Kevin Never Talks is an indie band from Santa Monica, CA – think of Sublime meets Maroon 5 and you’ve hit the nail on the head. Kris James (real name Kristopher James Udovich) aka ‘Kevin’ was brought up in the bay area and is one of the most willing, hard working musicians I know. ‘Kevin’ is however not Kris, rather a school friend of the band that basically never talks, no matter where he is…parties, gigs or any other social gathering! So, Kris thought..why not – let’s name the band after him.
Kevin Never Talks appeared on the second episode of Musicology Season 1. The distinct memory I have was Joel, the bass player bouncing around the stage like an early 1980’s punk rocker while Kris James effortlessly sings “Lemmy Kilmister” style (not sound!) into a facing downwards mic while strumming his guitar. The song, “Goin’ Down” off Kevin Never Talks’ third album “Speechless” starts with an attention-grabbing thumping bass riff.
The second song performed was also off the “Speechless” album and entitled “Where Did U Go Last Night?”, an absolute classic catchy riff from the Udovich writing stable.
You would also never guess in watching ‘the man at the back’ that Kevin Never Talks’ drummer, Eric Urban is also a talented all-rounder musician in his own right. Watch this space for Musicology Season 2 where Eric and his band of Sao Paulo counterparts are captured busking on the Newport Beach boardwalks.
Kevin Never Talks are also a killer acoustic act. Following on from the Musicology Season 1 filming, we invited the band (or more accurately Kris and Joel) to perform at a small get together hosted by California State Assemblywoman, Eloise Reyes. Kris and Joel entertained the young audience with their latest tracks to rapturous applause by the college students from Valley College with Musicology providing the pro-audio sound and staging
Musicology subsequently invited Kevin Never Talks to perform at several other live events. We soon became aware that Kris is a crowd pleaser and a great MC so we invited him to co-host a segment on the new Musicology show called Street Beat with local celebrity, Robert Porter.
So what make Kevin, er….sorry Kris really special? While we were on location filming Street Beat, during a filming break Kris started to jam to an Oasis song. Being from Manchester (and the same neighborhood as the Gallaghers), my ears pricked up and I said to my co-producer, “Wow, there is someone on the radio covering Oasis and they’re amazing!!” We quickly figured out that it was Kris jamming on the patio outside our room. Kris has a very distinctive voice that carries….really carries!
Kevin Never Talks new album is set to release on August 29, 2019. You can hear a preview of it right here – make sure you do! It’ll be worth it, I promise.
