b3science exclusive: Kellen & Me

Kellen & Me: “Joann’s Great Big Noose” (exclusive download!)

Kellen & Me: “Serenity Song” (exclusive download!)

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.

get music from kellen & me here. and check out his video for “Batteries and Frequencies” below..

Reviewed by b3