Review Fix chats with singer/songwriter Cal Kehoe, who lets us know the inspiration and creative process behind his new “Batting Practice” EP
Review Fix: How did you get involved in music?
Cal Kehoe: I was really into a few things as a kid. I dug my skateboard, basketball and playing guitar. Basketball- Have you ever seen a musician shoot a basketball? It turns out that almost every musician I know shoots a basketball the same way. It’s kind of a sidearm, two-handed set shot. Riding a skateboard was cool and a little dangerous. A couple friends of mine and I would go down to the skate park try out some “Lords of Dogtown” type shit, thinking we were cool as hell. I broke my leg on my skateboard. Gave me a lot of time to sit a learn the guitar. I can play the guitar…
Review Fix: What musicians inspire you the most?
Kehoe: Whenever I get asked that question I think of guitar players like Trey Anastasio, Derek Trucks, & Jerry Garcia. I sometimes neglect to mention the writers and performers performers like Dave Grohl. Grohl puts a lot of energy into his live shows, he is a tremendous talent both as a musician and as an entertainer kinda like Bruce, they both leave it out there on the stage every night and they can both write some fucking great music. Then there are Lyric writers like Robert Hunter of the Grateful Dead, and Tom Marshall from Phish. I walk around all day with songs in my head that these guys actually sat down and wrote. I have never met Robert Hunter, but I have met and hung out with Tom Marshall and we have talked about possibly working together. Stay tuned. I could go on and be specific about so many different types of musicians and music types from horn players to producers.
Review Fix: How was “Fiasco” written? Is there a story behind it?
Kehoe: Fiasco was directly inspired by the Grateful Dead lyricist, Robert Hunter. Hunter wrote some songs laced with gambling references like “Loser” that brought me back in time to the wild west, sitting at the poker table in the saloon and the song “Deal”, that invoke card/poker playing metaphors that actually pertain to day to day life and “Scarlet Begonias” with the line “she was too pat to open and too cool to bluff”. When I heard that, I had to find out what the terms meant. That started my journey to creating the character “Fiasco”. I wanted to create a character that could be sitting at the same poker table Hunter created, but with a back story. Fiasco is a character that was dealt a pretty shitty, somewhat tragic hand in life, but on this particular occasion it all works out pretty well for him. A loser that wins one. The triumphant underdog. We haven’t heard the last from “Fiasco”, he may make an appearance on a future release. While I was researching background for the song, I came across the film “Trinity is Still My Name”(1972) and the poker scene in that movie. After I was done recording the song I went back and edited the scene for the “Fiasco” lyric video.
Review Fix: What are your goals for 2017?
Kehoe:Â As I mentioned earlier, working with Tom Marshall is a goal for sure. Getting back into the studio as soon as I can is another goal. We have so much material we have been working on. A successful Summer tour supporting our next album is something I’m aspiring to as well. My band, Cal Kehoe & Brother Moose (Zack Weinstein on Drums and Dylan Edmunds on Bass) on are usual surprise the audience when they see us live. We come at them with our originals blended in with some new takes on some of our favorite music. It is a lot of fun. We walk away from every show with a bunch of people that just danced for two hours, smiling ear to ear, having a good time. That’s the best part. We have been lucky with our fans and we have some very dedicated ones that come to a lot of our shows.
Review Fix: You’ve seen and performed with some musical heavyweights over the years. What have you learned from them?
Kehoe:Â Working with Live Nation and the House of Blues as a musician playing side stage at so many concerts has afforded me the opportunity to literally stand in front of some of the greatest music acts on the planet. I learn something new every single time I see a band perform live. I study the performance. One of the things I look at is to see if I can pick up physical style/technique. I have stood 5 feet away from Derek Trucks on many occasion and studied his right hand and still can’t quite see how he does what he does. Amazing stuff. His focus on the performance is extraordinary. I asked him once how he focuses and he told me that the practice comes from his background in Middle Eastern music, like Ali Akbar Khan and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. I find it interesting that Derek and the late Jeff Buckley both appreciated that kind of music and understood the focus that it takes to play.
By the way, the next time anyone sees Derek live try and pay attention to how fast he can pull out a slide and put it back in his pocket. It’s like slight of hand magician stuff, faster than anyone on the planet. It really is incredible. He is faster than the guy in the “Fiasco” video.
At live shows, I also pay attention to the inter-band dynamics, the non-verbal communication that is so critical to bands, especially in the jam scene. Picking up on cues and timing is something the general audience may or may not notice or even care about. But I watch for it.
I got to jam with Eric Krasno from Lettuce and Soulive at Berklee once and I learned how musical he was, not just as a guitar player, but all around. I also worked with Livingston Taylor for awhile and he always talked about the special connection between the performer and the audience. When I am watching live music, I pay particular attention to certain things that performers do to engage the crowd. I am always trying to tap into that audience connection.
Review Fix: How do you want your music to affect people?
Kehoe: During the show, I think every performer looks for a response. In music, it starts with a foot tap or a head bob and when we are on, it turns into a full blown dance jam. It only takes a few brave souls to start and before you know it the whole place is bouncing. After the show, I want people to be affected by the live performance enough to say at the end of the night “Wow, where are they playing tomorrow night? I wanna see this band again. That was awesome.” I want them to become part of the Kehoe family.
Review Fix: What’s next?
Kehoe:Â Hopefully, Zack, Dylan and I are going to hit the studio a little bit before thanksgiving and record a batch of songs that are a bit different from “Batting Practice”. Funkier and a little closer to our live shows. Getting that live feeling into the studio and on a recording is going take some work, but I think we have a great team around us and we can pull it off, stay tuned.
Review Fix: Anything else you’d like to add?
Kehoe: If you want to reach out and say hello or have any suggestions for me, I can always be reached at www.calkehoe.com After you buy “Batting Practice” , drop me a line tell us what you thought of it. I always like hearing from people. Thanks.
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