KEllEN AND ME

The last act of the night was Kellen And Me, a single man band run by Kellen Kerwin. Kerwin’s music was like a culmination of all the sounds played previously that night. His style, a mix of electro-indie-folk-rock is hard to come by. If one had never seen Kerwin perform and only heard a track, they would assume there was a full band of people playing along. In fact, Kerwin is able to produce a multitude of harmonious sounds all by himself.
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On his album he is marked under the genre of “introspectrum rock’n glow.” Now if you’re like me, you have no clue what that actually means, but I can tell you one thing: it’s good. Kerwin’s soft, but impactful sounds paired wonderfully with his distinct soothing vocals. With every note he produced, his passion came forth and stole the crowd. By the end we were begging for just one more song and he delivered.
- Word Press

Next on the bill is Chicago-based solo artist, Kellen and Me. Kellen, is every musician’s wet dream with all his peddles, altering his sound by the flick of one of his many peddles. He has a very indie, lo-fi, folk, rock sound to his songs with sometimes witty lyrics and awesome guitar riffs. A saw a few people singing and getting into the song, “Ancient Drum,” off of his new album set to be released in May. - Chirp Radio

Kellen and Me joined us for a Podcast show as well as a performance on our Bottom Lounge CAU Showcase which featured the amazing Jordan Cook

Kellen is an excellent singer/songwriter as you will hear on this show. Whenever you see his name on the bill, go see him. - Chicago Acoustic Underground

if you’ve frequented Chicago’s local songwriter venues, you might have been fortunate enough to catch one of the scenes newest best kept secrets… experimental folk songsmith Kellen & Me. amidst preparation of his first full length album, b3science caught up with the multi-tasking instrumentalist between sets, night jobs and excessive pondering for a brief Q&A.

b3sci: so you’re a one man band?
kellen: yeah, i use a loop pedal for spontaneous rhythms and abstract elements, but i do so that the focus isn’t on the pedal- it’s more on the song and the melodies.

b3sci: do you prefer flying solo, or do you one day wish to rock a band?
kellen: at first i thought having a band was the ultimate goal, but what i was looking for wasn’t coming, so i said fuck it, it’s not gonna stop me. in the future a band could be great, but only the right band will do.

b3sci: have to ask. what’s you favorite dental instrument?
kellen: umm, gotta go with the mirror.

b3sci: the big one or little one?
kellen: the little one they go in your mouth with. i wish i had one of those… i think spys use them to look around corners.

b3sci: while were on the subject, who’s your favorite globalist front group?
kellen: you mean like the free masons? yeah them. really anybody that uses symbolic imagery. you know the whole marketing of symbolic things using subconcious imagery. i actually grew up in a town with a whole bunch of masons. their were a bunch of temples with no windows and stuff. they were always kind of interesting to me.

… they never let me in, but i did meet a mason when i was pruning apple trees in wisconsin. he’d told me they’d been watching me ever since i was a young child. he was a very serious man. i didn’t believe him, but it peaked my curiosity.

b3sci: haha do you think their watching you right now?
kellen: it’s flattering, i wouldn’t mind if they were. i could definitely use their support.

b3sci: how did you make that incredible video for “Batteries and Frequencies”
Kellen: i stumbled on this technique when i was in high school and just kind of started messing with it.. you plug a video camera directly into the audio video output of a television, and then shine the camera into the television. you’ll get all sorts of images from the light feeding back depending on how you hold the camera. you’ll get all of these free association kind of images.

b3sci: what are you looking to accomplish with your music
kellen: i’m playing music to make some sort of interpretation of my own inner world and to bring it out into reality, and hopefully people will want to listen to it.

b3sci: when can we expect a record?
kellen: yeah i’ve been working on new songs. i have a batch of stuff and hope to have a full albums worth of new material out soon.

b3sci: looking forward to it. thanks for chatting
kellen: thanks for having me, bye. - BlahBlahBlahScience

Up first was Kellen & Me, Audiotree’s flagship artist for their record label. He seems to be a perfect microcosm with what Audiotree is all about with a style that’s firmly planted in roots music, but with an electrified twist. He deftly utilized looping of lo-fi percussion and synth tracks to fill out the songs behind his shimmering, distorted electric guitar. There was something really comfortable about his approach, yet it was quirky enough to feel very unique as well. It was just a feelgood take on electric folk, especially for a one-man band. Often times the one-man thing can feel forced, or just downright boring, but Kellen & Me was a lighthearted & engaging opening act. - Soundfuse Magazine

Kellen & Me pit stopped in Boston to film and play 2 tracks and interviews with the fine fellas at Indie Ambassador on the way to CMJ in NYC 2011. - Indie Ambassador

Musebox interview with Kellen & Me. - Musefy/Musebox

Musebox interview with Kellen & Me. - Musefy/Musebox

Kellen & Me played a private performance for Google/Youtube executives in Chicago to kick off the Lollapalooza weekend at the JBTV studios. This performance/interview was captured live and aired on TV. - JBTV

Kellen & Me played a private performance for Google/Youtube executives in Chicago to kick off the Lollapalooza weekend at the JBTV studios. This performance/interview was captured live and aired on TV. - JBTV

The West Loop loft office of Audiotree doesn't give visitors the clearest idea what goes on there. It's obviously a young business, run by young, quasi-bohemian people: the ancient, beat-up hardwood flooring is barely refinished, after the current fashion; the conference room is a floor-to-ceiling glass enclosure, islanded in a larger space; indie-rock concert posters hang on the urban-rustic exposed-brick walls, along with two enormous paintings and a drumhead autographed by all three members of Alkaline Trio. But what sort of business is it? A marketing company? An Internet start-up? A record label? The answer is all three, kind of, and a couple other things besides.

"I get that question all the time," says cofounder and director of operations Adam Thurston. "'What is Audiotree?' The best way to describe us right now is that we're a new-concept record label."

At the moment the venture is more concept than label. Thurston and his longtime friend, company cofounder and president Michael Johnston—they grew up together in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and are both 27—have amassed a core staff of nine, including social-media coordinator Chelsea McGrath and marketing director Christopher Watkins, though only three work full-time in the office. In November they had a soft launch, going live with the Audiotree website and not telling anybody. But after more than a year of work, they're just now putting out their first release—the debut album by local one-man indie-pop band Kellen & Me. There are no solid plans yet for a second one.

The concept behind Audiotree is ambitious and novel, though, and that should interest anyone who still cares about the tragicomedy that is the music business in 2011. Thurston and Johnston don't intend to have a large stable of artists for whom they provide all the many services that record labels historically have: paying for recording, pressing albums, providing tour support, arranging for distribution, licensing, and publicity, and so on. While they plan to sign one or two artists a year to traditional deals like that, for the most part they want Audiotree to act as a kind of cafeteria label for a much larger pool of artists, offering services a la carte—if all a band wants help with is licensing, it can just get licensing help, with no further relationship or obligation. And in another departure from the usual record-label business model, artists not signed to Audiotree will pay up front for what they get.

"We have kind of described ourselves as a music-services company," says Johnston. "The idea for Audiotree was to create a place where people could come—like photographers, Web builders, graphic design, bands, whatever, would all come to a website, meet each other, and start working together. They'll just come and there are like ten other people that are doing things that you need and that they need from you."

He's describing a possible future manifestation of Audiotree, where people in the company's orbit will in some cases simply meet through its website and conduct business among themselves. This combination social-networking site and job board is still a long way off, but what Audiotree does have already is a team of specialists from several music-biz fields, who work both in-house and out. At the moment a band that wants to record and press an album, design and print T-shirts or posters, have a press release written, or do all of the above can have everything taken care of through Audiotree.

Kellen & Me is getting the top-to-bottom treatment because the band's an Audiotree staff favorite and didn't have a label lined up. "However," says Thurston, "there's other bands who we run into who already have an EP or something, so they don't need to record. Or maybe there's a guy in the band who's a Web designer, so he can do all of that. We just want to be able to have that whole Audiotree—the tree of talented people in every facet, whether it's art, photography, booking, and kind of be able to bring all of that together to be able to help bands launch and keep going."

Though the success of Audiotree's iconoclastic vision would seem to depend on traditional music-biz models going extinct—it's hard to imagine too many artists opting to pay for label services if they can still hope to get signed the old-fashioned way—its staff includes folks with long histories in the industry. Johnston and Thurston were educated very much within the system, and have degrees from Full Sail University near Orlando, Florida, which specializes in entertainment and media: Johnston's is in recording engineering (he's spent about five years freelancing for Chicago studios), and Thurston's is in "recording arts and music business."

Johnston and Thurston have also benefited greatly from their association with 30-year industry veteran Ira Antelis, a music supervisor for ad giant Leo Burnett who composes both commercial jingles and serious musical-theater pieces. The partners met him through the l - Chicago Reader

The West Loop loft office of Audiotree doesn't give visitors the clearest idea what goes on there. It's obviously a young business, run by young, quasi-bohemian people: the ancient, beat-up hardwood flooring is barely refinished, after the current fashion; the conference room is a floor-to-ceiling glass enclosure, islanded in a larger space; indie-rock concert posters hang on the urban-rustic exposed-brick walls, along with two enormous paintings and a drumhead autographed by all three members of Alkaline Trio. But what sort of business is it? A marketing company? An Internet start-up? A record label? The answer is all three, kind of, and a couple other things besides.

"I get that question all the time," says cofounder and director of operations Adam Thurston. "'What is Audiotree?' The best way to describe us right now is that we're a new-concept record label."

At the moment the venture is more concept than label. Thurston and his longtime friend, company cofounder and president Michael Johnston—they grew up together in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and are both 27—have amassed a core staff of nine, including social-media coordinator Chelsea McGrath and marketing director Christopher Watkins, though only three work full-time in the office. In November they had a soft launch, going live with the Audiotree website and not telling anybody. But after more than a year of work, they're just now putting out their first release—the debut album by local one-man indie-pop band Kellen & Me. There are no solid plans yet for a second one.

The concept behind Audiotree is ambitious and novel, though, and that should interest anyone who still cares about the tragicomedy that is the music business in 2011. Thurston and Johnston don't intend to have a large stable of artists for whom they provide all the many services that record labels historically have: paying for recording, pressing albums, providing tour support, arranging for distribution, licensing, and publicity, and so on. While they plan to sign one or two artists a year to traditional deals like that, for the most part they want Audiotree to act as a kind of cafeteria label for a much larger pool of artists, offering services a la carte—if all a band wants help with is licensing, it can just get licensing help, with no further relationship or obligation. And in another departure from the usual record-label business model, artists not signed to Audiotree will pay up front for what they get.

"We have kind of described ourselves as a music-services company," says Johnston. "The idea for Audiotree was to create a place where people could come—like photographers, Web builders, graphic design, bands, whatever, would all come to a website, meet each other, and start working together. They'll just come and there are like ten other people that are doing things that you need and that they need from you."

He's describing a possible future manifestation of Audiotree, where people in the company's orbit will in some cases simply meet through its website and conduct business among themselves. This combination social-networking site and job board is still a long way off, but what Audiotree does have already is a team of specialists from several music-biz fields, who work both in-house and out. At the moment a band that wants to record and press an album, design and print T-shirts or posters, have a press release written, or do all of the above can have everything taken care of through Audiotree.

Kellen & Me is getting the top-to-bottom treatment because the band's an Audiotree staff favorite and didn't have a label lined up. "However," says Thurston, "there's other bands who we run into who already have an EP or something, so they don't need to record. Or maybe there's a guy in the band who's a Web designer, so he can do all of that. We just want to be able to have that whole Audiotree—the tree of talented people in every facet, whether it's art, photography, booking, and kind of be able to bring all of that together to be able to help bands launch and keep going."

Though the success of Audiotree's iconoclastic vision would seem to depend on traditional music-biz models going extinct—it's hard to imagine too many artists opting to pay for label services if they can still hope to get signed the old-fashioned way—its staff includes folks with long histories in the industry. Johnston and Thurston were educated very much within the system, and have degrees from Full Sail University near Orlando, Florida, which specializes in entertainment and media: Johnston's is in recording engineering (he's spent about five years freelancing for Chicago studios), and Thurston's is in "recording arts and music business."

Johnston and Thurston have also benefited greatly from their association with 30-year industry veteran Ira Antelis, a music supervisor for ad giant Leo Burnett who composes both commercial jingles and serious musical-theater pieces. The partners met him through the l - Chicago Reader

The crew behind Audiotree have been incredibly busy since kicking off a few months ago. Not only have they been acting as a label and management company, they have also been regularly recording really cool live sessions with an assortment of top bands, which you can keep up with on their site. Last Thursday, Audiotree officially celebrated its launch with a show at Lincoln Hall featuring sets by Portugal. The Man, Kellen & Me and The Soil and the Sun. Some of us Windy City Rock-ers were there and had a great time. Here are some shots that WCR contributing photographers Mary-Claire Runchey and Heather Sapp got of all three performances. - Windy City Rock

Pictures - Audiotreemusic.com/blog

At first glance, Kellen Kerwin will remind of people you might be familiar with; Bert McCracken (of The Used) without makeup, MySpace or a personality disorder, or even Tom Brady without a haircut. The passion of both individuals (along with the good looks of the latter – ladies, please confirm) is definitely also present in spades, but Kellen & Me is also so much more than either – or both – brings to the table.

If you haven’t yet had the pleasure of seeing Kellen & Me live, we’ll break it down for you. He’s so completely absorbed in his music that, at times, he seems like he’s in his own little world performing for an audience of one instead of the packed crowd at his feet. And yet, he manages to do this while simultaneously being a picture perfect dictionary definition of “audience involvement.” There’s whimsy. There’s emotion. There’s inflection. There’s also dancing in place.

As you watch his head sway back and forth rhythmically to the point of contortion, you can’t help but feeling like you’re getting a special peek through the looking glass into indie music Wonderland. Like a cool musical breeze, the rhythm loops, the guitar plucking and the whole body gyrations – the scene as a whole really – kind of just washes over you and instills an enthralling sense of calm. The sort of calm that lets you just sit back and relax – all the while clapping your hands, stomping your feet and singing along.

Special thanks to everyone at Audiotree for putting on this fantastic show.

SHOW DATE: Thursday, March 10, 2011
WORDS BY: Ben Dahl ( @CobaltInfinity ) - lost in concert

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FEATURING:

ANDREW PELLETIER*

APOLLO QUAD

BEN SAGE

CYRUS GOUDARZI

EVAN HOLMES AND EXIT GHOST

GREAT DIVIDE*

JAKE PAUL

JULIA & THE SWEET ETC.

JUNIPER MAYS

KELLEN AND ME*

MIKE MIDDLETON

PHIL LOMAC

PHOTOGRAPHERS

SERATONIN TELEGRAM

SONS OF THE WEST

THE DOWN FEATHERS*

THE GIVING TREE BAND*

TRAIN COMPANY

VIOLET WINTER

SPONSORS:

HEDROOM PRODUCTIONS

KINGTELLO

VENUSZINE
















Entries in Kellen and Me (7)
chicago.com/music show review

the down feathers. photography by michael litchfield.

Chicago.com/music always puts together a great show, but last Saturday night at Martyr’s was one of the best. The evening felt magical, complete with a great audience and some amazing performances.

Kicking off the evening on a high note was Kellen & Me, which consists of sole member Kellen Kerwin. Kellen & Me was recently signed to Audio Tree Music. After months in the studio, his hard work definitely shone. Kellen & Me’s sound will always carry a whimsical and vintage vibe, but his performance was cleaner than usual and the groove just felt nice. Perhaps it was the new 1964 VOX amplifier? Probably a combination of new gear, much practice and utter excitement as Kellen prepares to head down to SXSW again this year, but with the support of Audio Tree Music. His album is set to release this spring! If you love music, you will love Kellen & Me, so make sure to get your hands on a copy at your earliest opportunity.
- Chicago.com/music

if you’ve frequented Chicago’s local songwriter venues, you might have been fortunate enough to catch one of the scenes newest best kept secrets… experimental folk songsmith Kellen & Me. amidst preparation of his first full length album, b3science caught up with the multi-tasking instrumentalist between sets, night jobs and excessive pondering for a brief Q&A.

b3sci: so you’re a one man band?
kellen: yeah, i use a loop pedal for spontaneous rhythms and abstract elements, but i do so that the focus isn’t on the pedal- it’s more on the song and the melodies.

b3sci: do you prefer flying solo, or do you one day wish to rock a band?
kellen: at first i thought having a band was the ultimate goal, but what i was looking for wasn’t coming, so i said fuck it, it’s not gonna stop me. in the future a band could be great, but only the right band will do.

b3sci: have to ask. what’s you favorite dental instrument?
kellen: umm, gotta go with the mirror.

b3sci: the big one or little one?
kellen: the little one they go in your mouth with. i wish i had one of those… i think spys use them to look around corners.

b3sci: while were on the subject, who’s your favorite globalist front group?
kellen: you mean like the free masons? yeah them. really anybody that uses symbolic imagery. you know the whole marketing of symbolic things using subconcious imagery. i actually grew up in a town with a whole bunch of masons. their were a bunch of temples with no windows and stuff. they were always kind of interesting to me.

… they never let me in, but i did meet a mason when i was pruning apple trees in wisconsin. he’d told me they’d been watching me ever since i was a young child. he was a very serious man. i didn’t believe him, but it peaked my curiosity.

b3sci: haha do you think their watching you right now?
kellen: it’s flattering, i wouldn’t mind if they were. i could definitely use their support.

b3sci: how did you make that incredible video for “Batteries and Frequencies”
Kellen: i stumbled on this technique when i was in high school and just kind of started messing with it.. you plug a video camera directly into the audio video output of a television, and then shine the camera into the television. you’ll get all sorts of images from the light feeding back depending on how you hold the camera. you’ll get all of these free association kind of images.

b3sci: what are you looking to accomplish with your music
kellen: i’m playing music to make some sort of interpretation of my own inner world and to bring it out into reality, and hopefully people will want to listen to it.

b3sci: when can we expect a record?
kellen: yeah i’ve been working on new songs. i have a batch of stuff and hope to have a full albums worth of new material out soon.

b3sci: looking forward to it. thanks for chatting
kellen: thanks for having me, bye.
- http://blahblahblahscience.com/

Kellen & Me Promo - Kellen & Me Promo