kevin garrett Words by MERISSA BLITZ Photos by CATHERINE POWELL
“That’s going to take a long time; how much space do you have on your phone?” asks Kevin Garrett as he starts to talk about his life. The 25-year-old, Pittsburgh native, has had quite the journey so far even though he only just hit a quarter of a century in March. Kevin started playing music when he was 4, picking up the violin. He was so involved with the instrument that he kept playing for about 20 years which caused his desire to go to school to study music. “I went to NYU [New York University], studied music and audio engineering,” Kevin says. “I was a big dork, pressed a lot of buttons.” Though he was excited to be studying at NYU, the reason that Kevin moved to New York City in the first place was for the accessibility to concert venues and to be able to perform in some of the country’s top music venues. “As soon as I got to the city I started playing and my first gig was at Rockwood Music Hall on a Sunday afternoon at 3:00 p.m.,” Kevin remembers. It was just him, his RA and two off-duty police officers who were just on the hunt for coffee but ended up stumbling in to the very venue that would kick start Kevin’s music career. A few months later, Rockwood’s owner asked Kevin to come back and play. “I ended up being an opener for 38
Norah Jones, that was really awesome,” Kevin says. “They kept asking me back and that’s when I figured, maybe I can hang.” As Kevin’s confidence in his talent grew, he began to write a lot more frequently and play as much as he could. He ended up signing a publishing deal with Roc Nation right out of college. They were really interested in having Kevin write for other artists that they were involved with. Writing is something that Kevin really likes doing – having worked with KNGDM, and just recently co-writing and producing Beyonce’s emotional Lemonade opener, “Pray You Catch Me”– and still considers writing his “main hang.” “I started writing when I was 13 or 14, but it wasn’t until I got to New York that I was really feeling a lot more comfortable and confident with what I was trying to say,” Kevin explains. Kevin has been doing co-writes since before he signed with Roc Nation. Whenever he writes with somebody else he tries to take himself out of the equation and because when he writes for himself it’s very personal, that’s why when he writes for himself, he always writes alone. Before Kevin stepped out on his own, he was playing music with a band for a short time in college. Their vibe was more indie-folk/folk-rock, a very different vibe than the indie-pop/ electronic-infused R&B/soul artist he is today. They worked completely
independent and in the “DIY” type of way that Kevin was used to working in. “We did a one-off show with this guy James Vincent McMorrow and I thought that that was the end of it. I didn’t know that I would ever be in touch with him ever again,” says Kevin. Little did he know, James would contact him a year and a half later asking his band, which had since dissolved, to open for him on tour. After explaining that he was no longer with his band, Kevin showed James a demo of his hit “Coloring” before it had ever been released. James loved it and in January of 2015 Kevin embarked on his first major national tour. Kevin has been non-stop touring since then opening for up-and-coming talented musicians such as X-Ambassadors and Alessia Cara. “Both tours worked out very smoothly in their own ways,” Kevin says. “I think Alessia is a little more in my alley sonically than X Ambassadors, but they’re both very prolific writers and I think their influences are very similar to mine so we were all on the same page behind the scenes.” While touring with different bands, it was clear to see the difference in the demographic of each audience and how they responded to the music while attending a show as well as afterwards. “With James and with X Ambassadors, and we did a tour in April with Hey Rosetta! too, it’s an older crowd