Alan Kirk

Alan Kirk has been around when it comes to recording and performing music. Beginning his career in the United States and having played around North America, Europe and New Zealand, Kirk is a veteran of the rock and roll circuit. Now calling Nelson home, he has just released his latest album Some Songs through his own home-grown production company Phonic Records, a disc that truly shows the experience behind the music.

Some Songs from the start sounds like a classic rock album of a high order. Blasting off with the rollicking “Real Groovy Dimension� Kirk kicks in to guitar driven, highly melodic sound that defines the album. Full of crazy peddles and a shout out “yeah yeah yeah� chorus, the song skirts on the side of psychedelic while staying firmly grounded to pure and simple rock.

This is a staple of the album, songs that experiment and surprise, but stay true to the melodies and riff driven tunes that define Kirk. “Hide Your Heart� is one of the best, a nicely building, power chorus tune that could stand up to the best of ‘70s rock. There’s an electric Neil Young thing going on, with some Guess Who thrown in, but with a sound that is still Alan Kirk.

The tenderness of Kirk’s lyrics highlight the thought behind the rock. For all the heavy guitar and punchy drumming, Kirk shows us his softer side as sings about lost love and new beginnings. “You just can’t fit in my life right now,� Kirk sings on “In My Room�, “though I love you like you’ll never know�. For such a rock based record to show such heart is refreshing.

Kirk writes that he “finds inspiration from [Nelson’s] natural beauty and eclectic, creative culture�. Some Songs reflects this well and is a welcome addition to the very culture that inspired it.
- The Express - Nelson, BC

I was struck by how much this album reminds me of something from the early '70s. Maybe it's just Kirk's high, light, airy vocals, or maybe it's the songs that sound like Harry Chapin and Eric Clapton.

In any case, it shouldn't be casually
dismissed. The songs may have a hippie rock flavor—peace, free love and all that shit, man—but there's also funk, jazz and blues influences that will make you take notice.

Just the line "you play the fool when you play with rules" is enough to merit a listen.

— Robert Stutler

- Richmond Music Journal - Richmond, VA

It's virtually a new world in the music industry.
And it's in the virtual world that many of the savviest musicians now prosper, taking the readily available tools and exposing their art to the international community.

Some have grasped the new medium of the message on the internet, others prefer to leave it up to those who understand, but for Kootenay-based musician Alan Kirk, he combines a little of both in his label, Phonic Records (www.phonicrecords. com).

Based in Pass Creek, Kirk created his Kootenay label in 2003 and has grown it to a stable of five artists, using the internet to build upon 30 years of writing, playing, record- ing and promoting in the music industry.

It really doesn't matter where you have a label anymore, Kirk said, who spent 15 years in Toronto and Vancouver immersed in the business and creation of music. "The fact that we are in the Kootenays is irrele- vant. The label has an international web presence that has nothing to do with where we are located," he said.

Cyberspace has vastly expanded the ability of musicians to promote themselves on their own, but it has also vastly exploded the number
of people that are doing it. It is easy to create a website but it's another thing to create a web presence, Kirk noted, which comes from reciprocal links and networking with people, getting the name out through the sweat of sheer exposure, in correspondence.

The be all, end all used to be to get attention, to get a label and get them to spend money on you and make you a successful artist. Now record labels sit around and wait for artists to self promote and merchandise and then, if they see a chance to seize a working, money making machine, they will grab ahold of it and make some profit.

Kirk attended music school at Fanshawe College, focusing on recording and production.
Upon graduating he hooked up as the assistant to record producer Steve Thompson, where he learned different dimensions of the music industry, rubbing shoulders and helping produce the likes of the Spoons, Sting, Jane Siberry, Daniel Lanois, Rush and Kim Mitchell.

When he passed through the West Kootenay in 1991 on a tour, he stuck. The region and its diverse brand of artists moved him, made him want to be a part of it, and he has been piecing a living together ever since. His love for the region and the artists that inhabit
it were part of the reason he started Phonic Records. He wanted to put West Kootenay music on a bigger stage.

"It's hard to get out of the Kootenays and into the big world, but the internet and a label like Phonic is the way to do it," he said.

There is a fair bit of traffic on the website, mostly from the U.S., Kirk explained, with links to the artist's own sites and also where to buy the music from sources like CD Baby, iTunes and Rhapsody.

One of Kirk's songs, Fires Burning, was on the Kootenay-made SoundVibes 2009, while his music and label have been featured on KBS Radio's Made in the Kootenays show. - Nelson Daily News - November 13, 2009