Jaide Alicia: Getting To Know Kevlar

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Kevlar is Taking the Music World by Storm

Meet Kelci, Nick, Anthony and Jake from Erie, Pennsylvania. This group of young guns together make up the band Kevlar. If you are a fan of Stitched Up Heart, Evanescence or any bands with a melodic female voice over a heavy rhythm section sound, then you will be a fan of these guys.

Since inception, the band has released two EP's and one single, titled "Alibis", which had a music video premiered through the notorious rock and metal magazine Revolver. They may be young, but with their youth comes passion, determination and a sense of adventure, all of which are clearly shown in the interview below. In this interview with Kevlar we hit some important points including how they ended up finding their current sound and when we can expect to hear some new music from them. Among those key details, we also get to know all four members.

I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that the band has been in existence since like, 2011. Is that right?

Nick: Like 2010, 2011, yeah. We’ve obviously had a few lineup changes since then but our current lineup has been here since 2015, about two years ago exactly.

Now what was going on during those four years, did you guys have a female singer then? Were you trying to figure out your sound? What was going on?

Nick: Our two original singers were both male vocalists, but once we had our mutual separation with our last singer we had a very open mind to our next direction- whether it was a girl singer or a guy singer, just very chill about our decision making.

I know she’s here with you so you’re obviously going to say yes but are you happy with having that female singer sound?

Kelci: No. Not at all. (laughs)

Nick: She’s the only female in the band and she’s not even happy. Just kidding.

I’m saying this because I listened to your latest single and it was very Stitched Up Heart, Paramore style to me. Is that the direction you wanted to go in?

Nick: When we sit down to write, I don’t think there’s any one idea or goal as far as what we should sound like. I think someone might bring maybe a riff, or a drum beat or a melody inspired by something- but then everybody puts their own spin on it and makes it its own thing. For you to say it sounds like Paramore…

Kelci: Is a HUGE compliment.

Nick: Yes, very huge compliment.

Another thing I found interesting about you guys is your name. Where did that come from?

Nick: Back when me and Anthony, the bass player, we’re brothers, back when we started the band in 2010 we had this really horrible original name which I’m not gonna say.

Say it!

Nick: Chariot of Apollo.

That’s not that bad.

Nick: Yeah, we were like 13 at the time. Anyways, we were trying to figure out this name and on the back of our hockey equipment, on Anthony’s goalie equipment, it said ‘reinforced by Kevlar’. So we go down to practice and I’m like ‘what about Kevlar?’, and our singer at the time was like ‘I mean it’s okay, it’ll do for now’ and it stuck.

I know right now a lot of the shows you’re playing are in the Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York area. You guys actually aren’t that far from me. Are you planning on doing any major touring or playing anywhere else soon?

Kelci: Yeah, we actually announced Monday that we are playing South by Southwest in Austin, Texas in March. So we are playing an official showcase there, we will be doing a major tour coming up in March on our way there and on our way back. So yes, we are definitely planning. That’s the first mid-west type thing we’ve gotten, so we’re very excited.

Have you guys ever done a full tour opening for someone before, or just on your own?

Kelci: We’ve done it on our own before, yeah. Absolutely. We’ve never done a full tour opening for someone.

If you could open for anyone who would it be?

Kelci: For me, that would be Evanescence or Paramore, 100%.

Jake: I’ve been really into the Deftones lately, I’ve been listening to them nonstop so I’d say as a new trend for me, Deftones. Anything like metalcore wise for me, any of those classic Of Mice and Men bands. Plus, you gotta love Periphery too. I didn’t wanna say the same thing as you.

Anthony: Periphery hands down. For sure.

Nick: For me, probably bands like Nothing More, Coheed and Cambria- I think there’d be a cool, weird mix there.

Kelci: That would be weird. And very cool.

And who influenced you guys? Was it bands like that, or was it more 80’s and 90’s bands?

Kelci: That’s another individual question, but you can definitely put those bands on the list as well as other bands. Nick and Anthony are huge Rush fans, so they’re a huge influence for both of them. But the bands that we just named to tour with are very big influences in our everyday lives.

Cool! And I was going through your social media and I saw a few pictures that caught my eye. One of them was that you guys really took the time to stand and pose next to your flat tire on the side of the road. What happened there?

Kelci: It was the last night of the tour, that’s what it was.

Nick: We were not even an hour home from Erie, we were coming home from Cleveland at The Agora. We felt the car and it just started shaking, and we ended up just waiting there on the side of the road for Triple A. It was almost an hour before they got there. Everyone was tired, everyone was pissed at each other- but in a good way of course.

Jake: My uncle came up.

Nick: Yeah, Jake’s uncle actually came up because we were so close and I ended up going home with him.

Kelci: He hitched a ride with someone else and left us in the dust. And that was it! We had to pose with that flat tire because it was the end of tour, and we were just so ready to go home and it’s just totally something that would happen to us- that we would get a flat tire.

Nick: All the smiles were completely sarcastic.

Anthony: I was actually having a pretty great time.

Nick: Anthony on the other hand was having a phenomenal time.

That’s what makes for the best stories, when stuff like that happens on the road. Another picture I saw that I wanted to mention was the one of you with Brian from Florida Georgia Line. How did you guys run into each other? There’s two completely different types of music between you two.

Jake: On the other side I really like country music. I listen to a lot of that stuff, old and modern. I started looking at all the touring and like, hired guns, for these major touring artists. Brian Bonds came up for FGL and I started to follow him. For a year or two I would like his stuff and he eventually started following me back and liking some of my stuff. I posted the flyer for us on our last tour and he was like ‘hey! I might come and see you guys’ and he actually showed up. He gave me his number and was like ‘yo man, text me when you guys get there’ and I texted him. He showed up and we talked for a while. We actually went back down there and wrote a few songs with him.

Kelci: Yeah, we’re actually writing with him right now.

That’s so cool!

Kelci: We’re writing some of our new stuff with him. He’s actually a big metal guy and a big rock guy so it’s not like we totally switched genre’s and we’re writing country now, it’s not like that. He’s a really big metal guy and has been a really big influence on us. He’s been helping us write and stuff for our next record and it’s been really fun.

That’s a perfect transition into my last question for you guys, as of right now you guys mainly have singles out right? Any EP’s?

Kelci: We have two full EP’s out and one single.

What are you working on now? Another EP or are you going for a full album?

Kelci: We haven’t decided that, actually.

Nick: At the moment it’s more songwriting versus putting it towards a big, committed project. We have a lot of roadwork and behind the scenes work to do to get ready for shows. We don’t have too much time to sit down and write and most of our funds are going into the touring aspect and whatnot. Probably by the end of April…March, April, May- around then is when we’ll probably start kicking into high gear.

Anthony: I could see something within the next five or six months, like really on track.

Kelci: I think we’ll have some new music coming around the bend at some point, absolutely.