Kevin Hill invites you on an electric adventure on 'Just One Bite'
Plus, San Joaquin Valley songwriting with Ted Nunes and RIP Coleman Head.
Kevin Hill’s latest release is an invitation.
It’s right there in the name; “Just One Bite (Let’s Take an Electric Adventure).”
“These tracks are definitely ultra dense with more dissonance than someone with a pop heavy ear is used to moving through,” says the multi-instrumentalist, who’s made a name for himself around town playing in various musical projects. “But if you are an adventurer, you’re gonna have a great time and I’ll see you at the end.”
Let’s start with the low down on the album. Give me all the logical and technical bits.
“I have released a couple albums to date. The first one was a concept album of my singer/songwriter compositions called ‘Near Misses.’ It was recorded on an iPhone using only the instruments available in GarageBand through the phone and live instruments and voice recorded into the phone by me.
My next album was self titled after my live group called The Freznenz.
If featured more long form, hip-hop oriented, break beat style music. Most of those tracks were made on Logic. I recorded lots of live instruments into the tracks, but there are usually three-to-five separate drummers, plus at least a couple of synthetic drum tracks on everything. My overall goal was to create music that was based on beats and loops, like the music that I love to listen to most. But that slowly changed over time and developed into different themes so that my live band could play to the tracks and have multiple textures per track to improvise over.
This album, ‘Just One Bite (Let’s Take an Electric Adventure)’ was made by me using Logic and recording a multitude of live instruments into the tracks at home. These are tracks I made because it’s exactly what I wanted to hear creatively. My ear yearns for a certain type of sonic adventure. So, I set about satisfying my craving for new horizons. And bounty flowed. These tracks were just a bit too experimental to include them on the Freznenz album I had in the works.
I enjoyed listening to them enough that it seemed like a good idea to release them as a stand alone album.”
The name hints at the electronic nature of the album, but a lot of the album feels kind of analog. The drums on ‘Project 23’ let’s say, versus those on ‘Doom Bap.’ How did you manage the two influences?
“On this album, I just basically refined and extended my approach to a hybrid system of musical composition, utilizing all of the media types available to us in this incredible century.
My number one goal is to serve the song and the sound that I am pursuing.
I can hear what needs to be added, and I can hear what needs to be taken away once it is added. So, I experiment with as many of the sounds available to me as I can. One day that might be a cello. The next day at trumpet. The next day a synth or a drum machine.
In the end, we are serving the song.
And the experience of the listener is the only litmus test.
To be clear, these tracks are dense. There are lots drum tracks and synth. You will hear a lot of electric bass because I am a bass player so it’s just easy that way.
The analog bassline is definitely my favorite part of ‘Project 23.’ But those are sampled drums, so I’m glad I was able to fool you.”
This is very much a vibe record. Was that planned at all? Did you give any thought to how the listener would approach the finished product?
“This album was literally designed to have an effect on the nervous system of a human. The human of course, in all of the experiments while creating the album, was me, so it definitely made me feel cool.
That’s where I like to start.
I think people under emphasize the real magical experience and the trust involved in the taking in of art. This puts a great responsibility on the artist to participate in a genuine transmission of something that you feel is meaningful and possibly universal.
So, I follow the rule. If it feels good, let’s put it on a wax.
The album was also designed just like all of my albums to be easily accompanied live by two drums, a guitar player, keys, and a tuba and bass player plus a horn section.”
And where does it fit among all the other work that you have released?
“I really see this as a slightly more experimental extension of exactly what I’ve been working on. I’m looking at just trying to have less that is separating the things we are dealing with and trying to focus on what is common between those things in order to create a greater thing in the end. So, hopefully this album and the next Freznenz album are just more proof of the hard work I’m putting in.
Talk some about being a gigging musician vs. putting together recording projects like this.
“I have been a professional musician since I was very young and I have been recording since way back then as well. The projects I have been releasing are what you can consider solo projects. I involve others, but it is to a great degree my compositions and my ideas that we are dealing with.
The best part about it is that I have 100% creative control over the way that my compositions sound. I will never ever be happy 100% with the way that what I call a finished album sounds, but the point at which I release them is the point at which I was willing to show them to others with some level of pride.
To be a gigging musician, especially one who tries to actually have any income in the current American economic climate, you are guaranteed to be making musical decisions that are not 100% your own.
That could be playing covers. That could be playing at places you would rather not play.
That is how it is working as a contractor or a subcontractor. It involves creativity. But it is probably not 100% your creative outlet if you are actually making a living.
So, this type of album release has felt very good to get done. When you have something inside and you can express it fully without worrying about anything commercial, there is a freeing process involved.
And that is, in the end, why I do either activity.
When you are gigging, you have the magical opportunity to reach someone in a way that they were absolutely not planning to be reached that day. The chance to make a stranger cry from joy in a place that they didn’t know they’re going to cry from joy at is an honor.
The opportunity to release an entire album based on the compositions that come from your imagination and your own sense of joy, and the chance that more people can share that joy with you, is exciting to say the least.”
“Just One Bite (Let’s Take an Electric Adventure)” is out now on digital platforms. Hill is working on another Freznenz album (“Destruction”) that is expected to release soon.
A Volume Game: San Joaquin Valley Songwriting with Ted Nunes
Ted Nunes is the subject of a new documentary released last week.
“A Volume Game,” is a 30-minute rumination on songwriting and the San Joaquin Valley. It features six performances from Nunes intercut with interviews and other intimate moments with the performer (driving around in his Ford Ranger, sitting on a bed strummin’ his guitar and working through scribbled lyrics in a notebook).
The film, a collaboration with Matt Mealer, has been in the works for years.
As Mealer describes it: “Shooting my 2021 entry to The Big Tell (“Not Just Any Restaurant”) entailed renting an Arri Amira package for a week … but with only two shoot days scheduled. What else could I shoot that week, with little to no prep time, to take full advantage of the gear – a portfolio piece, something that would allow me to do some creative lighting, something I’d be happy to work on for a long time in post for no money? And most critically, something that could be done with a skeleton crew during a pandemic? A marriage of live music performance and documentary was the obvious choice.
I found Ted Nunes on Facebook, hunting for local artists who might want to collaborate. His songs stuck out to me immediately – melodic, well-written, rooted in the alt-country/indie/folk world I’ve loved since high school. I sent him a cold email, we met over coffee, and what followed was a collaboration now over three years old.”
RIP, Coleman Head, guitarist songwriter who penned tunes for Tower of Power
Coleman Head, a longtime Fresno/Clovis musician who played with Bruce Conte in the late ’60s and penned songs for Tower of Power, had died.
According to social media post from his son, Head died on Jan. 1 after a long illness.
Head was well known within the Fresno scene, playing (and writing, recording and releasing music) as a solo artist, but also with bands like the Groove Kings in the 1980s. For a time, he led Driver, the house band at the Lucky Lady and was among the musicians on Bobby Volare’s (very niche) album release.
Before that Head was part of the band Common Ground with Bruce (and Victor) Conte and co-wrote songs for Tower of Power, including “Share My Life,” and “Somewhere Down The Road,” off of the 1978 album, “We Came to Play.”
Already, condolences and reembraces are coming in from those who knew/played with Head, including Bill Bixler (of Wild Blue Yonder fame) and Phil Wimer.
Via Wimer: “Fresno lost one of it’s truly great artists early this morning. Coleman Head was a prolific song writer, a deeply soulful singer, and an excellent guitarist and arranger. Having had the pleasure to watch him -- and the privilege to share the stage with him -- I learned so much from Coleman about performing music.”
I have yet to see information on a any kind of services.
You can check out music from Head on Soundcloud.
That’s it for this week. Remember you can now hear me on the Homegrown Show Sundays at 8 p.m. on New Rock 104.1 FM. Follow my other writing at The Fresno Bee. If you have anything you think I need to be looking at or listening to, feel free to let me know: jtehee@gmail.com