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Red Guitar, blue album
> Keyboardist and vocalist Nick Nave talks about writing songs with Kansas City's Red Guitar
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Red Guitar is, from left, Nate Jackson, bass; John McKenna, vocals, guitar; Dave Borberg, drums; Nick Nave, keyboard, vocals, guitar; Tim Suttle, guitar, back-up vocals.
Photo courtesy of Red Guitar
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Red Guitar, fronted by Nick Nave and John McKenna, just released its debut album, "Based on a Blue Story," produced by band-member Tim Suttle, and has been busy playing shows in the Kansas City and Lawrence area. McKenna and Nave spent time writing songs in other area bands before forming Red Guitar.
Nave was and McKenna played in the Lawrence band Huckleberry from 1994 to 1997, while Nave was attending the University of Kansas.
Now the two of them have hooked up again to form the country rock outfit Red Guitar, which played its first show in March of this year. Nave said it's been a different experience than what he remembered in college, but it's been fun.
"When we did Huckleberry, John and I were in college at KU, and our friends helped a ton," he said. "We broke through in the Greek system. We'd go door-to-door to sororities and play songs and sell CDs. We actually did pretty good that way.
"Now it's slower and more satisfying. One fan at a time will come up and ask 'Who are you guys? You're great, can I get on the mailing list?' It's very rewarding."
How did you come to form Red Guitar?
John McKenna and myself started playing as a duo called Nave and McKenna two years ago. Over the course of writing together again, we decided to go back into the studio and record something.
We recorded the Red Guitar record with Tim Suttle. Us three did the record with help from some friends and finished it November of 2002, and then we immediately put the live band together.
What were you going for musically with Red Guitar?
Musically, we wanted to emphasize strong melodies. We were going for kind of a late '70s, classic rock feel with a little bit of Americana from like the Counting Crows and the Jayhawks. I felt like we hit the target musically pretty solidly.
How is it different to be playing in this band in front of an audience compared to what you were doing in college?
Well all the guys in the band are in their late 20s to early 30s. There's some real maturity and musical seasoning, and an absolute sense of fun. We're having a great time, and the crowd has a great time. We love making this music. That's the key difference. We're happy with what we're playing, and the reaction has been great, so it's a double win.
What other work had Tim Suttle produced?
Tim suttle had produced some of his own stuff, and a band called The Girl is a Ghost. He hasn't done a ton of producing, but this is a huge break-out for him in engineering and producing. He started in Manhattan ten years ago, and he's been living in Kansas City for seven years now.
How did he affect the band's sound on the album?
The arrangements are tight, and it all sounds killer to me. I'm almost amazed because I can't believe its what we did, and Tim is a huge part of that.
And Tim is a friend. We worked with him on purpose to get that sound, then he went ahead and joined band too, so it all worked out.
Do you and John McKenna write songs together or separately?
We write separately, then we come together to arrange and critique songs. We have a good working relationship. We fire away on each other's songs, so we have better results than if we were just sitting around in our rooms and writing.
Was it difficult to translate the studio recordings into a live set?
Actually, the guys we're playing with are quite talented, and it came off pretty easily. We rehearsed a ton, and once we got it all together, it didn't seem to be as much work as I thought it would be. Being happy with CD gave us a solid foundation to work with.
How is it different to play to audiences now compared to when you were in college?
In college we had a ton of friends who would come see us whether we sucked or we were really good. But now, we have to be as great as we possibly can be. Now people have to make a conscious choice to come see you, so we make sure to deliver what people want.
Even playing ballads, we've found that live they don't hit as well, so we've gone to playing about one ballad in 12 songs on purpose. It's interesting to see the way different crowds react. We do some covers, like Jackson Browne, and some Dylan and a Zevon song. In Columbia, which is a total college town, the covers fell flat, and the originals came off much better.
Do you play many covers live?
About 20 percent of our songs are covers, and we're trying to add originals and covers at the same time to bulk up our set because covers are easier to pull off.
Are you worried that that will detract from your originals?
Not really. We do covers we love to play, and we're firm in our mission that we're not a cover band. We just throw them in for fun. If you come to a show, you'll hear a couple covers, and about 10 originals.
Cover bands are so tempting because the money is huge, but I don't have time to do a cover band and an original band. So I'll just do the original stuff while I can.
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