UPDATE: November 1st, 2009 The band KiLR has decided to part ways with their management company and will currently be taking on that roll themselves until new management can be found.
Breaking News: As of August 31st, 2009 The band Two Word Name will hence forth be known as "KiLR". It is pronounced Kyler not Killer, so don't be the only dork who gets it wrong. That is all, now you may continue reading the journey of KiLR...
"Experience EVERYTHING the world has to offer regardless of what any religion, person, or book, might say to do or not do! Then you can decide for yourself what is right, who is wrong, and what makes YOU happy." MaVv
How is it that a US Navy Diver, a BMW technician, a blackjack dealer, and a scientist, came together to form the charismatic quartet KiLR formly known as "Two Word Name? Here is the front man, Wade MaVv, talking about the band.
Well when I first started "KiLR", I had nothing. Minimal connections in the industry, NO friends in San Diego, no place to practice, and I was just starting a long nasty break up, filled with cheating, drugs, and plenty of fighting.
Now, this wasn’t my first rodeo. I grew up playing in punk bands all through my youth, but I was a cocky little shit and kept zero connections that could help with KiLR. I quit school at a very young age and decided music would pay my bills forever. Turns out that didn’t workout since I was just a PUNK. I had no direction, I was in rehab at 15 years old for a 6 months treatment (which I was kicked out of at 5 ½ months) and I attended 6 different high schools all in the same area (apparently no one appreciated my humor or energy). I was kicked out of my mother’s house and had no direction for my insane drive, but the one thing that has always kept me alive is passion and I had that by the truck load.
So I decided I needed some discipline, money for new equipment, and most of all I needed to learn how normal society functioned so I could manipulate it for my own success. I wanted enough money to support all of my closest friends, my entourage, and I also didn’t want to have to be worrying about money anymore. We would have it all, the women, the travels, the tales, and the fun. But building that kind of wealth takes discipline. The answers to all of my problems lied in the US NAVY. I honestly, accidentally, signed up for one of the most intensive courses of training the Navy offered and proceeded to get my ass kicked for the first year and a half I was in the Navy. Eight months of it I spent running through the snow everyday just to get a chance to play some shitty drums and guitar that they had at the Morale and Welfare Recreation Centers on base. I joined the US NAVY as a skinny little, cocky, big mouthed, chain smoker and came out a man with a mission. Even though it was the most miserable thing I’ve ever done, it gave me the strength to push through anything, and since the program was a volunteer program, in which I could have quit at anytime, it taught me that if I put my head down and just fought through things, that I could beat anything. I somehow graduated at the top of my class, and was one of 9 guys to graduate of the 35+ guys that started within the Navy Deep Sea Diving program.
Knowing that the whole point of all this was to reform my old band, I did everything within my power to get stationed near my hometown of LA. I got stationed in San Diego and spent the first seven months driving to LA EVERY FUCKING weekend trying to form another band. However, when I got there, one of my best friends, and one of the most talented singers I’ve ever played with was so messed up on drugs, drinking, and life in general, that nothing seemed to work. Discouraged, I realized I had to learn how to sing because no one I was trying out had what I wanted. So I enrolled in vocal lessons and started searching San Diego for musicians.
Again, let me reiterate that I had lived in San Diego for 7 months before I spent one weekend there so I had ZERO friends. I was “cool” (meaning I ditched school and thought I was a bad ass, which doesn’t really seem so cool anymore lol) in high school, I was in bands so I never really had to “make” friends, therefore I was lost. So I went out and bought books on networking, I had always had what some would call “charisma”, but had no idea how to control and focus it. Soon I had hooked up with a few guys at a local frat house at SDSU (SIGMA NU i love you guys, and I'll never forget the times we had). They needed to increase their roster of guys, and the amount of girls that came to their parties. Now being the social guru I was, I offered to do just that, because after all I was sincerely excited about meeting and making new friends. I met some amazing people and had some AMAZING times there. It taught me a lot, mostly that staying in school and doing well in college is much more fun than the military.
The frat however, did nothing for my career in the Navy. I was constantly late, I was still the same stupid big mouth kid. I was popping pain pills like M&M’s, and was still going through a NASTY break up, that lasted about two years out of a four and a half year relationship. I went to 7 disciplinary review boards, 2 executive officer masts, and 1 captain’s mast. I was on the verge of getting kicked out of the Navy. I was doing so much blow, pills, and drinking that I was out of my mind!!! I had a different girl for everyday of the week and a pill for every ailment. I still look back and can’t even understand how I made it out alive much less with my career in the Navy intact. But besides ALL of that BS, I was still putting this band together. I was growing as a singer and quickly put together an all-star cast of musicians.
One of those musicians was Chuck Holiday. He struck a chord with me that most musicians don’t. He came to me as a guitar player. He was wide eyed and it was his first real band, but he just didn’t work for me as a guitarist. But, day after day he kept calling me wanting to come to the practices. So one day, it just so happened I had a bass rig there at the studio and I asked him to pick it up and try it. Then and there it became the perfect fit for him and us. He quickly jumped into bass lessons, got his face in the promotion books, and soon became my strongest asset in the band. Since then, he’s been a driving force in the band and one of the few people I’ve ever met that actually pushes me to really be a better person, work harder, and never give up. Although, I don’t think he realized the storm he had jumped into at first.
There was a lot of fighting due to my violent mood swings, but we pressed on. No one could argue with my drive and hard work. I was meeting industry people left and right and I had huge crowds of friends at every show. I wrote all the music, and recorded almost an entire album including 90% of the instruments by myself as I was still looking for musicians, and Chuck had just started really perfecting the bass. I had my foot in every door I could find and “My Creation: Dry, Hard, and Angry” slowly became a small success on the west coast, due to our constant playing, touring, and shameless promotion. We sold all 1,000 copies of our album and handed out over 15,000 demo cd’s that we got companies to pay for. About the time it released, I got sober, moved from the frat house, the girl finally left me for good because of my partying (which forced me to finally move on), I got back in shape and did my best to save my Naval career.
I had attempted suicide, my own mother refused to speak to me; I went through 3 drummers, 1 bass player and a guitarist. I almost got kicked out of the Navy, did A LOT of partying, and somehow in the middle of this craziness I managed to keep the band together. I had investors asking me to do albums. I was learning and working with one of my favorite producers, Dave Jerden (Alice in Chains, The Offspring, Anthrax, Chilli Peppers, Social D, Rolling Stones). I read every book I could find on networking and the business of music and being offered tv shows, album deals and tours. We even placed sixth in the country and first in the San Diego region, in Emergenza, the world’s largest battle of the bands, beating out thousands of other bands. However, we couldn’t take anything, we had to wait for me to get out of Navy and for my long time bass player Chuck to be done with his contract at BMW, to really begin our journey.
And now, here we are, free of our obligated terms, and its been, three years after starting the band. I feel like a new man. I don’t have the depression, negativity, and self doubt that held me back all those years. I realized not only how to make contacts but how to actually form lasting and loving relationships with people. I still party, I still have fun, but today I actually enjoy my life. I don’t have to work and I get paid to do what I love. It is a turn for a new style of music for us, with every lyric carefully planned and executed. We just recorded two new demo's, produced by Darian Rundall (Pennywise, Deviates, Cigar, Dio, Dokken) and Dave Jerden. They were mixed and mastered by Dave's partner in crime and our dear friend Bryan Carlstrom (In addition to most of Dave's credits, PiL, Billy Idol, The Lone Rangers (Brendon Frazer in the movie Airheads), Spinal Tap lol I know, and MANY others)
Addition to the story (January 29th 2009): We have just officially signed a MAJOR management contract with Christopher Sabec (Senior Business Development Executive at Malibu Live & Business Consultant at Earth and Sky, Inc.) and Robert Steele (also with Malibu Live). I can't tell you how excited we are to be working with them. In addition to having MASSIVE credits to their names in both music and business, they are really awesome guys. I couldn't ask for a better set of friends or managers.
In addition to that news, one of my very best friends and one of the most naturally talented guys I've ever worked with, Evan Holtz, has officially joined the band. I worked with him in my very first band, Brimful, when I was just 14 years old and I am SOO unbelievably stoked to be playing with him again. He has so much natural ability and can do many things that you can not teach a musician. In music, there are some things you either have or don't, they can not be learned. He is one of those truly rare and naturally gifted artists. He'll be coming in as a second front man also on VOX and GUITAR.
Addition to the story (August 31st 2009): We spent the last 7 months doing artist development 6 to 7 days a week, 8 to 16 hours a day at the massive, 36 million dollar, Malibu Performing Arts recording facility. While we were there, the extremely generous and famous studio owner and engineer Gene Shiveley, took us on a musical journey through the history of music. He gave us more insight into music, song writing, and being successful in the business, than I've had in my entire life as a whole. His goal was for us to find a truly unique sound and style to unleash on the current music world. Once we finished there we recorded two new songs with Dave Jerden and Bryan Carlstrom to showcase our new musical direction.
Also, while we were doing all that we finally found the missing link of the band. That missing link is, Chris Hudson, who comes to us from the Musician's Institute in Hollywood, California. A huge thank you to Chase Duddy for hooking us up with Chris. He's got a huge heart, a lot of drive, and a boat load of talent. After four years of searching we finally have the PERFECT line up. It feels great to have a group of guys I can not only call my band mates, but I can also call them my friends. Anyone who is actually in the music biz will agree that finding the right guys can be much more difficult than you could ever imagine. We are now officially "KiLR"...THE BAND!!!
How did all of this happen?!?!?!?! People just like you, ya YOU, the person reading this, supported me. I’ve never had any family close to me, just the friends and fans that have stuck with me. I owe you all my life and I can’t wait to see what lies ahead for KiLR in the future. So anyway, thats pretty much me. Take it, Leave it...Fuck it, I don't care, as long as someone gets something out of my music, this letter, out of me being me, then it was all worth it. Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope you enjoy all the music to come.
Sincerely,
“MaVv”
