Taking It To The Max

BREATHEcast.com - So you just got back from Europe, how was that?


Kevin - Yeah, I got back about a week and a half ago; overall, it was great. Everywhere we went the crowds were amazing. We also had a chance to go to some of the countries that I wasn't able to go to on the last European tour, countries like Poland, and certain places in Germany that I hadn't been before. It all ended on kind of a sour note, though, because in Poland our tour van got busted into and they ended up taking all of my clothes and my guitar and pedals and everything. So quite the bittersweet ending, but beyond that it was a really great tour and it allowed the fans and I to get tight again. There were a few other discrepancies, though, with some of the tour promoters, as some of them didn't pay us what they promised they were going to pay. Even some of the deposits that we were supposed to get before we even hit the stage, we're still waiting on. But if you want to know the whole truth, that's it man, that's the world of rock n' roll. A lot of times people say stuff on the phone, but when you get there and show up, it's quite a different story. That's kind of been something that I've been finding out as a solo artist, that you really have to check out the person that you're doing the show with before you actually do it, because these days it seems like everybody's word is a little bit suspect.

BREATHEcast.com - How did this time measure up with your previous European tours?


Kevin - Well the most recent one I did prior to this one was last year where I went out again with Luna Halo, who were backing me on this tour as well, and Erick Cole, my extension player on guitar. That trip was pretty extensive, as we also went to South Africa and Brazil. For this trip, we started out in New Zealand where Erick and I did an acoustic show, and then we flew to Europe.

BREATHEcast.com - Wow, you guys really get around.


Kevin - Yeah, we really run the gamut; I'm the epitome of an international performer these days.

BREATHEcast.com - Let's talk about your new album that you're working on. How do you feel about the project?


Kevin - We're very excited about it. It's called the Imposter, and the title comes from some of Brennan Manning's works in which he talks about the imposter that's inside all of us - that fleshly part of us that constantly wants to be the prevalent spirit. Brennan Manning's a great friend of mine; kind of a spiritual guru too - I've been to a few of his retreats. But basically I wanted to choose a title to describe the fact that, during the course of our lifetime we wear many masks. And what the record is about is laying waste the mask, putting it down and being very real and transparent before people and before God. So it's kind of a deep title, but it's also kind of fun, as is reflected in the music. The title track opens the record up and it's this Euro-Rock-Ant number, so it's a little cheeky but at the same time the lyric has got a depth to it, so it counterbalances the actual cheekiness of the music.

BREATHEcast.com - How would you describe the overall feel of the record?


Kevin - You know what, it's an interesting record because I would say at its core it's a rock n' roll record - it's more rock n' roll than anything I've ever done. Andy Prickett and I, who are the producers of the project, really wanted a band feel for the record. We wanted it to feel like a bunch of guys in the studio just playing through the songs, and that's basically what happened. We put together a band here in California and we had the full band rehearse and play through the songs in their entirety live in the studio, so the songs have much more of a rock n' roll bent to them than pop. But as I consider myself to be kind of like an eccentric pop singer, anything that I touch tends to turn out a little bit left of either pop or rock n' roll, so I don't think you can define the record as a total rock record, but I wouldn't call it pop either; it's somewhere in between. Call it pop rock. Call it indefinable; that might even be better, I don't know.

BREATHEcast.com - You talked about Brennan Manning's writings as being an influence on both the title track and the overall theme of the record, but what are some of the other influences or experiences that went into making The Imposter?


Kevin - To be honest with you, the bulk of this record came from me moving out to California and writing songs with several other individuals. I wrote a lot of the original songs with people like Mark Hudson from the Hudson Brothers, Warren Cuccurullo, and Van Dyke Parks. That's also when I got involved with the Northern Records people because they were playing in my band. When I first started doing some shows, I was brought to Frank Lenz, who's a drummer, and was introduced to the rest of his crew, which at the time were guys like Eli Thomson and Richard Swift. And once I got involved with that group, we started to kind of make the record within the community. The songs that I wrote with Andy Prickett at that time probably make up about 80% of what's on the Imposter. So the sound of the album comes from that L.A.-based network of people. It was a refreshing experience for me, as when I was in Nashville, there was always this very defined way of writing a song that's very arranged. On the West Coast there's much more of a laid back approach. So I was happy to be in a place where there weren't so many confines.

BREATHEcast.com - Nashville felt confining to you?


Kevin - Not to knock Nashville, but there's a way that they write there that's very programmed. It's like you have the verse, then the B section, then the chorus, then the bridge, then the chorus, you know; there's definitely a blue print. What I like to do is work on every project with a different mode of creativity. For this record, it was kind of like putting together sonic ideas first, putting together ideas based upon a feeling or an emotion, and then grabbing the lyrics after we had created some kind of groove or a melodic scenario. The album actually came about quite a bit differently than I'm used to writing, and I think the songs are very strong on this project. Not to say that the other songs that I've written before weren't strong, but I just think that this project has a great centrality to it.

BREATHEcast.com - You're known for being fairly diverse with your musical styling. Would you say that this record is more defining for you in that respect?


Kevin - Well I'm a bit of a chameleon when it comes to music. If there's any artist that I can kind of relate myself to it would be an artist like David Bowie who continuously changes and shape shifts through the music industry. I'm a bit like a stylist, so I take bits and pieces from pop culture, from rock culture, from alternative and indie culture and I put it into my music. I think my greatest advantage is that I have a lot of imagination and I have a huge passion for music in general, so I'm always interested, I'm always curious, and I'm always wanting to try something different. A disadvantage is that I'm not in a band where it's focused. Whenever you get into a room with a band, things immediately happen. In my scenario, I kind of have to group together the right people for my experiment. And with The Imposter, I think the record is perfect in that respect due to the fact that I came together with a group of like-minded individuals and we put together a project that, in my mind, captures everything that I've wanted to say at this point in my life: musically, lyrically, spiritually, it's all there. And as far as the players on this record, my first record was hard to beat - I had Tony Levin playing bass, Matt Chamberlain playing drums, and Adrian Belew playing guitar; it's very difficult to beat that band. But I never look at it as a competition, I look at it as one record to the next, and I believe that the players on this record were perfectly suited for the music. Just last week I added keyboards to the record because I felt like it was a little too raw. So we had Byron Hagen come in and do keyboards, and he just destroyed me. I mean, he put stuff on here that I couldn't even imagine, even though we grew up in the same time frame. I grew up in the 80's, so my favorite bands when it comes to keyboards are bands like New Order and Kraftwerk, and basically bands that were really experimenting with the synthesizer. Byron is of that same mindset, and it was just ingenious how he put together his keyboard parts on the record. I think he really brought that pop element back into the music too, as, before he came in, The Imposter was absolutely and decidedly a rock record. As far as the lyrics are concerned with this record, I think they're a little bit different from the first two albums. I wanted to be subtle with the lyrics this time, not over the top, but subtle and straight to the point so that a larger audience could relate to them.

BREATHEcast.com - How does your walk with God fit into this record?


Kevin - You know what...(laughs) that's a deep question. I think my walk is absolutely translated into the music. But I'm not the kind of person that has an agenda when I write a song. I'm not the kind of person that wants to be evangelistic with his music. So a lot of Christians will sometimes attack me and say, "Why don't you have songs about Jesus on your record?" or, "Why don't you have the salvation story on the record?" And it's not that I don't want to put the salvation story on the album, but it's that I enjoy speaking about my spirituality in a creative way. I like to speak about my spirituality in broad strokes when it comes to music. So oftentimes it tends to come out more like poetry, and I think that mystifies some people, but to me it's beautiful. In regards to having those more obvious messages, however, I feel like I opened up a little bit on this record. For instance, there's a song called Platform on there which basically talks about how I felt as a leader in dcTalk, of having to live out the major responsibility of constantly being on the platform of being a young evangelist, which I really didn't feel like I was suited to do. I feel like my beliefs are better understood and talked about person to person in a more individual manner.

BREATHEcast.com - I mentioned earlier the differences in the albums that you've put out as a solo artist, but is there something within them that perhaps binds them together? In other words, is there a core message that you've wished to communicate to your audience since you started your career as a solo artist?


Kevin - I think I kind of stated that in the first project that I did, which was Stereotype Be, and what I basically wanted to get out there with that record was the idea of being true to who you are, in its most basic meaning. God created us all individuals, and God created us all with a sense of purpose. And not to sound like a bestselling novel, but it's really all about tapping into that and asking questions and being able to find out what God's purpose for our lives is. Wisdom is time and wisdom is living, and if we don't test the spirit, if we don't question things, and if we don't go out and live life we'll never know what we truly believe. So I challenge people to do the impossible, to try things that might be past their intellect or physical capabilities, because that's when interesting things happen. Challenge yourself, challenge your own thoughts, challenge your own beliefs - that's the road to truth.

BREATHEcast.com - When can we expect the album to come out?


Kevin - The album is most likely going to hit either August or maybe early September, and that's based on the fact that, although the record is finished now, it has to go into mix, and I'm not sure how long the mixing process is going to take. It's probably going to be looking like the end of August. I wanted it to be mid-August, but I think that's overshooting a little bit.

BREATHEcast.com - Aside from your album, I heard that you're also working on an upcoming indie film, in which you're playing a vampire. Is that correct?


Kevin - (laughs) Yeah...they cast me in it, but I'm not absolutely sure if and when it's going to be filmed. The director/producer is a guy that's done a lot of stuff for VH1 and he's also done a couple of indie films that have done pretty well in the marketplace. He found me through the internet; yeah, it was the strangest thing. He came out to one of my shows and was like, "You'll be perfect as one of my characters..."

BREATHEcast.com - What's the title of the film?


Kevin - There's not a title for it yet; I'm still getting information on it as it comes. But I'm interested in acting. I went ahead and got an acting agent and I was in an independent film called Soupernatural, which is scheduled to release some time next year, and I did some stage acting with Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat. I wouldn't say it's my strong suit, but I would love to develop it. We'll see what happens.

BREATHEcast.com - You've done music, poetry, films, stage acting... Are there any other areas of art that you want to get into?


Kevin - Well, I'm really interested in books as well, art books. But what I would love to do is develop this poetry thing where people would really get into it from a multimedia standpoint. I would love to be able to put books together where the words are there for you but at the same time you can pop a CD in and listen to backing music. I think that could be really interesting. I think I actually touched on that on a record that I did with Adrian Belew.

BREATHEcast.com - Sounds interesting.

Kevin - Yeah, I'm looking forward to pushing my career as a multifaceted artist, but first and foremost I have a love for rock n' roll. That is where my heart's passion is: in singing and being able to create. And I feel very blessed to be able to do that.



Interviewed by Reporter Justin