A CIGAR-LOVING BAND ON THE RUN

The music of 25 Smokin' Figurados, which has just released its debut album Divine Spirits, Holy Smoke, has been described as soaking in "mid-western angst, urban depravity, and Texas heat," and should be played at high volumes and savored "like a fine figurado," according the to band's founders -- preferably with a glass of absinthe or choice Belgian beer, they add.

With influences ranging from The Clash and Deep Purple to Warren Zevon, the five-member band is the culmination of the efforts of cigar-smoking musician partners Timothy Abbott and Gregg Kirk, who "struggled through a purgatory of nameless Iowa cover bands" before heading their separate ways -- Abbott for Austin, Kirk for the East Coast. After playing in a number of "defunct, but vital" bands during the 1990s, the prolific songwriting veterans reconvened, founded 25 Smokin' Figurados, and are now doing what they like most -- creating original music free from the limiting confines of one singular style.

Divine Spirits, Holy Smoke features a range of musical styles, combining powerful, guitar-driven rock that manages to sound both alternative and classic at the same time, according to the duo -- music with attitude. Despite the seemingly disjointed styles, local critics dig the music.

And, as the band's name implies, these guys are really into fine cigars (there's 25 cigars in a typical box, and figurados are an "unusual" shape, much like the band's eclectic musical style). It was Kirk who turned Abbott onto the passion; while all five members of the band smoke cigars, these two seem to out-collect and outsmoke the others by far.

Fittingly, the band's album release celebration in November was sponsored by Reyes Family Cigars and Vegas de Santiago. After the performance closed, everyone headed over to Habana House Cigars to celebrate and smoke up a storm.

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