Watch this space for more! Ned and I have been collaborating a long time but we just now chose a band name. Our name reflects how our musical interests aren’t confined to any one tradition, and we aren’t angry about it: We are the No-Mads! We will have a logo!
Who are you? How did you get this way?
The No-Mads are guitarist Ned Boynton, organist / accordionist / pianist Robert Kennedy, and often their musical guests. In 2015, Robert got the call to play organ on one of Ned’s gigs, and the two quickly discovered a shared taste for TV themes, rock anthems, hot-club tunes, Italian folk music, popular music of Europe and the Americas, novelty songs, and jazz standards.
For several years Ned and Robert freelanced on guitar and organ in each other’s groups and occasionally crossed paths as hired guns in other bands. Adding to his focus on piano and organ performance, Robert got serious about accordion in 2018, joining the nascent Mission Hot Club, where Ned occasionally subbed on guitar. An accordion / guitar collaboration was natural for Ned thanks to his long history with accordionists in Los Pinkys, Surfer Roma, and The Caffè Trieste Family Band, so the composite sound of accordion and guitar was fertile ground for collaboration and naturally became the foundation of The No-Mads. Robert and Ned worked regularly together as an accordion / guitar team during 2019 and early 2020, and then of course everything got weird.
The COVID-19 pandemic gave the duo time to hunker down and dig deep into their repertoire, deepening musical rapport and creating unique arrangements that have become No-Mads hallmarks. Steady gigs in San Francisco and beyond have brought the duo to the doorstep of recording an album in 2025 featuring a mix of organ-guitar-drums and accordion-guitar-percussion material. The core repertoire remains a vast collection of jazz tunes and quirky, guilty-pleasure pop material whose hipness flies just below the radar.
Stay tuned, and don’t get mad, get the No-Mads!
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