Today we’d like to introduce you to Kevin O’Connor.
Hi Kevin, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
As far back as I could remember I always wanted to be a musician. To me, being a musician was better than being President of the United States. Even before I wandered into the Cab Stand music venue looking for a place to play I knew I wanted to be in the club. It was there that I knew that I belonged.
To me, it meant to be somebody in a neighborhood that was full of nobodies. Musicians weren’t like anyone else. They did whatever they wanted. They put a guitar on, played, sang a bunch of gibberish, and everyone just loved it. In the summer when they’d play all night long no one ever called the cops. It was then and there that I met Tooty. Tooty moved slowly, but that’s because he didn’t have to move for anyone.
My few friends and I were still teenagers but we formed a wild rock and roll band. At first, we played covers but quickly discovered writing our own songs was the right path forward. Word got around and one day a couple of big guys holding sub sandwiches walked up to us and asked if we’d be available to play a show the next weekend opening for a national touring act.
The show went so well that Tooty asked us to be regular musicians at the Cab Stand. We were the luckiest kids in the world. We could go anywhere, we could play anything, we knew everybody and everybody knew us. Bands that had just played on national tv would pull up and Tooty would toss us their touring cases and let us load in their instruments. I mean here we are, these little greaser teenagers who can barely lift the gear, and here we are sound-checking Gretsches! But, it wasn’t long before our guitarist’s parents changed their minds about our gigs down at the Cab Stand.
For them, gigs were supposed to be part-time. But for us, it was definitely a full-time job. That’s all we wanted to do. Parents could never understand, but we were a part of something. We belonged. We were treated as grownups. Every day we were learning to perform. A rocker here, a ballad there. Despite parental consternation, the show and “the life” went on.
The Cab Stand is no more, but 20 years, and thousands of shows later, I still remember all the important lessons about music, life, and pasta thanks to a Tooty at the Cab Stand. These days I’m still lucky in that music is my full-time profession. Not just in performance but also in teaching and recording.
Over the past 5 or so years I’ve been working at Blue Lotus Recordings in South St. Louis where I collaborate with owner Paul Niehaus IV on various projects. My main job there is to orchestrate and arrange to make songs sound bigger and more polished. I keep a special musical shine box just for that purpose.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Dedicating your life to music is easy to profess when you’re young, but as the years roll on it really gets hard. Spending nights in tour vans, playing to almost no one, or having your guy in Pittsburgh forget to pay you really challenge your faith in it all. These days I find having to sell/promote the product that I’ve helped make is a huge challenge for me. I simply don’t like turning on car salesman mode. It’s not my style at all.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Over the past 5 years at Blue Lotus Recordings, Paul and I have made a commitment to getting as many respected elders of the St Louis music community as possible into the studio. For years we would be on the bandstand backing up Soul and Blues artists whom we consider to be St Louis royalty.
Those shows would have setlists with 100% covers. Just by talking with the singers on set breaks, we discovered that they’d all have original songs in their heads that they’d like to work on. Roland Johnson, Gene Jackson, Marty Abdullah, Tom Maloney, Phil Westmoreland, and Tom Ingram are among the artists we’ve welcomed into the studio to create original music. I usually would play drums on the tracks.
The singer would express their wishes for what kind of “sound” or augmentation they’re imagining for their particular song. Ben E King-style strings? Al-Green-style horns? Motown-style baritone and vibes? I’d then orchestrate and arrange parts for whatever is needed.
Pretty soon we have something special. A few months ago Paul and were asked to put our production touches on an old unfinished Soul song performed by Mike James Kirkland, The Waters singers, and James Gadson, titled “Time and Space.” I got to say I played on a track with Gadson, aka “The Most Recorded Drummer in the History of R&B.”
Are there any books, apps, podcasts, or blogs that help you do your best?
The Study of Orchestration by Samuel Adler. Here There and Everywhere by Geoff Emerick.
Contact Info:
- Website: bluelotusrecordings.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/bluelotusrecordings/
