Gym owner Ken Kunin is making a return to music after a more than decade-long hiatus.
In 2002 Ken relocated to Brisbane after a promising musical career in Los Angeles. He disappeared into obscurity as the business owner of Rev Fitness in the eastern suburbs. Now, more than ten years living the quiet life, he's back with a new album and a new sound. “It feels very odd [to be back], it feels like you've got an old friend back you know,” Ken says.
“It's been a long time since I've been making music and I had a little bit of misfortune with the last album, it being released on 9/11; that was some bad timing, but it feels good. I've dedicated a lot of myself to regular work and paying bills and now I'm in a position where I can do [music] again.”
Previously favouring a heavier sound and snarling guitar, time and events have led Ken to the softer sounds of acoustic with some hard-edge percussion thrown in for good measure on his new album, 'The Life Of Goodbye'. “This album is a pretty dark album as a lot of challenging things happened over the space of two, three years,” Ken says.
“I witnessed some crazy stuff and the album's allowed me to get a lot of darkness out of my head.”
The move to an acoustic sound has added a new dimension to Ken's live performance. “I'm enjoying the intimacy of the acoustic shows. The album itself has a reasonable amount of production value on it so it's not purely without backing instrumentals, but that said there's a certain amount of intimacy that comes with just an acoustic guitar and a voice.”
This month, Ken will step on stage at the increasingly popular Green Sessions at Norman Park Bowls Club. “I think they [The Green Sessions] are super important because you have that capacity to connect with people who the day before the gig never knew you existed, and then they do and maybe they like you and that's really cool.
“I think there's definitely a strong grassroot sense in Brisbane, it's very very different to what I experienced in LA and touring America where everyone's for themselves. But here, I feel a real sense of community. I'm playing at The Milk Factory for the official release of the record and it's just another chance for people to hear something that you're proud of; I never say no to live gigs.”
Ken Kunin plays The Green Sessions at Norman Parks Bowls Club 14 June; Ken also plays The Milk Factory 21 June.
