Fingers graze along the dusted black and white ivory, simultaneously striking and filling the dusked city streets with an orange luminescence. The electricity sparks in the optimistic voice of a guitar and the lamps hum low but confidently in agreement, as the rat-a-tat-tat of drums approaches from further down the way. Someone starts to sing; a boy- a pickpocket; left alone to wander the darkening, citrus-stone paths. Yet, on the other side of town, another voice sings out- sometimes in unison; sometimes in a harmony- and together, their voices echo off the walls of the buildings, perpetuating the cycles of hope and tumult that give such a ghost town its life.


It was in 2005 that Mark Strong, former keyboardist of The Waking Hours and keyboardist/co-songwriter for Edison Gower, had come back to Richmond from a brief stint in California and browsed on Myspace.com, discovering the work and styles of local musician Benvolio Willson's fresh piano styles and lyrics quite enticing, and contacted Benvolio with a means to collaborate.

Benvolio was still finishing up his “sentence” at college, recording solo songs semi-timidly within the concrete walls of his dorm/apartment rooms, and playing a short while then disbanding with the semi-successful Harrisonburg band Roy Rogers. His being locked away at college initially made it hard to efficiently collaborate but, by late 2006, they had shared a show together as separate musicians and the dawn of 2007 brought forth a cohesive idea as We Know, Plato!.

In the Fall, the duo enlisted the aid of a superb drummer, Richmond-newcomer Daniel Medley, fresh out of high school, to carry the rhythm with fox-like discretion. WK,P! played two shows as a trio, meanwhile recruiting savvy New Zealand keyboardist/vocalist Julia Manhire to further accommodate both Willson’s and Strong’s hallowing melodies. It was up until the end of April, 2008 that keen bassist Steve Chiles, having formerly played for the band Brian Bachman and the New Romancers, was the final "gon" in WK,P!'s "Pentagon of Sound".

In the wake of both Steve departing the band to dedicate his time to family/work, and Julia having other things to tend do, the three remaining members have been taking a hiatus from shows as they focus on writing new material and recording for their upcoming Turn On the Outside Lights EP, due to hit stores in Winter '08/'09.  Just as notably, the band has a new member; Medley's brother-in-law, the Levi's-toting Todd Baker, has stepped in and is molding his own shoes as WK,P!'s bassist. New material and t-shirts are indubitably to be unveiled at the band's EP release concert, whenever and wherever it may be; possibly sooner. 

It’s still a goal that it won’t be long before the polaroid lyrics and hauntingly hopeful music of We Know, Plato! lights the worldly streets with orange and puts all manner of pounding hearts and aching minds at ease.