Kuinka returns to the Red Room on Saturday, Nov. 3

Tahoe Onstage
Kuinka fires up the Red Room crowd during a 2017 show in the Crystal Bay Casino.
Tahoe Onstage photos by Larry Sabo

Hare today, gone tomorrow. Say hello to Kuinka.

A Finnish word for “how,” Kuinka is pronounced “Co-Ink-A.”

“It’s easy to remember and fun to say, like ‘coinkedink,’ ” said Miranda Zickler, who, coincidentally, has a singing voice that has been compared to the lead vocalist for the Nordic band Of Monsters And Men.

A Seattle quartet will make its fifth appearance at the Crystal Bay Casino on Saturday, Nov 3. Rainbow Girls will open the free Red Room show at 10 p.m.

The band has been compared to the Lumineers, Mumford and Sons, Vampire Weekend and Fleetwood Mac. And, in another “coinkedink,” its record producer, Jerry Streeter, also produces Brandi Carlile, whose band includes twin brothers. Kuinka is comprised of brothers Nathan and Zach Hamer, and Jillian Walker and Zickler. Each member sings, plays multiple instruments and writes songs.

The band started with bluegrass instrumentation but in the last year has added Roland drum machines, which guitarist Zickler and cellist Walker manipulate with foot pedals. So it can be called a string and synth group.

“It’s the same sort of writing structures that we’ve always used but we’ve been exploring different methods of putting them out there,” Zickler said.

Call them what you like, this group’s live shows are special.

“Music is a universal language and it connects people emotionally in a way that really nothing else can,” Zickler said. “The community at live show is something palpable and tangible and there’s a kind of magic that happens there that you really can’t find anywhere else.

“I’ve been going to shows in concert festivals since I was really, really young and I think it’s shaped who I am as a person. The sense of community when there’s … people in a room loving the same thing is beautiful and it’s hard to even think of a situation that compares to it

  • Kuinka
    Opener:
    When:
    10 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 3
    Where:
    Crystal Bay Casino Red Room

    Tahoe Onstage 

ABOUT Tim Parsons

Picture of Tim Parsons
Tim Parsons is the editor of Tahoe Onstage who first moved to Lake Tahoe in 1992. Before starting Tahoe Onstage in 2013, he worked for 29 years at newspapers, including the Tahoe Daily Tribune, Eureka Times-Standard and Contra Costa Times. He was the recipient of the 2011 Keeping the Blues Alive award for Journalism.

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One Response

  1. I can’t wait for the show this Saturday night. It will be great to see them as the Main Band and not a warm up for someone else…

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