Kevin Kerby

Some people will probably take it wrong, but central Arkansas folk-rock icon Kevin Kerby is a minor leaguer. That's not meant as an insult. Every AA player could play in the major leagues tomorrow; it's only luck or politics or the tyranny of numbers that keeps them from doing so. Kerby's a pro and his honest, solid songwriting is so heartening and refreshing that we wish reviews like this matter - "something obvious and bright, that's what we need."

Unfortunately minor-league critics for minor-league newspapers in minor-league towns don't break artists, but that's no reason to hate on real talent, or to wonder, in that peculiar Arkansas way, if he's so good how come he's here? I don't know either - kid's got tools and he can play.

- Philip Martin [via Arkansas Democrat-Gazette]

Well, we have reached a new stage in life… that of getting older and still trying to play music. We now practice an average of like 32 minutes a week, do not drink at all during those 32 minutes, and we are home by 10:15 p.m. At practice we talk about what our kids did (or broke) that day. When we play out, we not-so-secretly hope to be the opening band so we can go home early. I looked at Kevin the other day and said, “it’s not as fun as used to be, is it?” And he said, “Nope. But it’s still REAL fun.” True. And so the rock continues.

This is the first full CD from Kevin Kerby and Battery. I say this because these same 4 fellers did one song on the Kevin Kerby (MR 015) release in 2005 - "Your Disease". We recorded this CD much the same we did that song—the band playing the basic tracks together, then overdubs of lead vocals, backing vocals, keys, and some solos and “parts” here and there came later. With some exceptions, we did the band tracks at Marcus’s house and did the overdubs at my house. During a bunch of the early basic tracking, Marcus was on the road a lot with another outfit, so doing it this way helped us keep the recording going in his absence. Also, mixing is just about my favorite thing to do, so this recording method also allowed all the tracks to end up at my house for mixing. Barry Poynter did a lovely job mastering the disc. This is a local product through and through. - Geoff Curran

"Beautiful and Bright"

[GC] This one was the first one we tried. During the playback we all said, “That sounds tough.” The good tough… the wanna fight tough. It became a theme for us on this CD. This mood of toughness starts with Kevin’s guitar tone on this song—one we call “trailer bathroom.” (See the back pic on the CD.) Marcus is gonna try to sell this as a plug-in and make a million bucks. The toughness also resides in the bass. Hits you in the chest. And listen to that funky Bentley rip it up during the guitar solo bits.

[KK] You should picture Geoff snarling his top lip when you read the above paragraph.

"You and Your Chemical Smile"

[GC] A particularly withering lyric from the king of wither. We all were VERY happy with how the arrangement worked on this one. A few electric guitar parts, acoustic guitar, big organ, REAL piano, killer drums… it all just seemed to fall into place. Great guitar solo by Kevin. Bentley called for the harmony bit to come in half-way through the guitar solo and I was glad to oblige. I considered asking Kevin to re-do his rhythm guitar part (or maybe just the intro where it’s playing by itself) with another guitar because he played it on his pretty terrible $87 guitar. (Barry mentioned it, too… “was the mic in a weird place?” No, it’s the guitar.) But this guitar, which looks like a shark, was purchased in Texas during our Mulehead years, was stolen from Kevin’s truck at the historic Whitewater Tavern, then months later was somehow found and returned to him by a blind man. So, the part had to stay.

[KK] Well, that’s almost true. It was the blind man’s drummer who brought the guitar back, and it cost $100 (2001 dollars mind you). AND I like the way that guitar sounds.

"Last Word on a Situation"

[GC] Kevin shuts the door on a bad experience with an exclamation point. The “trailer bathroom” tone is back with a vengeance. The bass rules. This one is hard to talk about. It speaks for itself. If you don’t get goose bumps at some point during the song, give the CD away.

[KK] Or, as Noel Gallagher would say “Sell it. You could probably get four or five quid for it. Bring it ‘round my place and I’ll sign it, then you’ll get a tenner.” AND, to be clear, this song is about the situation, not the people involved, and there is no such thing as a last word.

"Cast it all Aside"

[GC] Toughness in spades. We will fight you and we will win. Witness the rawk. Flangers, phasers, wah-wah. Kevin was in Go Fast, remember? And I really just want to play Dio covers. Remember how cool Vivian Campbell was? Anyone?

[KK] I was in Go Fast. Wasn’t tough enough.

"Untrue Juggernaut"

[GC] Big organ. Ridiculously cool drumming. Trailer bathroom tone in effect on the solo by Kevin. “Silver Wing-ed Beast!” This is grown up music. Any indie filmmakers need some songs? Come talk to Kevin Kerby and Battery.

[KK] Indie? We want major filmmakers. I needs my paper.

"Soon to be Replaced"

[GC] A country march via The Who. Kevin takes the first solo and I take the second one. Nice swagger on this one. Bifurcated tongues and all.

[KK] Notice how Geoff is trying to distance himself from my solo here. Interesting.

"Dip it in Shellac"

[GC] This one is sort-of the bridge back to the earlier Kerby solo release in that it was recorded by me and Kevin and it pre-dates the Beautiful and Bright sessions. However, it was Battery-a-fied with some awesome backing vocals by Marcus. Davey Ray from Mulehead (and now Kyoto Boom) adds some sweet backing vocals too. Kevin released his demo of this on the Thick Syrup compilation. I heard a Centro-Matic-like arrangement in my head and just went ahead and did it up. All hail the Moog synth.

[KK] This all appears to be true.

"The Great Swimming Pool Debate"

[GC] Kevin probably wrote this on his way to work at 5:30a.m. after being up all night with a sick kid, looking back on simpler times. Kevin played and sang this one live at Marcus’s house and Marcus and I added a little spice… that was it. I originally set up the big BLUE mic on Kevin’s acoustic guitar backwards and didn’t realize it. We were getting a tone on it and Marcus is making faces. It sounded very weird and he goes, “Uh, it sounds kinda roomy….” As he’s turning knobs all the way in either direction and checking connections. I finally realize the problem and turn the mic capsule around. “This sound better?” Yes. This was the first song on which Kevin played his new million-dollar Gibson acoustic guitar. He was scared of it for a while. If you want to see smoke come out of Kevin’s ears, tell him you think the B string sounds sharp.

[KK] I don’t really remember when I wrote this one. Pretty sure it was during what I’m calling the “summer of plenty of songs” when I was writing more than ever. Still using a lot of those songs. It’s really more about a tree house stuffed full of porn. I guess those were simpler times. That B string is sharp.

"Fallback Crutch"

[GC] “Throw your possessions at a Buddhist Monk on fire...” One of these years we gatta spring for lyric sheets to put out with these CDs. Kevin is one funny bastard. The original arrangement of this was different… more a mid-tempo thing. I started doing the hair-metal-y pinch harmonic riff, and even though it was moderately cheesy, the others started reacting and it turned into this. And now we play it real fast. I’m still not sure if the others cringe when we play this or not. There is a fine line between clever and stupid and I’m not sure which side I ended up on.

[KK] I am a funny bastard, and all my arrangements are mid-tempo. You led the band down a rocking path, where Marcus followed quickly. I came along because I thought you guys knew where you were going.

"The Devil is Real"

[GC] Tough visits the Beach Boys. Arrangement by Marcus. Sweet bass lines by Bentley. During the guitar solo bit that’s Marcus playing 4 separate tracks of snare marches. The outro “freak-out” never gets too freaky, but there are fake strings, a fake oboe, and real wind chimes.

[KK] “Tough visits the Beach Boys” makes me think of the Manson family hanging out at Dennis Wilson’s beach house.

[GC] That’s that. Another 10 songs in the Kerby catalog. By the way, his catalog of released songs is now 77. We’ll break 100 at least before we throw in the towel.

[KK] There are more released songs that you don’t know about, but I’ll go with 77 GOOD songs.