Brendan Kelly
Scene Point Blank: You now have 2 solo full-lengths and have been playing alone on stage for a while. Are you comfortable with the solo position on stage or is it still an adjustment?
Brendan Kelly: Oh, it's something I'm real comfortable with. It's different, but that's fine. In a band, there's a lot of moving parts and when I'm alone it's just me and my questionable skills, nothing to lean on and nowhere to hide, so to speak. But it's also completely at my pace and dictated by my mood. The whole thing is a bit of a song and dance man thing that kinda developed from playing in rooms where people really didn't know what to expect, so it's a very curated thing that seems very much like it's extremely off the cuff and haphazard in order to sort of draw new people in. Again, it's very different, but it's pretty locked in at this point.
Scene Point Blank: One thing that separates your Wandering Birds material from a million other “solo punks” is that it feels like a full band -- not just a person with a guitar. Instrumentation and depth feel important, from my perspective. Do you think about this when you approach a solo set or write a solo song?
Brendan Kelly: I write the songs just as songs. I'm not really clever enough to do it with any intentionality modeled into the front end. Some of the songs for Wandering Birds translate really well to acoustic and some don't. I just have to figure out the arrangements that work best for whatever I'm doing in the moment. Anyway, short answer: No. I don't have the skills to write with intentionality.
Scene Point Blank: In your head, pre-show, is it different than a Lawrence Arms show as far as prep or getting yourself ready goes?
Brendan Kelly: Nothing. I just warm up my voice and try to get in a good headspace.
That usually involves being as blank as possible. In the case of TLA, letting my muscle memory handle the stuff that I could potentially overthink. And solo it's more like just letting everything clear out of the way so the whole thing can be pure. Sounds like some hippy shit. I wish I had better words that didn't sound like that but here we are.
Scene Point Blank: Going off my own memory, I'd guess you play Fest solo half the time, and half the time with bands. How do you land on that decision? Is it about balancing different projects and timing, or more about who is free in October of a given year?
Brendan Kelly: It's fully the third thing. I like Fest. If TLA or the Falcon can play, rad. I'll probably do solo stuff too and that's best of all worlds but if schedules don't permit (like this year) then I'll still come down and do my thing. My schedule is pretty flexible so it's easy to just grab a guitar and sleep somewhere else for the night.
Scene Point Blank: What's new with solo Brendan Kelly material. Are the Wandering Birds an ongoing project with more in the works? Do you write that in pieces, or do you sit down and crank it out?
Brendan Kelly: It's been more and more written in pieces these days and especially during the pandemic, I was just having a kind of weird brain eruption and writing all sorts of stuff. It's the first time I've had to delineate tunes and it's also the first time I have written without a cohesive final product in mind. That being said, I have a lot of Wandering Birds stuff in the hopper. If I can just get everyone
organized, there's at least one big LP or 2 EPs worth of stuff done. Post-lockdown, I can't get anyone to do shit, though. And I mean that across the board. Some people really developed laser focus during those years, but apparently not any of my homies. With a little luck I can get something put together soon.
Scene Point Blank: At Fest a lot of solo shows are early in the day? Do you approach the show differently?
Brendan Kelly: Nah. It's the same thing. And I have been lucky enough to not have been slotted early in the past, so even if I did have a different methodology for earlier shows, at Fest I think traditionally I'm usually playing at night anyway.
But to answer the question, nah. Just gotta warm up the voice and that can be a little harder in the mornings and, I guess, you're playing to people who are less drunk, which is not better or
worse, but definitely different, so that's kind of something to keep in mind when I'm solo, in terms of where the show's gonna go. But generally I'm not talented enough to do anything but the best I can if I'm up there, so that kind of eliminates a lot of the decision making in terms of approaching things.
Scene Point Blank: As a “scene vet” and “label honcho,” what is your average Fest experience like? Tell us about meeting up with old friends versus just hanging out and experiencing new things and how you balance that.
Brendan Kelly: The big thing for me at Fest is that in any given situation, I'm in a room full of people who know who I am, which is not the same thing as being in a room full of fans. I am sure there are plenty of times when I'm in rooms where everyone in the room has a negative opinion of me, which is fine. The point of this is that my experience at Fest is a lot of talking to people and trying to just not act like a dick or an imbecile, which is pretty easy since I don't think I'm really either of those things. The result of talking to people and being extra conscientious of not letting anyone think I'm trying to big time them or that I'm acting like I'm important at all (which, I can't stress enough, I am not) is that I don't really have the freedom of movement around Gainesville that would allow me to craft my destiny as much as I'd like.
I try to see bands I want to see and catch up with my homies but I spend a lot of Fest time between places chatting with people who wanna talk or whatever and so I also spend a lot of time in my hotel room just to get a little balance. I know this makes me sound like I think I'm Paul McCartney or something, but The Fest is one of the few places where the 4 or 5 people from every town that know who I am all come together in a big group, which is awesome. I love being able to meet people and hang out or take pics or whatever. It's not lost on me that it's really special that there are people who give a shit about my dumb ass and my songs. So really, the parts in transit where I meet those people are kind of the real reason I'm there. Whew. That was a really (hopefully not terribly solipsistic) long-winded way of saying “I do what I can, man, but there's no real downtime at Fest, so I also try to make sure I take some time for myself.”
Scene Point Blank: Does your role with Red Scare change your perspective at shows or events like this? Do you feel like a “representative” versus just being yourself and enjoying it for what it is?
Brendan Kelly: No, no. Being part of Red Scare is cool because the roles that Toby and I have are being Toby and Beex. If I'm not being myself and enjoying things for what they are, I'm not properly representing Red Scare. The main thing is that when I see bands that really blow my mind (which Fest is good for -- that's the first place I saw The Menzingers, for example) I can say “Hey, who puts out your records?" And if the band in question doesn't have a setup, I can ask if they're interested in/tell them about Red Scare and how we operate. Toby and I both are really into the community of punk rock and both of us love helping newer artists and just really anyone in the scene feel like they're part of it. If there's a cool band at Fest, I'd love to talk to them and help them get their music out there.
That's kind of the best part about things like Fest. You go and you don't necessarily make it across town to see whoever's set because you get caught up bullshitting with some people, but you end up making new friends and being able to connect people and, cheesy as it sounds, build bonds that strengthen the whole thing we're trying to do here, which is just ultimately have fun and make sure everyone is having
fun with a good soundtrack.
Scene Point Blank: What is your record for number of sets played at a single year at Fest? Do you recommend that approach to people in other bands or is it more fun to spread things out?
Brendan Kelly: I think that year that TLA and The Falcon were on tour I also played acoustic, so that's gotta be the record for me. I'd say if you're into that kind of thing, it's great. I'm just happy that I have three things to do that people want to see. That's so awesome and I'm really thankful for that.
Scene Point Blank: Have you considered a Fest cover set? Who would it be? (I think I saw you sing Judas Priest at a karaoke night in like...the 'Aughts.)
Brendan Kelly: Really? I bet it was Bon Jovi. I used to do a lot of Bon Jovi back then.
Anyway, I don't know. I'm not really great at doing covers. Would I be singing? Playing bass? Playing guitar? Seems like those would be three different answers, but even still, I dunno. I can't really play songs
that aren't mine just due to skill level limitations. I'd probably be into something like a Weird Al or Paul Simon cover set if it was full band, or The Buckaroos would be fun, but none of that would be
particularly good if I did it is the problem. So I'll just stick with having imposter syndrome and doing my own songs, I think.
Scene Point Blank: On further thought, I think that was Frankie Stubbs (Leatherface). I think it was Bon Joviy.
What is your favorite (Fest) Gainesville venue?
Brendan Kelly: They all change names so much that I don't even know what's what anymore. I think I played the place that we're currently calling 1984 last year and that was great. I also like the place that at one time was called 1984 that's a totally other place and that one place that at one time was called the Hardback but of course wasn't the original Hardback and now it has another name (and it was also maybe 1984 at some point too)...
I really don't know what's doin’ with these Gainesville venues but it's cool that there is such a weird web of them.
Scene Point Blank: How do you stay positive in 2023?
Brendan Kelly: Ummm...Am I doing that? The world is a good place and people, likewise, are good and kind. The bullshit and the horror of existence and the worst people are the loudest, but that's because that's aberrative. You don't hear or see the good as much because it's truly everywhere. That's important for me to remember. Not just in 2023, always.
Scene Point Blank: Any surprises you can share with us, whether that's about a FEST 21 set or new material from one of your projects?
Brendan Kelly: I mean, I told you I've got a record's worth of Wandering Birds stuff done and also I've got a record's worth of TLA songs done. Chris has been writing too, so that's something that will happen at some point. When? Now that I don't know. In the meantime, come say “Hi” to me at Fest.
I promise that I'm the best smelling person that's been doing this kinda shit for 30+ years at the whole festival.
