the internet did what the internet does, it ran with it. Before we knew it, we were there singing it together on Scott’s stream.
To me, this cover sort of encapsulates the best parts of the Twitch community. Getting to collaborate with other artists, having inside jokes with your subscribers. Twitch streams sort of build their own community and lore. This cover is a great example of just that.
I was excited to do something with Scott, someone whose talent I really admire. It was really just all good, clean, and wet fun. Plus, I love any excuse to take out my Dolly wig!”
Director Chris Graue says, “There’s a beautiful strangeness in watching two people who have never met sing a song about being lovers together, and I hope we’ve captured something of that awkward joy for the audience.”