CJ KENNEDY – A BASSIST’S INTERVIEW ON MUSIC & LIFE
It’s no secret that King Kuel is one of my favorite hard rock bands located in Ct. Like Zero One Zero, Wild America and Odds of Eden, their music resonates deep in my soul. CJ Kennedy is the bodacious backbone of King Kuel. Combining with Fran Mynahan on drums, CJ forms a solid tandem creating the amazing back beat that spurs King Kuel to action. CJ is loved by all. Not because of his tenure in the band but because he’s a great friend and an amazing human being. Even though he’s quiet, he has a positive influence on everyone.
AMP has already featured the other three members of King Kuel. Lead vocalist and stellar front man Ray Wheaton, dynamic guitarist William Yager and forceful drummer Fran Mynahan have all graced our website with fantastic interviews. We saved the best for last. CJ was kind enough to spend some time with AMP and give us some real insights on his life as a bassist.
AMP: What got you into music and who influenced you the most?
CJ: Hey Ralph, it was great seeing you at the show the other night. Before we get started I just wanted to take the opportunity to say thanks for the opportunity for me and my band mates to be interviewed here in AMP.. You’ve shared some kind words with me about the band and our music.
It’s always nice to hear and it’s appreciated.. Also, thanks for the site. It’s great to have a place for new talent to be recognized and I can tell from speaking with you that it’s a labor of love. Rock on brother.
Unlike some of the other guys in the band I wouldn’t say that I came from a “musical” home. It was a grade school friend Brian in what probably was the 5th grade who introduced me to music. I was 8 years old if my math is correct. During cold snowy Northeast winters we wouldn’t be able to go outside for recess. So, out came the record player which is where I had my first taste of Rock n’ Roll with the now legendary Kiss. From that point on I was pretty much obsessed with music. Albeit primarily Kiss music. It was Kiss overdrive for me. We’re talking ’75 so I believe Alive! had already dropped at the time. Don’t quote me because I’m tying to pull this out of the cob webs here.
Between that album and the three predecessors I had some ground to make up. No pun intended… We commandeered the record player and started our own Kiss air guitar band and would perform in the back of the classroom. I was Paul if memory serves. Well in spirit anyway, We weren’t running to the bathroom to smear on makeup. I guess we were unmasked way before Lick It Up. We made enemies of some of the girls because Shaun Cassidy was on their hit list. Too funny thinking back. My love for music was fueled even more when my Dad took me to the Civic Center in Hartford in ’76 to see Kiss with Judas Priest opening. I wish I had a clue then.
Today I’m a fan of Priest. Back then they were the band preventing me from seeing Kiss. I didn’t even know I’d seen them until years later when I was talking to a friend about how I couldn’t wait to see Priest and my Dad overheard. He chimed in you’ve already seen them and so have I…he was a cool guy for enduring that. Thanks Dad!! I remember we sat right in front of the PA and my ears rang three days. So short answer is Kiss. Also, I can’t leave out Miss Sala, the grade school music teacher. She introduced me to singing which I’ve loved ever since. I would belt out Old Paint with the other kids singing under their breath and they would look at me like “dude why are you actually singing”? There was just something about it that connected me to the music. It made me feel the music. I say that a lot. Can you feel the music? When playing music I sometimes get caught up in the aspect of performing without making an error or being off key and I forget that I’m doing do something I love and I let the music flow through me and feel it. We’re all connected through music in one way or another. It’s a question I’m asking myself on stage as much as the audience.
AMP: What helps you stay musically focused?
CJ: The one outstanding thing that hits me with that question is knowledge. When I was younger and played music I didn’t “know” music. Sure I took some lessons as a kid but they didn’t stick. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. There were no other kids playing music in my neighborhood except for one older
guy, Kevin, that played guitar and jammed with an actual band across the street from my house. I would sit outside his basement window and listen when they played. To me they were rock stars but I was just a kid to them.
So, I knew you could put it all together but didn’t know how without the experience.
Maybe bored is the word I would use today for it. Even when I graduated high school and said hey “I wanna be a rock star” and got in an actual band I was still kinda going through the motions with music. I had to hit the ground running on learning how to fit in and play in a band format. Many know
that feeling after that initial exposure of playing with a band. I drifted away from playing for many years. due to some life changes. I always kept an ear to the ground in relation to listening to music but didn’t play.
When Fran asked me to come down and audition for Kuel I was literally getting back into the same boat I had been in at 18. Well as history would tell, I made the cut and got the gig. There is something different this time around though. Life experience, maturity… the realization I was in way over my fucking head, LOL. All kidding aside these guys are all seasoned musicians for sure Aside from that was this overwhelming feeling that I wanted to “know” music. It sounds strange to say but after listening to music my whole life I started to hear it differently. The notes, phrasing, melodies, harmonies, rhythms..it all sounded new to me.
So today I spend a ton of time listening, singing and playing the bass along with other instruments because I want to learn and experience their place in the puzzle. I have a Baby Grand piano that I said hell yeah too when asked if I wanted it just because it needed a home. It’s fun to sit and explore even though I can’t play. I use it to work on my vocal harmonies even though I’m a fan of a good gang vocal.
So, knowledge, the desire to learn and to become a better musician, oh and Rick Beato. His YouTube channel is a wealth of knowledge. I watch his theory videos and my head spins. Shout out to Rick, love you man! You can give a shout out to someone you don’t even know, right ? I’ll even append that to question number one on current day musical influence. He’s expanded my musical knowledge and desire to learn exponentially. Check out his video on Martha Argerich..enough said. Definitely trying to enjoy the journey now in my musical resurrection.
AMP: Tell us about your bass gear. Any Favorites?
It can be a love/hate relationship with my gear at times. Let’s start with love. My basses are primarily Ibanez Soundgear. My Mohito Green Premium is hands down my fav. I also have a variety of the lower end ones but they all play smooth. Necks are slim and fast. More guitar like than the traditional fat bass neck. Also play a Sterling Ray4. That’s the P Bass feel in the line up. Moving onto content with my Momark 800 Amp frame. You can swap in different preamps and EQ’s which I’m always in search of to explore my sound. I’m a big fan of low end that hits like a quake. Like feel it in your chest deep. Tough to achieve at times without muddying things up. I’ve recently added a Keely Compressor Pro which helps even things out a ton. Thanks for the suggestion Ray.
The Momark is coming thru a MarkBass 4×10 and big honkin Ampeg 15″ cab for bottom end. The hate would be in trouble finding “the perfect” tone. That sound which contains thunderous low end, clean mids and crisp high end. Not too much to ask? It’s probably a fantasy sound that exists only in my mind which is why I can’t seem to dial it in. ..I’m hopeful that someday I’ll find it. Until then the fantasy of perfection and madness is to be continued…
AMP: What are four of your favorite albums and why?
CJ: Interesting question because I need to go way back in my mind to quantify music in an album/disc format. Although vinyl is making a resurgence. The way I and society at large consumes music has changed drastically over the past twenty years. I can easily say hands down Kiss‘ Alive! would chart in at number one if I had to choose. Not necessarily because it was my first exposure to music though. There was just something about the sound of the live experience that was awesome from an energy perspective. There are no words to describe it. Plus, that cover!! C’mon nothing like I’d or many of us had ever seen. The handwritten notes, the live concert crowd shot. I spent countless hours pouring over that cover front to back. I could easily list all of Kiss’ albums here but it doesn’t represent the entire path of my musical journey. Like I said I was kinda of obsessed which, unknowingly, was to become somewhat of a theme in my life…lol.
It wasn’t until the early ’80’s hitting high school and the advent of MTV that my exposure to other bands opened up. Actually just prior to MTV I think Blizzard of Ozz dropped. Ozzy’s vocals, Randy’s guitar work and those songs…serendipity. Need I say more! Not to mention Bob Daisley’s bass work on that album. Definitely under rated in my opinion, unless your a musician which I totally get. That album also introduced me to Rudy Sarzo and Tommy Aldridge from the touring band. Huge fan of both those guys.
The heavy rotation of three vids on MTV for Def Leppard’s High ‘n Dry led me to getting that album. Every song is a winner and has a hook or aspect that I dig. One of the fav’s is “Switch 625”. No idea what it means but it grooves. I wish I had a nickel for every time I played it front to back. I could probably retire early.
I can round out the list with Motley’s Shout at the Devil. That album just had a raw edge to it. Again with a visual hook that just grabbed you. The Shout video with the flames and chicks. Another album that spent a lot of time on the turn table/tape deck. I’m gonna throw in an honorable mention for some local Northeast guys, Sweet Cheater, seeing as you only asked for four. Spotify puts their Eatin’ Ain’t Cheatin’ disc as a 2006 release but those tunes were around way before then. “Money’s Tough”, “Dancin”, “Romina”, “All Fired Up” and the power ballad “I’ve Got You” are all great tunes. I saw them a bunch of times live…good times for sure. Wait.. wait.. and everything from Tesla! Man way over four…lol.
AMP: How would you describe your role in the development of King Kuel?
CJ: Well, I’d have to say that we try to run the show as democratically as possible and we all bring ideas to the table. So it’s not a situation where I did this and so and so did that. It’s a collaboration of four individuals forming a collective as one entity. I can answer more definitively that I feel my role in King Kuel is to show up and be the best version of me that I can. That is a struggle at times and some days are better than others. It took me literally a few years to even truly feel a “part of”. Nothing against the other guys. They were great from day one. It was my own stuff that I was referencing earlier. So I try to address that by learning and moving forward. I’m there to lay down the bottom end and hang in the pocket with Fran and give 100%. Providing that foundation to build on. To me that’s development and a means to an end so to speak.
AMP: How do you feel the new King Kuel songs are coming along and what makes them different from your older material?
CJ: I don’t really compare our new material to old. Mainly because I play it and love to rock it but wasn’t involved in the writing. I can say I’m digging the new stuff. We are floating a couple in the live shows and they seem to be well received. Some of the others in development don’t even have names so I can’t call them out but they are musically formatted with verse, bridge and such and they rock. It’s tough at times with jobs, personal responsibilities, rehearsing for gigs and writing. Were going into that slower hiatus period of the year with fewer shows slated so we’ll be ramping back up on completing the new material and laying it down.
AMP: Where would you like to see KIng Kuel in five years?
CJ: Haha, if it is one thing I have learned it’s you have today and that’s it. That doesn’t mean that I don’t plan or look to the future. It just means you can lay the ground work for all the plans you like and then life happens. For the sake of the question I can go out a year and speculate. I’d like to continue the writing process for new music with the guys. Tracking it and rehearsing new material for more live shows slated in ’22. Ya know as I see it that means bringing new cover material into the set as well. Seems like cover tunes get a bad rap. When you come to a Kuel show or any show for that matter, it’s to unplug the world leave it behind and feel the music. Whether me and the boys rip into “Breathe” or “Stranglehold” and the crowd lights up, I have the same reaction. Rock on!! It’s all good and were doing our job kickin your ass!!
AMP: Favorite Soup?
CJ: Hey Ralph you saved the easiest question for last. I’m going with French Onion. You can’t really go wrong with cheese and bread. Thanks again for the opportunity brother. Hope to see you guys rockin n rollin at a Kuel show in the new year !! Be good to each other.
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