Interview: Multi-Instrumentalist, Gavin Kennedy Spills About Release of Debut Project
Multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer, Gavin Kennedy just released his debut album 'Sunchaser' and we're hooked. Gavin Kennedy spills details on the making of the album, collaborating on album cover, and much more!
Thank you for chatting with Music Update Central! You just released your debut album, Sunchaser. When readers listen to this album, what can they expect? Thanks so much for having me! With Sunchaser, I think people can expect a collection of progressive music that it easy to get into and hopefully offers some new sounds for people to hear. One of the things that I tried to accomplish with this project was honing in on my own style and sound, and I believe that process yielded a very diverse album that draws from many different styles of music to deliver an energetic and fun experience without any of negativity that is unfortunately associated with the world of metal/progressive music.
The album was co-produced by Adam “Nolly” Getgood. What was it like working with him on this project? Working with Nolly was nothing short of a dream come true! Nolly has been one of my heroes since I first discovered him online, and his work with Periphery played a huge role in helping me define what I love about music. When I first arrived in Bath, England to start the recording for Sunchaser, we naturally had a very relaxed working chemistry from the get-go, and I found that it was very easy for us to not only find a very effective workflow, but stay in that productive mindset quite effortlessly. One of the things that we found advantagous throughout the whole process was how comfortable the session was from start to finish: I was a new and unestablished artist, there wasn't any defined audience we needed to appeal to, and the entire project was done independently, so we enjoyed complete creative control over every decision. Your song ‘Rum Ham’ has been played during Tennessee Titans game. What was it like hearing your song on TV? Hearing "Rum Ham" used by the Titans was surreal to say the least! I was honestly expecting just a small portion of the song to be used, but I think the clip ended up being about 30 seconds long and the tune was front and center, so that was a huge surprise! Suddenly, the energy that came across the screen from the power these NFL players possess combined with the excitement reflected by the Titans advancing to the playoffs, made my music seem larger than life to me. So grateful! When did you know you wanted to pursue a musical career? I've known that music would play a pretty serious role in my life for a long time, but it was when I first had the opportunity to work with Nolly that things escalated to a career; having access to his knowledge and resources really opened up so many doors for me and transformed Sunchaser in ways I didn't even know were possible. It's such an awesome time for musicians and producers to be able to record an album out of their bedroom that has the potential to go toe-to-toe with a major label project, and I think due to that potential, the line dividing a hobby and profession is starting to become much thinner when it comes to music. I’m in love with your album artwork. What was it like for you finding the perfect album cover? The process of getting the album art was another super easy experience! We had the awesome opportunity to work with Dan Mumford for the artwork, and knowing how amazing his portfolio is, I wanted him to have full creative license to interpret the music however he saw fit. I'm so glad things worked out this way, because from the very first rough sketch he sent us, we knew he had hit the bullseye immediately. Everything from the landscape design to the color palette felt so intuitively right to me, and it still looks just as amazing as the first time I saw it today! MUC Random Question: If you could go anywhere on vacation, where would you go and why? Man that's tough! If I had to choose just one though, I'd probably go with hiking Machu Picchu in Peru. From what I imagine it to be, it seems like such an amazing marriage of natural and man-made wonder, so that's definitely towards the top of my list! Where can our readers follow you at? You can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter with the handle @gavinkmusic.
STEAM 'SUNCHASER' ON SPOTIFY: