New York's arty, jazz-inflected rock five-piece
New Wet Kojak formed in 1995, when
Girls Against Boys members Scott McCloud and Johnny Temple recruited guitarist/engineer Geoff Turner (formerly of Grey Matter), drummer Nick Pelleciotto (a former member of Edsel), and saxophonist Charles Bennington, all of whom hailed from
GVSB's hometown, Washington, D.C. That year the group released its self-titled debut album on Touch & Go Records, and despite infrequent gigging and McCloud and
Temple's commitment to
Girls Against Boys,
New Wet Kojak released their follow-up,
Nasty International, in 1997. The group switched to Beggars Banquet for its third album, Do Things, which arrived in spring 2000. Beggars also released an EP in 2001 and another album in 2003, This Is the Glamorous. ~ Heather Phares