- Kev Rowe - Stories

My first Phish show

When I was 16, I went to my first Phish show. I was a sophomore in high school and my big brother Dave was a senior. He had been into this band Phish for a couple years now, had gone to a show in Buffalo, and had just gotten two tickets for a show in Cleveland, one for him and one for me. At the time, I don't really recall feeling that excited about it as I didn't know any of Phish's music and was mainly into classic rock stuff like Led Zeppelin and The Who. I had just started to play the electric guitar though, so I had definitely gotten the music bug and was basically obsessed with playing the guitar (which is a whole other story). What I had heard about this band Phish, either through friends of mine or my brother, is that they were different. Something about trampolines and songs with funny lyrics, a guy who wears a dress and plays the vacuum cleaner, and "awesome, long extended musical jams", comes to mind. And the quote usually was "You've got to see them to understand it." I thought, "Okay, if you say so."
Another fun part of the story is that it was like a brothers trip thing. I was driving for the trip in my 1987 Subaru (hatchback!) that had been passed down from my brother, and originally from my mom. And it was going to be the Rowe brothers and two other guys who were also brothers that were friends of Dave. Now, for this story I can't really say the names of these brothers because one of them is now a cop and there are some things in this story that might be held against him, and are kind of funny too, so I'll just refer to them as "the other brothers".
So, thursday night comes and as soon as school lets out, the four of us jump into the Subaru and head to Cleveland, OH for the Phish show, which is about a 2.5 hour ride from Jamestown, NY, my hometown. Fairly uneventful ride actually. I think maybe there was some beer drinking but not much. I was driving, still pretty young and wide-eyed, and would be totally sober the entire night. When we got to Cleveland things definitely got more interesting. In the parking lot I was starting to see little groups of people all hovering around in circles by their cars, some were playing music out of them, and some even had grills. I'm like "cool, this is like camping, this will be fun." Also, in the line of cars to get inside I see that most of these cars all have similar looking stickers on them, most of them with Phish's name on them in the shape of a fish in a rainbow color, black background. I'm thinking, "Cool, this is like a club you join, where everyone gets a sticker. And man, these people must really like this Phish band." We meander in the parking lot for about 45 minutes and go inside.
Once we're inside I start to lose myself in what I'm seeing. I just remember feeling like there were a million people everywhere and all so excited to be there. And many were dressed in patchwork, corduroy pants with t-shirts, also sporting Phish's logo. But, some were more like rocker dudes (this was Cleveland), and some nerdy looking guys (ok, Dave and I probably fell into that category), and jocks, and frat guys, and cute, wide-eyed girls with dreadlocks in their hair with pretty jewelry that looked like it was made of thick rope and organic gems they polished themselves. And there was surely a scent in the air. Didn't really know what it was, but I suspected ;)
Lights go down, and 4 guys calmly walk on to the stage and put on their instruments. No talk, immediate music... like a conversation they were just having somewhere... or that the audience was having beforehand... or like the random thoughts going through my brain on this whole trip... or like a story with characters about to be introduced... or like an orchestra warming up and falling into place... I was speechless and dumbfounded. There wasn't any point in trying to make sense of it basically. It was beyond that. I had never heard anything like this before and if I tried figuring out what it was, I would surely miss it. And these are thoughts I couldn't even have. I was wrapped up in the moment and excited to see where it was going next, all at the same time. I remember feeling the bond between the band and the audience being so strong. There was no difference really, those guys happened to be on stage, but they were just a part of the scene, one of the people who were just happy to be there with everyone else on this random thursday night in Cleveland. And the crowd knew everything they did... when to clap, when to sing along, when to scream, when to be quiet and drift awhile, when to flail their arms and spin, what cool song titles to yell up to the stage. And also what not to know... like where the jams would go, how long they might last (No one cared about that actually), what would be played next, where the person next to you drove in from, what kind of financial bracket mom and dad fell into, what was happening in the world outside those walls, and most importantly, no one was trying to control anything. The guitar player had the most inviting, warm, cheerful smile too. Like it came from a smiling spirit traveling here from somewhere else through him. There were the trampolines, and vacuum cleaner solos, and things I had heard about, but weren't even close to the point of it all, just side-shows for fun, which made it nice thinking back on it. It might have been sensory overload without a few humorous distractions here and there. They were more like palette cleansers really. The concert flew by in what seemed to be 15 minutes but in reality was 4 hours. And I was changed forever.
Funny, thinking back on it now, I don't remember seeing Dave much, or "the other brothers", only feeling that they were surely close by, enjoying this as I was and looking after me, being one of the youngest in the crowd for sure. We seemed to be standing right next to each other as we filed into line after the show ended. We slowly made our way to the Subaru, hung out for a bit and watched people, then got into the car to head back to Jamestown, as we did still have school the next day. But, we were missing an "other brother". The younger one (who is now a cop:). He did finally make it back and we left. So, I'm driving, just kind of reflecting and enjoying what I had just experienced, when I hear something. Someone's sick and throwing up. I turn around and the younger "other brother" is throwing up out the window while I'm driving. I pull over on the highway and let him out to finish but it's mostly over by then. We drive the rest of the way, drop them off, and sleep.
The next day I get out of school at 3 o'clock, and walk out to my car in the student parking lot. A couple of kids are standing there pointing at the subaru with there hands over their mouths kind of giggling. I walk over to the passenger's side of the car and there are long, 3 foot swirls of light brownish puke all over my car covering about 75 percent of that side of the vehicle. And it had been sun baked all day while I was in school. I went home and washed it off with a garden hose while Patches our family dog watched. The end.

Hear Kev's version of the classic Phish song, "Waste"

Making the cd, "Hi Love"

Buy cd Buy it on iTunes

producer, Danny Kadar

"Kev Rowe e-mails producer Danny Kadar (The Avett Brothers, My Morning Jacket, Trey Anastasio) who digs him for sounding like Paul Simon. They combine forces with crack team of unique studio musicians at Echo Mountain Studios in Asheville, NC to create "hi love"!" Well, that's the glamorous version of the story. The above statement is true, but really the making of the cd was two things - I took a chance, and hard work. First, the chance part... Basically, I sent the e-mail. One that I never expected to hear back from and on a particularly dreamy day where I've got my head in the clouds and out of reality. So, I send this e-mail to this producer working out of Asheville, NC at a studio called Echo Mountain Studios, Danny Kadar who has at the time co-produced the last Avett Brothers cd "Emotionalism" (which is an amazing cd) and worked for Subpop Records, Sony, and a ton of amazing artists along the way. The guy's a lifer/studio artist with more experience at making records in his pinky than I'll ever have. Like I said, I never expected to hear back from him...
But I did. So, like 2 months later, Danny calls me and has listened to a couple demos I sent him and wants to record together. Nice! So, I go up to Asheville, NC and he's got a vision of bringing in a certain group of guys to record with me throughout the next year. And I already have in mind other musician friends to add too.

So, back to the not-so-glamorous process. Basically, "hi love" took 2 years to make. I made 15 trips to Echo Mountain Studios in Asheville, NC, for recording sessions. In addition, there were sessions in NY, PA, and the numerous hours spent in my own little studio here in SC. I ended up recording 25 tunes and these 10 made the cd. Lots of people made it happen and I feel very fortunate to have been there to watch it and be a part of the process.

The musicians...
First, there's River Guerguerian, percussionist guru...

He's got more rhythm toys than you can imagine. It takes 5 trips to his car just to get them all into the studio. You name it - frame drums, congas, duffle bags full of shakers, little dried out shells on a wire, djembes, cajons, Kanjiras, box drums he's made himself, and a whole bunch more instruments with names I can't pronounce and that I would have ignorantly guessed were all from Africa, which they aren't. Watching the guy record is utterly amazing and kind of like black magic. Love this dude. Check out his awesome instrumental project Free Planet Radio.

Next, the electric bass player. His name is Alex Hornbake...

Alex is in these great bands on Echo Mountain Records called Arizona and Wages. They've made some amazing music and are touring like crazy and Alex has done some great recordings for me in his off-time with his bands. The cool side about working with Alex is that we have a very modern recording relationship in that we're never in the same room, or the same state, at the same time. Basically, I send him songs digitally (through the computer), he records bass lines, and sends them back to me. It's beautiful. The guy's a whiz and I trust him with every artistic direction he goes. And he's efficient, which I love.

The upright bass player. His name is Robert Widlowski...

One of the cool recording aspects of the cd, to me, is that the bass players kind of split the duties. Robert lives here in Charleston, SC, where I live. He plays upright bass and is amazingly mature and proficient on his instrument, especially for his age - 19! Robert and I are friends and he comes over to my small home studio, and we do bass lines. He also does most of the cool-sounding atmospheric string sounds and bowing that you hear on the record. I love playing with him cause he kind of represents Charleston's music scene to me - jazzy, rootsy, and soulful!

The drummer. His name is Mike Rhodes...

Mike was in a very popular Asheville, NC band called The Blue Rags.  He's a great musician who really knows the roots scene in Asheville. Actually, Bill Reynolds (a bass player I know fromDonna the Buffalo and Band of Horses) was in The Blue Rags with Mike. Mike adds a lot to the cd and kind of brought me back to my band days.

Violin. Her name is Amanda Barton...

I love this picture of Manda. Now Amanda and I certainly have paid some dues together. We were in a band out of my hometown, Jamestown, NY, called Big Leg Emma. I'm not gonna lie, it was an awesome band and all of us in the band grew in many ways because of it. Much of my heart still lies with BLE, both musically and personally. Aside from that, Amanda has played on every one of my solo cds and helps out with some string parts on "hi love". Also, check out her current band, The Steve Johnson Band. Thanks Amanda, love you girl!

The horns. Ward Buckeister and Russell Clarke...

These awesome horn dudes are in a great band from Charleston, SC called Sol Driven Train. They are the first musician-friends I made upon moving to Charleston. They let me sit in with them and play electric guitar at shows and I was on their latest cd, entitled "Lighthouse". They tour a ton and they've got a new cd coming out soon. Look for it. On my cd, they are on the song "I'll Love You Either Way".

Piano, Anthony Brown

Anthony is a great piano player, engineer, and studio guy. He engineered my session with Amanda at Allsound Studio in Warren, PA, and since we had some extra time he was nice enough to lay down a piano part for me on the song "Walk Through Town With Me".  It's a part I couldn't play in my dreams, so thanks Anthony! Check out his bands, The Charlie Wheeler Band and Lareau.

B3, Cale Hawkins

I've saved the dude with the brightest future for last. Cale's a super-talented musician from my hometown, Jamestown, NY. He plays lots of instruments and is great at all of them, and he's only 17 years old! It's freaky. Here, he plays B3 organ on the tune "Something's Going Down".  My favorite memory of Cale is back when I was hosting a songwriter's showcase for the Infinity Program in Jamestown. He came and blew us away with his natural abilities at the age of 12. He should be fun to watch for years.

Also, all these friends had huge roles in the making of the cd...
Julian Dreyer - an awesome engineer Danny introduced me to and whom I spent every recording session with in 2009. It was he and I in studio B (a tiny room) doing acoustic tunes for a year.
John Ashley - another awesome engineer.
Jessica Tomasin - the studio manager and head of Echo Mountain Records. And she let me sleep at her house for many of my trips and helped me out in ways way beyond what a studio manager is expected to. She's a real friend and down with the cause, for sure.
Dave Harris - mastered the cd at his studio, Studio B, in Charlotte, NC.
CJ Schoenbaechler - my graphic designer and artistic partner in the trenches of packaging.
Chris Rosser - we recorded some of River's percussion tracks at his studio, and although Chris was primarily engineering, he is also a very well known singer/songwriter and musician in the Asheville area. Great guy too. We really gelled and had fun in those sessions. He and River also have a band called Free Planet Radio where they do some great instrumental acoustic music.
Doug Moog - took some of the great studio pictures you see on this website while he was hanging with us at Echo Mountain Recording during my sessions there. And a longtime original music supporter. Thanks Doug.
Todd Dalton - my longtime music friend and road warrior. We've toured together for years. And we co-write when we get the chance ("Burn Away").
Ron Lorenc - another longtime friend. He also co-wrote the lyrics for the song, "Light In My Life", and I often think of him on the road.

Personal story behind cd, "Hi Love"

In the fall of 2008, I needed a break. I had toured non-stop as a solo, singer/songwriter for four straight years playing every kind of gig you can imagine (along with 8 years of touring with bands).

And I basically was losing faith, not only in the music business, but in myself too. I entered a stage of depression and personal anxiety that I think many other struggling solo artists and bands have felt. It's a feeling of isolation, and can lead to loneliness and despair. I learned that there's a fine line between ambition and desperation as a working musician. On top of that I felt stagnated as a musician and a writer and was creatively drained. Missing Kris (my wife), my family, friends, and my dogs (Lucy and Reba), I decided it was time for a new chapter.
(yes, it's embarrassing, but we're those kind of dog owners)
That winter, while enjoying being at home, but wondering what to do next, I found an ad on Craig's List that seemed intriguing. It read, "Hiring Line Therapists for autistic children". Out of curiousity, I responded to the ad, took the required on-line courses and got the job. This experience would change my life and music forever. What I found was an entire world of heartache and frustration in these autistic children and their families, who were fighting a virtually unexplained, very controversial epidemic. Each day I was exposed to the struggles of these children and when i got home I'd write songs about the healing process of working with them. Trust me, it was as much therapy for me as it was for the kids. This picture is of me and Zavier (superman) on halloween (I'm the rocker, "dude!").

On the weekends, I was still pursuing my musical passions and making short trips to Asheville, NC to work on my cd at Echo Mountain Studios. I began recording many of the songs I had written about this autism therapy with the children, and about my own personal joys of being reconnected to my homelife. It really has been a long journey in making it (about 2 years of writing and recording) but I really enjoyed the process and feel like the cd really means something. And that it can help people. It definitely has helped me. As my gift to you for reading down this far, come hear some new songs on the "listen" page, or go directly to buying it from the "cds" page.
see you soon,
Kev

"Jammin with my BFF A.C."!

So, this past saturday night I'm playing at the Bellini Lounge in Mayville, NY. It's a decent crowd and everything's going fairly smoothly. I'm playing well and in general everybody's enjoying the atmostphere in the room. So, I get into my second set and after about 10 minutes a young lady (probably 19-ish) sits on the couch directly in front of me. 5 minutes later a young man (probably 22-ish) joins her. Then, after that song the gentleman immediately strikes up an arousing applause and bursts out with "Dude, you're really, really great man! I love your stuff!" (nicely though, not inappropriately). I exchange with "Thanks man, I'm glad you like it. And that's cool that you sat at the couch cause many times people don't sit there and I've always felt it to be the best seat." Good solid chit-chat. And I can tell they are genuinely into the music. So, then for the next 40 minutes or so, I'm really having a great set, and the couple and I are continually talking and having an interesting connection. I'm thinking "Do I know this guy from somewhere? He does seem kind of familiar. Quite an outgoing, kind of peculiar fellow indeed, but still cool. Blond, kind of scruffy." He even gets up at one point, turns around to the entire room and yells, "Hey, are you guys listening to this guy. He's great. Stop talking and listen up!" After which, I diffused with "You're fine everybody. Please eat, talk, listen if you wish, and enjoy yourself." The room goes back to where it was, thank god. But, he meant well.
So, set 2 is over. I get off stage and immediately meet the couple, who since then have been joined by an older couple (like grandparents older). They are all very nice. Then, I head over to the bar where all the waitresses and the bartender are gathered in a huddle and talking frantically and pointing at my new friends. They go, "Kev do you know who that is?" I reply, "Um, no". They say, pretty much all at once..
"That's Aaron Carter!"
So, now obviously I'm a little taken back. And not to be dorky, but in an odd state of shock. For those of you of who don't know, Aaron Carter is pretty much a pop star/ teen celebrity, if you will. He's sold millions of cds, dated Lindsey Lohan, been on reality tv shows, and most girls between 10 and 18 would know him (not exactly music for the 33 year old male), but an impressive resume nonetheless. And his brother Nick Carter is a Backstreet Boy. And it kind of made sense all at once because I did know that his grandparents (now obviously the older couple) lived at Chautauqua.
Here's where it gets interesting. I walk back over to the couch and am like "Hey man, I'm sorry I didn't recognize you. I just thought you were like a local dude or something." He laughs, and says "Why do I look local?". I'm like "well, yeah". (Don't ask me what all that meant). Then he's very enthusiastically telling me I'm like the next Jim Crocce, and that I need to hold on to my dreams, and have faith in myself, and that my opportunity will come, etc... All very nice and supportive, and I do think he was being genuine. I'm serious, he was a very nice, kind of odd, dude (a good odd though). So then I'm like, "Hey man, there's a piano here. Wanna jam?"
Next thing you know it's me and Aaron Carter playing together as a duo, him singing and on piano and me on guitar. We play a couple songs, which was really 2 musicians just jamming and having fun, no different than any other musician friend I know. At this point the whole room has kind of taken on a "What the hell is going on in here!? type of atmosphere". Afterwards we glow, he puts my contact info into his blackberry, and he promises to call me (which I highly doubt will happen), and he, his girlfriend (who turns out to be his backup singer), and the kind grandparents whisk out of the room as the attention now has most definitely turned to them.
I do my 3rd set, with a huge, inside perma-grin on my face, telling myself "I can't believe that these weird scenarios like that just pop into my life like that. That was the strangest, funniest, experience I may have ever had, especially for being in Mayville, NY." It still makes me laugh to think about it.

"Another Nightmare Gig in Hell"!

A couple years ago, I had a really big gig coming up. I had just released my second cd, had been touring for a couple years, and was getting some regional and national attention. I was maintaining my small-but-loyal fanbase and had made enough connections to actually support myself playing music... barely. But, I was doing it, and that in and of itself was a major victory. So... back to the gig. I was booked at The Living Room in New York City and was really psyched. At the time, The Living Room was the number one venue in NYC for singer/songwriters to play. I had been hearing about it for years and every songwriter that was playing there seemed to have something cool going on. It was an amazing opportunity and I couldn't wait.

Finally after months of doing bar gigs, coffeehouses, colleges, you name it... my Living Room show was upon me. I drove up the coast to NYC and found my way to the lower east side. My first gig in NYC, ever! How exciting was that!? On my drive in I saw Yankee Stadium! I arrived at The Living Room like 2 hours early and it wasn't open yet, so I walked around looking at designer shoes in the store windows and soaked in the eclectic scene. After that, slice of pizza, carried in my gear, and I was brimming with anticipation.

I walked into the venue and they directed me toward "the living room". I was thinking, "Oh cool, this is actually like a living room." I walked through this very heavy velvet curtain which acted as a barrier to the entry room (which was really just a waiting area and nice bar) into a very elegant, private, intimate space with about 60 chairs, a great stage and sound system. Here's the deal. At The Living Room, each artist gets a 45 minute "show", where a different crowd is charged every 45 minutes to come see that particular artist. (You probably see where this story is going. And if your a musician who lives in NYC, I know you do.) That night I was the first artist out of five, and I played from 7pm to 7:45pm. But this was a happening place, and it was a friday night too. So this was bound to be great!

For the first 10 minutes on stage at The Living Room I was completely alone. And I'm talking, not a soul besides mine was behind the velvet curtain. The soundman even stepped out because his cell phone rang. At this point I was on stage saying to myself, "Close your eyes and enjoy the music. Isn't this what you love? You knew this was going to be a long journey. Just a bump in the road Kev. Soon this will all be over and no one will ever know you were even here. Just close your eyes, drift away with the music, and relax." So then of course I opened my eyes. "Wait, what's that? The velvet curtain is opening", I said to myself. A girl walked through and sat in the very first chair she saw in the very last row. Now, I was like "Oh great, how awkward is this? How embarrasing is this situation? I mean, could it get more humiliating? This girl has come to probably her favorite venue to find some loser playing to nobody behind the magic velvet curtain." Nevertheless, I did my best to get through the show. She seemed very nice and occasionally smiled. And she stayed the whole time (hopefully not out of an uncomfortable sense of politeness). We talked briefly and she was sweet, and I showed my sincere appreciation for her being there (which was true), but still kind of in an I'm-trying-not-to-show-you-my-humiliation way. She left. The gig was over. Thank god.

I walked out of the velvet curtain to find 100 people! All waiting in anticipation for the next act! Now I'm like, "Where did all these people come from? Good lord, now I'm the loser who not only did none of these people want to see, but while they were waiting and my "show" ended, it was blatantly obvious only one person did!" I tucked my head and walked. After a couple minutes, I did talk to some of these people in line and asked, "So, why are you guys here? And who is this next guy?" It turned out he'd had 3 songs on the tv show, "Grey's Anatomy" in the past season (right when the show was its hottest too). And all of these people knew him from that. In my head I said, "I give up. I mean I can't compete with McDreamy, or whatever his name is."

My friend Derek and I walked around town going to some pretty cool bars that night. Derek is a friend from my hometown and he had become a lawyer in NYC. I was staying at his apartment. He would've made my whole show but he was working late and did manage to catch the last five minutes. Okay, so I had two people. We had fun and I basically tried to forget about the gig. But there it laid, festering in my mind. I drove home the next day... dejected. And there it laid, for years.

Last week, nearly three years later, I got this e-mail....

"Dear Kev, I loved your music ever since I saw the most special concert of my life... you playing in the "Living Room" in NYC and me to only listener.... I am not in NYC, not even in the states anymore, but I've still got your cd and once in while when somebody asks me for some special music, I say Kev Rowe, nobody knows but in the end everybody loves your music :) Keep up the good work, best wishes and many smiles from sunny Austria. sincerely, eva :) "

"Oh my god! Did she just say "the most special concert in her life"!?", I said, shocked. I re-read the e-mail a couple times just to make sure it said what I thought it said. "And she's from Austria! You have to be kidding me. I can't believe this." A wave of humility rushed through my veins, followed by a swell of satisfaction in my soul, and ending in a total warmth in my heart. I still can't believe it. And I'll never look at playing music in public the same. My worst "nightmare gig-in-hell" turned out to be someone else's "most special concert of my life." Crazy.