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Steve Kimock Crazy Engine: 30 years of innovation

Steve Kimock is an innovator. Not just for his ability to successfully navigate live performances spanning the Summer of Love through the advent of MTV and well into the new electronic-pop revolution. And not just for his gift for leading the live music recording and download revolution with a meticulous dedication to archive and share his live shows for more then twenty years (Macworld, 2005). He is not just an innovator because of his craftsmanship restoring vintage analog equipment for a completely custom and organic sound (he designed a highly collected edition of Two Rock brand “Kimock Amplifiers” and most recently a custom, ergonomic Scott Walker guitar, in stereo).

Steve Kimock is also an innovator for his ability to create matchless arrangements of musicians, who for over thirty years have collectively created inimitable improvisational performances based on the elements of classic rock, jazz, prog and rhythm & blues, with the kind of soul only someone with his experience and depth can construct.

His latest project, aptly named Crazy Engine, is also approached with the same “a bit of the old and a bit of the new” logic. The line-up includes the legendary Hammond B3 player Melvin Seals, known for his twenty years with the Jerry Garcia Band, as well as his son, John Morgan Kimock on drums. Not without merit, the twenty-year-old drummer has organized a number of self-released albums earning him a record deal with Rope-A-Dope Records by the age of 18. Rounding out the quartet is accomplished singer-songwriter and cello player, Trevor Exter, who was plucked out of the NYC indie music scene to fill the roll of bass and vocals. This arrangement of seasoned players and talented youthful musicians blends with Kimock’s innovative mind for music – and foretells a merge of his vintage appeal with a modern twist, to befit music lovers of all types.

Biography

“I walked out of the house as a teenager and said, ‘I’m just gonna play my guitar’” recalls Steve Kimock. “Literally, I didn’t care if I had a place to live or if I was in the street or if I had anything to eat, I just played.”

Almost forty-years later, turns out not much has changed. Sure, now a loving husband and proud father, responsibility has reared its beautiful head, but Kimock still just wants to play his guitar (electric, acoustic, lap and pedal steel), and he does so with the same youthful passion, chasing the muse wherever she may lead him. In fact, when Kimock reflects on his life path, he admits, “I think the primary thing might be the complete lack of goal orientation.”

It was never about being a rock star or getting rich, true artists don’t operate that way. For a man like Kimock, success is not based on tangible objects, awards or record sales; success is about how you live, the people you touch and remaining true to yourself. Applying these practices in the shallow waters of the music world is no easy task, but it’s the artists who achieve this that pull off the rare trick of developing a unique voice in the crowded conversation. For Kimock, it’s all about how he approaches the craft: “A lot of my life was spent with no other focus than having whatever I felt was a properly authentic relationship with the guitar.”

Born in 1955, Kimock’s fortuitous relationship with music began as a child. Growing up in Bethlehem, PA, when he was around 10 or 12 he remembers hanging out frequently at his Aunt Dottie’s house. She was a folk singer with lots of stringed things and percussive objects lying around and Steve just loved going to play at Dottie’s. Around this time Steve’s cousin, Kenny Siftar, returned from military service over seas and was staying at Kimock’s grandmother’s house. Originally from Tulsa, OK, Kenny taught Steve his first rock & roll licks on a beautiful gold top Les Paul. It wasn’t long until Steve got his own guitar. A cheap old ten dollar acoustic would change his life forever.

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