Black Kids
Kevin Snow talks iTunes, giving away music for free and chode rock
Black Kids may well be to Jacksonville, Florida what Fall Out Boy is to Chicago: a relatively young band catapulted into the spotlight virtually overnight. Formed in early 2006, the band worked the Jacksonville scene for a little over a year. After offering a four song EP for free download on MySpace, the band has over the past year toured with the likes of Kate Nash and Cut Copy, played at all the major festivals, released a full-length and worked both sides of the Atlantic like veterans. HEAVE sat down with drummer Kevin Snow before their October 6 show at the Abbey Pub.
HEAVE: Over the past year, you guys have experienced what can only be described as a meteoric rise in popularity. But it all started in Jacksonville, Florida. How did you meet? Where did you practice? How did your band form?
Kevin: Reggie Youngblood (Singer/Guitarist), Owen Holmes (Bassist) and I met in Sunday school when we were teenagers. It’s pretty common to grow up in church and stuff. Pretty soon after we met we started making music together. Reggie and I started writing songs for girls that we liked and recorded them on our little boom box—really high tech stuff back then. And, you know, we were all in a couple of bands beforehand. Reggie and Owen were in a band together. But Black Kids was the first time that Reggie, Owen and I were in a band together, and it was then that we invited the girls to come along. Ali is Reggie’s sister, and Dawn was her best friend (both play keyboards and sing back-up). I think with all the bands before Black Kids we all took ourselves too seriously. A lot of serious posing on stage. A lot of the lyrical content was similar, like songs about heartbreak, or trying to catch a girl, but I think when the time came to form Black Kids we decided we just wanted to have some fun with the whole thing.
HEAVE: As you started writing songs, how did you develop your sound? Was it a conscious effort, or was it just what came out?
Kevin: Actually, I remember a conversation that Reggie and I had when we started the band, and this may sound kind of broad, but we really just wanted to cherry-pick our favorite parts of pop songs from different genres or eras, like certain disco beats. I guess the way we looked at it was there were some songs or albums with really creative parts and we just wanted an album full of really great parts. But from the beginning, when we started Black Kids, at our first rehearsal, it was very similar to how it is now. The first song we wrote was “Hit the Heartbrakes,” which is the first song on our album, and it hasn’t changed really at all since we wrote it.
HEAVE: Chicago is blessed with big concert halls, medium-sized clubs and small bars like The Abbey Pub. What is Jacksonville’s music scene like?
Kevin: Oh man. Well, Jacksonville is a pretty big place, but the majority of it is filled with what we call chode rock - hard rock bands, pop punk bands and hardcore. Then there’s this one neighborhood that we live in, Riverside, it’s for the hipster kids, and there’s like a handful of bands, a pretty small group there. But yeah there are basically three places to play in town, so we would always play the same spots.
HEAVE: In nearly all the articles I’ve read about your band, it sounds like you had a breakout show at the Athens Popfest in Georgia in August 2007. How did you land that gig and what made it so special?
Kevin: Well, we got the gig because a friend from our favorite club in Jacksonville—Club TSI, which Reggie and I used to deejay—gave our name to the promoters of the Popfest who had contacted him looking for a local band recommendation. It was actually right when we had finished our recording of the Wizard of Ahhhs EP, and we had made a decision not to play outside of Jacksonville until we had a recording to give away. So it was the first time playing out of Jacksonville. And it was the first time giving away the demo, although we did have it up on our MySpace for free download for about three weeks before that, but no one knew who we were at that point so it didn’t really matter.
HEAVE: And what was behind the decision to give away the Wizard of Ahhhs EP for free?
Kevin: I remember we were putting it up on MySpace and we were like, “This will only help us to give it away for free.” Because if we try and sell it, maybe our moms and our friends will buy it, but it just made more sense just to give it away.
HEAVE: While on tour in the United Kingdom, you recorded Partie Traumatic with producer Bernard Butler, the former guitarist of Suede. What was that like? How’d you hook up with him? What impact do you think he had on Partie Traumatic?
Kevin: It was a really great experience overall. We were fans of Suede before. It was our management that presented the idea to us. We wanted to do the album as professional as possible. So at first it seemed like a really good idea. When we first met with him, it really clicked. It seemed like we subscribed to some similar ideas when it comes to pop music. We had heard stories from other bands that he’s worked with that he would restructure songs or weed out songs from long jam sessions, but for us as a band, it was one of our goals to self-edit, we didn’t really jam, we didn’t really have these long sections of music, we pretty much construct three minute pop songs, so when he actually had similar ideas about that, it worked totally well. As far as what he brought, there’s definitely something to be said for having someone there as an ultimate decision maker. I remember when we recorded the Wizard of Ahhhs EP, we would agonize over questions like “Do we keep doing this part over and over again?” or “Is this the right one?” When you’re in the middle of it all, it’s hard to discern that. So having the producer there was definitely a huge relief. Butler also brought his technical ability. He’s an amazing guitarist and he’s really skilled at the studio setup so he brought a lot of expertise that we didn’t have before.
HEAVE: Your band has done some extensive touring and some of the major festivals in both the U.S. and the U.K. What differences do you notice between the festivals, clubs and fans in the U.S. versus the U.K.?
Kevin: Overall, we’ve been very pleased with the crowd responses on both sides. It’s kind of strange because we’re a little more on the pop charts in the U.K. I don’t know if that’s the reason why but I’ve noticed a younger crowd in the U.K., especially at the festivals, whereas in the U.S. it’s more the twenty-somethings.
HEAVE: Festivals seem to be growing in popularity in the U.S. Your band did Coachella and Lollapalooza to name the big ones. Any favorite bands or performances?
Kevin: It was my first time seeing Radiohead at Lollapalooza. That was very cool. I actually really wanted to see Kanye West’s performance but I ended up watching it from my hotel. But my hotel windows were overlooking the park so I could hear it perfectly and I could even see the lights.
HEAVE: Which do you prefer? Festivals or clubs?
Kevin: It’s funny actually I think most everyone in the band would say club shows, but I actually really enjoy festivals. But I think you have to like both for different reasons. There’s definitely an intimacy at a club show that you don’t get at a festival. But playing a festival is definitely a surreal experience, kind of like watching those old Guns N’ Roses videos where they play in front of massive crowds.
HEAVE: Up next, your band has some more North America dates, a U.K. tour, dates in the rest of Europe and then Japan. What’s after that? Well-deserved rest? Writing and recording?
Kevin: We’re wondering the same thing. Our goal right now is to be able to record another EP in January. We’re also anxious to do another album. We’re hoping to be able to do that as soon as possible, like by the middle of next year. We’ll probably do more festivals next summer.
HEAVE: Do you have a favorite song to perform live?
Kevin: Well, we get the biggest response from playing “I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You.” So that is fun because the crowd generally erupts when we play that. That and “Hurricane Jane.” We’ve been closing our set with “Hurricane Jane.” Part of the fun for me is the crowd enjoying it.
HEAVE: Do you have a favorite venue or festival?
Kevin: Well, in the U.S., Lollapalooza was good but Coachella was good too! There was one festival we played in Belgium called Pukkelpop. That was a really awesome festival. It was really well organized. Also I saw Sigur Rós for the first time. It was amazing. It was a beautiful show, outdoors and at night.
HEAVE: iTunes and other legal digital download sources offer fan-friendly, on-demand music, in most cases with the option of picking which songs to download. What are some negative consequences of this?
Kevin: I can speak from personal experience. I just don’t listen to albums like I used to. I’m a regular single downloader. It just seems like people don’t really take the time to sit down with an album like they pretty much forced you to back in the day with vinyl only or even CDs. I’m not really sure where it’s going to go, especially with so many bands, when the market is so saturated. It’s a shame because I appreciate the album as an art form. It’s good to see the recent spike in vinyl sales.
HEAVE: How do you feel about the illegal downloading of music? Is it the death of the music industry as we’ve known it? Is it all bad? Can any good come of it?
Kevin: Yes, I think a lot of good can come from it. As I’m learning more about the music industry from the perspective of the artist, bands don’t really make much money from record sales anyway. So if kids are out there downloading songs illegally but they’re getting the word out, it can only help bands ultimately. And that’s part of our story. We made the decision to give away the Wizard of Ahhhs EP for free and it really helped us get the word out.
HEAVE: What do you listen to on the tour bus and who decides what you’ll listen to?
Kevin: Actually, it’s funny, as far as music goes, people are pretty individualistic, everyone has their iPods on, but there are always movies so whoever gets to the DVD player first chooses the movie.
HEAVE: Favorite movies?
Kevin: I did enjoy the new Coen brothers movie Burn After Reading. I thought it was great. All my friends either loved it or hated it. I did actually just see Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist. I was a little disappointed by that one. You’ve got the Seth Rogen comedies that are kind of like teen flicks that are also adult flicks, but I feel like Nick and Norah didn’t have that adult appeal.
HEAVE: Iron Man or The Dark Knight?
Kevin: Umm…The Dark Knight.
HEAVE: How about baseball? Any favorites or predictions?
Kevin: Actually I’m totally clueless when it comes to baseball.
HEAVE: The presidential election is in less than a month. Are you decided or undecided?
Kevin: Oh, Barack Obama. Absolutely. Everyone in the band supports him. I mean, we’re called Black Kids, so we’ve been hoping he’d call us up, but it hasn’t happened yet, so if he’s reading this article...
Posted by Ben Wadington on Oct 13, 2008 @ 7:00 am
