Kid:Nap:Kin Forget the Ferraris, Do It Yourself

By Juli Min
Photo by Patrick Piesecki

“After the death of communism came Kid:Nap:Kin. I see us taking over the world.” Daniel Ellis is prone to making these sweeping comments about his Boston based band. They have, after all, come a very long way in a few short years.

Daniel Ellis, Jamila Weaver and Patrick Hanlin met as students at Berklee, coming respectively from California, Philadelphia, and Indiana. Their individual influences ranged from Pearl Jam to Motown, from Jeff Buckley to the blues. Together as Kid:Nap:Kin, they’ve created what they refer to as “aggro-indie-soul,” a hard-hitting blend of musical styles. Their shows are loud and in-your-face, Patrick smashing up the drums, mohawked Jamila holding down the bass, and Daniel alternating between screams and seranades. They make a big sound for their small numbers. “People are always coming up to me after a show and saying, ‘I can’t believe there are only three people up there,’” Weaver says.

With a new album in the final production stages due out in April and a Boston Music Award under their belts, Kid:Nap:Kin is poised and ready for the next step. But as an independent band, working in today’s volatile and ever-evolving music industry, it’s hard for them to know what exactly that next step entails.

Kid:Nap:Kin’s music is, as Daniel describes it, “a commentary on the moral decline of a lot of things. All these TV shows about adultery, making heroes out of trash people. Things are going down the drain in terms of entertainment.” Both Hanlin and Weaver agree that the public’s attitude toward music is always changing. “Artists create music as a whole. Just look at the iPod Shuffle. We’re so A.D.D musically,” Ellis observes. Hanlin adds, “It’s like we’re back to the ‘50s — the singles generation.” Kid:Nap:Kin sees the advent of technology as a huge factor in this change. “Downloading is helpful for people like me with no money,” Patrick says. But downloading a song for free also means that the artist is giving it away for free. Weaver objects, “If I had enough money to eat . . .” but then concedes, “I’d always rather have people listening to it. It’s important that people are listening to us.”

These are the sacrifices that an independent band — without the invisible hand of the record label to feed them — must make. Hanlin explains, “Before, you got signed, you sold your soul, and you got money. Now, you sell your soul and get dropped in two to three months. There’s no more stability in this industry.” Kid:Nap:Kin uses the DIY approach and they are convinced that they can do it all without major label help. Patrick continues, “What you need is a solid booking agent, good publicity, and management. It’s a broken industry but who cares? You can build a cult following and do it your own way,” He can’t help adding, however, “But yeah, it sucks that you don’t have a huge advance and can’t go out and buy yourself a Ferrari.“So what happens if they don’t make it?"

“That’s not an option.” Weaver says, “We’re pretty much on the same page on that. If we can’t do this, there’s nothing else we can do. I don’t have much of a backup plan. I pretty much plan on being a bag lady if I can’t do music.”

This blend of unadulterated idealism and pessimistic realism is what is so unique about the members of Kid:Nap:Kin. It not only colors their life goals and philosophies, but also reveals itself in their uncatagorizable music. It’s a crafted sound that actively seeks to transcend the limitations of genre. It is music that seeks to stand on its own (the band actually chose the name Kid:Nap:Kin, a name devoid of meaning, to this end).

Kid:Nap:Kin is an eclectic mix of sounds, and you hear that in their most recent CD, Touring the Riot Scene. The aggression returns again and again in the form of hard, straight-away rock and screaming vocals, but there are surprisingly beautiful moments of tranquility, jazz, and lyricism interspersed in the mix that give balance and listenability to their sound.

Their upcoming album, produced by Alien Ant Farm drummer Mike Cosgrove, is holding high hopes for the band. Loosely based on the different stages of a relationship between two people, the album is more of a cohesive unit rather than a collection of songs, as was their EP. When asked about the musical range of the album, Patrick says, “We go as low as we can get, and as obnoxiously, ridiculously crazy as possible.”

Weaver interjects, “We’re like ‘Teen Nap Kin’ now!” She doesn’t look too far ahead into the future, but faces it soberly. “We really don’t know what’s going to happen,” she says. “We hope for things but it’s kind of scary. For the past year and a half we’ve been moving up, getting better and better, getting more press. We have to be successful enough to do this as a living. Money is always a big problem. But we have the drive.”

“The future of the music industry is pretty much just us. Just Kid:Nap:Kin. Bands will have to fight to the death in The Coliseum. I see us taking over the entire world: all of mankind. We’ll even be the first band on Mars!” They’re all smiling and laughing as they say this. But they’re really only half kidding.

www.kidnapkin.com