It was mid-September when I reached out to Steve for scheduling an interview. I had just discovered Kid Reverie’s Kickstarter Campagin, and wanted to help promote it. Kid Reverie made its debut album in September, and following its release lead man Steve Varney left for tour with Gregory Alan Isakov.
Walking up the hill towards Case Study Coffee in Portland, I walked in and to my far left next to the window was Steve. On a tiny round table, there he was listening to nugget ideas he recorded on guitar for upcoming songs for KR, and missing his daughter.
Coffee in hand, we talked about the new record and what it feels like to be human.
The original plan on recording with a producer in New York fell through, Steve chuckles with the optimist view of maybe it was for the better his plans were changed. The back-up plan was just across the driveway on the farm. However, over there was Greg’s record in the making, not quite enough room for live takes.
Not very far from Boulder, the band played hard and recorded with producer Todd Divel at Silo Sound in Denver, making the record in just a few days.
“Went into Denver and found a cool room that was kinda tall and had enough room for all of us and that’s how we did it. Which, I’m really glad cause I loved just doing it all at once, it was great,” Steve said smiling. “Even though it’s digital… I wanted to catch the energy of us playing our songs. Just us four people in the room. And then I liked it.”
Listening to the record now, Steve can hear the anger of what seems like a completely different person that recorded the songs. Almost as if someone else wrote them, and he gets to play them.
No song in particular had a set recording goal of “need to capture this kind of vibe” but instead to be transparent, fleshed out and real. When you listen to this record, you experience what Kid Reverie is like live, full of emotion and energy.
With lyrics printed on the matchbooks, Run is the favourite track on the record. A writing challenge that came out lyrically brilliant. It is a combination of unusual quotes that not only stands out on the record, but also is impactful live.
Describing Kid Reverie and the new record as “sounds like rock, reads like folk and it can make you dance,” Steve recalls that’s what he saw in the audiences when KR first started performing shows at festivals and venues. But now, he has a different perspective.
“I want to take them on a ride. All of it, all of it. I like trying to land on the goal of it always coming off as hopeful. Even if it’s intense, heartbreaking tune I try not to let my lyrics and the musicality of the song get too depressing. If there’s crying, then I hope it’s because it made you feel something.”
The record as a whole is a collection of stories, broken up into separate melodies and lyrics. Songs like “Nothing We’ve Seen Before” and “Breathing In” are stories from meeting people who in itself, Steve thinks of it as an experience.
“It goes beyond just meeting a person.” His tone of voice changes, you can tell it’s a passionate subject for Steve. He sips on his coffee and continues, “My younger brother and I talk about this a lot. He got a project going with one of his friends, I think it’s called Do You Wanna Talk. It’s doesn’t have a time limit on it… Interviews with real friends, it goes real deep, heavier questions… I think about him a lot when I meet people, I think now what can be achieved in that moment… just sharing a laugh or somethin.”
With this in mind, Steve asked the right questions to a man named Bruce. Bruce evolved from being a closed book into opening up about his time in Vietnam. He shared his story with Steve, from day one being in Vietnam, it was just him and one other person that survived from what was ment to be a mock ambush. It was war. With a handful of days off, Bruce traveled to a nearby country, where there were women again all of a sudden. He fell deeply in love and was a day late coming back to camp. The officer in charge said ‘you blew your chance, you’re going back out tomorrow,’ Bruce’s response was “I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you tonight.” This was common, it is called fragging, to threaten a superior officer. The next day, Bruce got on a plane and went home. Bruce then described to Steve what it was like to come home after that. Being domestic by doing laundry or getting your groceries.
Bruce made an impact, “Nothing We’ve Seen Before” was inspired by Bruce.
To share stories and emotions. From nothing into a creation. Whether it takes a hot minute or two seconds, is why Steve does what he does. From waiting to become songs to the point at the end when they’re done; that in-between moment, is a feeling he doesn’t get from anything else.
He satiates those feelings, especially being on tour with Gregory. Coming from a huge fan to now being on stage with Greg, and watching him write a song.
“We’re playing with a symphony tomorrow, and we’ve done that a lot. Its one of those things I’d never thought I’d be able to do” he said excitedly, still can’t believe the life he’s living. “We played Red Rocks recently.. I’ll play another decade chasing that, and then the next night I felt that way again. I feel damn lucky.”
I asked Steve when will Kid Reverie know that it has made it the music industry, and is successful. His response:
“I don’t know if I want to… isn’t that when you would get lazy about it?”
Having Gregory as a type of mentor in the music industry, they often discuss the attitude that is possible in this business. How cut throat it can be, especially. Considering things like they could play bigger venues, but do they enjoy them more? On the other hand, no one knows how far a career can go, so it’s an option to say ‘yes’ to every opportunity.
“I wanna always be trying to do more, in a healthy way. I’ve already feel like I’ve made it. Right now.”
Looking forward on exactly where his musical outlet is going, Steve begins talking about his craft of songwriting. In college he took a songwriting course as an ensemble credit taught by Judy Coe. This gave him ample opportunities to practice songwriting based on off the wall prompts, just to write and be able to talk about it. This previous training enabled him to create a song through inspiration and observation.
He recalls an old neighbor that inspired the song “Breathing In.” This man would yell horrible things at his girlfriend and her kids, walk away and walk back in after a while. The lyrics of that song describe deep down, that that’s who he is. Steve wrote what he saw.
He goes on to discuss “I’ll Be Here Wailing,” and how he immediately wrote it after watching his ex drive out of the driveway.
Keeping his eyes open as a songwriter, he doesn’t use a specific emotion to write the songs. But instead rely on the craft that he has built. He then looked outside to his right, and said that he will maybe write a song on this kid pushing a toy shopping cart. He giggled and took another sip of coffee.
Back in Boulder, Steve has a tiny human that asks him questions that poke holes in his knowledge. She is one of the primary inspirations for Kid Reverie. Her questions and observations rejuvenated his love for space, plants, insects and constellations. Just this year, Steve learned how the internet works by watching Magic School Bus with his daughter.
“I didn’t know there were cables going across the ocean!” He gives a laugh, “I didn’t know what I thought.”
The rock riff “Hindsight” is about giving advice to her, as well as an “I love my kid song.” It’s because of his daughter where Kid Reverie got its name. From the feeling he gets when they look at the world together, and what it feels like to be human.
Lately, Steve takes his coffee by ordering mochas, (it’s the new thing). But not just any mochas. If you remember the light brown m&m’s, he likes his coffee to taste like a few of them are in there. As well as the colour, to look like the light brown m&m. Light brown m&m.
Living Noteworthy 