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By Kelly Dunn
I believe Kelly Brock is one song away from being a huge break-out artist. To date, she has release four independent CD's, which were all widely acclaimed by critics and the public. Her songs have appeared on hit television shows and sound-tracks. After her third album she took a little time off. During that time she got married and set up a new home. Kelly is now back in the studio cutting tracks with a new vigor.
I met Kelly recently after one of her shows at the Roxy in Vancouver, British Columbia for an interview. As Kelly walks into the lobby, she's wearing a cowboy hat, a turquoise beaded necklace, matching earrings, trendy blonde hair,
twinkling blue eyes, tight blue jeans and beat-up black cowboy boots.
Kelly Dunn: Thanks for meeting with me today!
Kelly Brock: No problem, it's been awhile!
Kelly Dunn: Let's talk music.
Kelly Brock: Ok, shoot!
Kelly Dunn: When we last spoke you mentioned you are working on a new album?
Kelly Brock: Yes! I'm really excited to be working on this new album. I'm working with Craig Zurba, we're 4 songs into the record so far. He recorded my first CD back in '97. We’ve pitched our songs to film and television over the years and we’ve had songs in Dawson’s Creek, Smallville, The Chris Isaak Show and Joan of Arcadia. Here in Canada, I got my songs placed on a cooking show called The Surreal Gourmet. It airs on the Food Network channel. Surreal Gourmet just released a CD with KD Lang, Chaka Khan, Tom Waits, Aretha Franklin, a few independent artists and me!
Kelly Dunn: They put this together?
Kelly Brock: Yes- It's available through Warner Canada and you can buy it online. I've been lucky to have songs placed in TV and soundtracks. Now I'm looking at pitching songs to other artists too.
Kelly Dunn: What is this I hear about Keith Urban...
Kelly Brock: I met Keith about 10 years ago through a publisher friend of mine in Nashville. Keith was there to audition for Miles Copeland, manager The Police. Keith had recently arrived from Australia. He was big there but nobody knew of him in Nashville. I was lucky enough to attend his private showcase for Miles and when he played, Charlie Daniel’s The Devil Went Down To Georgia, I just knew he was going to be a star. He played all the fiddle parts on guitar. He's such a great artist! At that time I spoke with the A and R gal that had recently signed Faith Hill. She said my voice wasn't "Country" enough. She basically told me I wouldn't make it in Nashville. That really hurt at the time. I wish I had stayed in Nashville but really everything has turned out very well so far.
Kelly Dunn: Did you move back to British Columbia?
Kelly Brock: Yes, I was motivated to push my material. There was the 80's rock with Brett Michaels and so on but now it's Country with Bon Jovi. It's quite interesting how things have changed in ten years. I'm a product of the 80's and I love both styles of music. And I'm here to tell you I am here to kick down that door! It's been four years since my last CD. I got married and bought a new place. I wanted to get my family going. I needed a little break but now I'm back and I have my energy. I have that fire back in my belly. It's nice to feel that feeling again. At one point it was just too much music.
Kelly Dunn: So you burned out?
Kelly Brock: Between pitching songs to film and teleivision, making CD's and playing in a cover band four nights a week. I really started to burn out on music 24 hours a day. It got to be too much really.
Kelly Dunn: Tell me about your work with Loverboy.
Kelly Brock: Cathy St. Germain and I are backup singers for Loverboy! Recently they were shooting concert footage for their upcoming DVD. Loverboy brought us in for that video shoot and brought us out to sing at their concerts. It's really interesting to see how popular they are! We couldn't believe the girls jumping up and down and baring their breasts during the show, too funny! I really enjoy the time I spend touring with them. We'll be doing more shows this summer.
Kelly Dunn: What other projects do you have in the works?
Kelly Brock: Chad Kroeger from Nickelback asked me to come into the studio recently. He said he needed me for one or two hours to sing bg’s on another project that he was working on at the time. I ended up staying there at the session for almost the entire day and night. I had a great time. Chad Kroeger is one of the nicest guys in the business. He's amazed by his own success. It was really refreshing that he doesn’t have a big ego.
Kelly Dunn: Is Chad from your area?
Kelly Brock: He's from Britsh Columbia. In addition to Nickleback he produces many groups, Theory of a Dead Man and many others. Chad's been working with these young bands for awhile now. He's a busy guy and his new record is doing pretty good.
Kelly Dunn: Do you think British Columbia gives you a different outlook when it comes to your music?
Kelly Brock: Sure, it's really beautiful and inspiring. We have the mountains and the ocean. It's a way of being un-plugged from the music centers like Toronto and others. I'd love to live in New York and Nashville to experience the vibes in both of those cities. I've been to LA quite a few times. It's beautiful but there is no center, it's too spread out. I love Nashville, everything is right there.
Kelly Dunn: I've seen a lot of music activity in L.A. recently.
Kelly Brock: In L.A. there is a huge underground movement going on. There's Alt-Country, Bluegrass and Rockabilly bands among others in L.A. and you can hear all this great music going on but it's not on the radio! That's why I like MySpace.com. I can sit there for hours listening to all this great music being made. There's just isn't enough time!
There are a lot of great bands on there that are doing great things.
Kelly Dunn: Do you have a title for your new CD?
Kelly Brock: Yep, the name of my new CD is, "Rebel Kind". I just did a photo shoot for the CD cover. We want it to be out by summer time. We really want the music to be a 110 percent before we release this CD. We're really excited about this project. We have the cream of the crop musicians from Vancouver. They certainly bring the songs to a different level.
Kelly Dunn: What instrument do you play?
Kelly Brock: I play guitar to write my songs. I love playing guitar. I value writing with co-writers but it's also good to write on my own. But when I perform live I like the freedom of just singing. The odd time I have played keyboards and guitar live though.
Kelly Dunn: Did you play music as a kid?
Kelly Brock: My dad was a music teacher. So we always had instruments around the house.
Kelly Dunn: Are you touring this year?
Kelly Dunn: I'm doing a few festivals this year but I'll have a tour ready for 2007. Since being on the road with Loverboy, I'm excited about getting on the road again. But first I have to get this CD released and then get on track with the touring.
Kelly Dunn: Kelly, thanks for taking time today to talk!
Kelly Brock: Hey, are you hungry? Let's get something to eat!
Kelly Dunn: Let's go!
Visit www.KellyBrock.com
www.myspace.com/kellybrockmusic
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