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I'm not as interested in playing the guitar as in what playing the guitar does to people. I know that there's a lot of power in it that I don't really have much of an understanding of, honestly - and maybe no one does, and maybe it's not the kind of thing that you understand - but I have an appreciation of the experience. -Steve Kimock |
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Photo by: Susan J. Weiand
Rather than perfecting his technique onstage, Kimock is ready to use his time in this band to explore other realms of consciousness through his playing, hoping that the audience is able to experience the range of emotions particular to their own experiences. "I'm not as interested in playing the guitar as in what playing the guitar does to people," he says. "I know that there's a lot of power in it that I don't really have much of an understanding of, honestly - and maybe no one does, and maybe it's not the kind of thing that you understand - but I have an appreciation of the experience."
 Steve Kimock by Susan J. Weiand |
Kimock feels a responsibility to bring his good intentions to his audience, especially during this time of great potential for major social change in a positive direction.
"When you have gatherings of any kind, those are 99-percent social events. You've got to think about the energy of those gatherings and the energy that you're bringing them and what you're sending the people home with energetically," he observes. "It's a piss in the ocean, because there are a lot of people out there, but you can do what you can to bring the thing up and keep the thing going for people. It's part of the work that I signed up to do on some level when I said I wanted to play music."
Crazy Engine's broad catalog includes not only Kimock's original instrumental material, but also many blues, R&B and Motown covers that have been standards in the JGB catalog for decades. Rucker and Starks lend their voices not only to those JGB tunes they know well, but also to the instrumentals, raising the already luminous tunes to angelic heights and infusing them with a gospel spirit. Adding vocals to his tunes was something Kimock always thought might be interesting to develop but until now, he never had the opportunity.
 Steve Kimock Crazy Engine
03.07.09 NorVa by Paul Kruis |
"There are just so many possibilities for it that I'm really looking forward to developing," he says, admitting that although the band has practiced many tunes, the real meat of Crazy Engine's arsenal has yet to be formed. "You can't really tell until you get the thing going, because it all evolves together in a non-linear way. You don't know what's going to come up. So you can't write for the thing until you get it going, and once you get it going, the process gets more and more streamlined."
He adds that he's "happy to be at the beginning of that process, that steep part of the learning curve." He likens this genesis to "one of those Zen archer moments, where you have the bow that's impossible to lift, the string that's too tight to draw, this giant arrow, and the target is impossibly far off. You take it up anyway, and you point it and when the tension's right, it will fly."
Concertgoers should expect the unexpected from this group as they find their footing on stages across the country over the next few months. Crazy Engine is playing older music in new ways, and completely new pieces that are backed by decades of experience. In fact, Kimock plans to branch out from his usual comfort zone onstage to the extent that he may even be sharing more singing duties with Rucker, Starks and Seals when the mood strikes him.
"I sing at home a lot; I'm terrible," he says. But, keeping with his philosophy of learning and growing, "I try to learn what notes are, to sing in tune. I'm in full appreciation of the whole mystery of the voice. I bust it out for novelty effect just to see if I can."
And if the leap of faith doesn't work?
"I'm going to keep trying it until people start throwing stuff."
Download Steve Kimock Crazy Engine's shows from The NorVa earlier this month for FREE here.
Steve Kimock Crazy Engine's next show is on Thursday March 26 in Crystal Bay, NV. They also perform two nights at San Francisco's Great American Music Hall this weekend. Complete Crazy Engine tour dates available here.
For more on Steve Kimock Crazy Engine check the video here.
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