Ask any ten people at random to list the sounds of the city that come to mind. If you want to make some easy money, find someone willing to bet on the outcome, then put your big money on traffic, voices and construction. Depending on the city, you might also see jet, train or ship noises on the lists. You probably won't see much beyond that, no matter how hard the respondents struggle to think of more, even though they're missing something that's a part of every city, something they hear all the time yet most of them really don't hear at all.

Sad but true. People tend to walk right past the street musicians, no matter how talented they are.

In the Pacific Northwest city of Portland, Oregon, Kevin Moyer stops to listen to another wonderful talent performing on a street corner. A lifelong fan of good music, Moyer grew up out in the countryside far from Portland and found he had to make his own entertainment much of the time. He set up a boombox and multiple tape decks for looping and mixing, and even added an old Fisher-Price toy turntable he discovered on a journey through the attic. Today he laughs that he was just learning to make mix tapes for girls, but in reality it was the birth of a producer. One who has, as they say in the business, "a good set of ears." As the street musician's song continues, Moyer knows he's getting something special on his DAT recorder, and we, in turn, will soon get to experience it as well, because Kevin Moyer's the man behind Live From Nowhere Near You.

That's the name of a Various Artists release that captures the sounds of the Portland streets and some of their great musicians and mingles those tracks with contributions from established artists like Mike McCready and Stone Gossard (Pearl Jam), Pete Miser, The Five Fingers of Funk, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Brad Hargreaves (Third Eye Blind), Chris Ballew (Presidents of the USA), Spoon, Gus Van Sant, The Robots and several others. It's an intriguing glimpse into another world, from the street corner to the train platform, where some outrageously talented kids are hopping a freight but playing on as the train pulls out.

The name bands donated their tracks and time to Moyer's cause, and nobody worked as hard as Moyer himself to make this CD a reality, and in so doing bring in money for a charity that benefits people on the streets of Portland. The Outside In Organization provides shelter and food, does needle exchanges, counseling and much more. Moyer's donated the profits from Live From Nowhere Near You to Outside In.

A mighty unselfish thing to do, huh? Where does this guy come from? Would it surprise you if I told you he was an ad exec for Nike? Another stereotype bites the dust. I caught up with Kevin Moyer while he was enjoying the uniformly excellent reviews for Live From Nowhere Near You and planning future volumes. I found a guy who was clearly very happy in his work.

---

Cosmik: We have a few interesting circumstances that led to Live From Nowhere Near You, and it seems like it had to be a convergence of all of them or it just wouldn't have happened. We have to start somewhere, so let's start with your own musical experience. Where do you come from, as a player?

Kevin: I come from Portland Oregon. [Laughing] This is easy!

Cosmik: Yeah, sure, when you cheat! [Laughing]

Kevin: No, the real answer is much harder and I'm not really sure. Everything that I play, or try to play, is self taught. You know, just kind of picking up an instrument and keeping at it until it starts to sound good. With the collaborations that we did on the album I found myself in different situations with different musicians, just trying to fit into the vibe of the song and playing around with various instruments that they would bring with them. Mostly, on my own I play guitar, turntables, some keyboard and synth.

Cosmik: How much of the album do you appear on?

Kevin: Unfortunately for the listener, I'm on there in quite a few places. A lot of the turntables, guitars and keys, and some backup vocals that I had to be persuaded to lay down. I really didn't want to overdo it and make it look like it was a vehicle to further myself, because I wanted the focus to be on the charity and the street musicians. But when you're in the studio as the songs are coming together, you end up being a part of it, and even if you take a minimal role suddenly they start to add up. It's hard not to get a little wet when you're swimming in it, you know? But I only credited myself for the major contributions, not any of my other parts.

Cosmik: It seems like you know the street musician ethic and the scene intimately. How did you get into that?

Kevin: Just everyday life, you know? There's not that much difference to it really, people are people and we all have the same problems, successes, obstacles and what not. The only difference is perhaps that they don't have a roof over their head, a warm place to go, or a friend to turn to. I spent a lot of the last year downtown looking for street musicians and just meeting people and listening to their stories.

Cosmik: What caused the light to go on over your head as far as this project is concerned? It's not an obvious thing, like "Oh yeah, I think I'll record street musicians and mix that with some name players and..."

Kevin: I was leaving a concert that I had just overpaid to see and I sat down next to this incredible street musician picking the blues. All these people - people that you have to assume must be music fans - they were just walking past him like he wasn't even there, and I couldn't believe it. The guy was amazing, the only difference between him and the band inside was that he didn't have a stage to stand on or a media machine to hold him up.

Cosmik: I know exactly what you mean! I've seen the same thing in Seattle a few times. I'd leave a mega-concert at the Coliseum and there would be someone with a guitar and maybe a harmonica playing by the fountain, and before I knew it an hour had gone by. And only a few people bothering to stop and watch, like they need a record store or radio play to tell them it's okay to enjoy this guy.

Kevin: Exactly. Do you remember Spoon Man, who played spoons on the Soundgarden song of the same name? Since this is a Pacific Northwest effort, I was up in Seattle a few times and was looking for him everywhere, but unfortunately I couldn't find him. We did use some other interesting instruments though: water bottles, drumming on a beat up shoe, and even percussion from shaking and kicking a shopping cart.

I really wanted to show people that there is all this talent out there that they are missing out on by not noticing as they quickly walk past going wherever their lives are taking them. You know, just take a moment, look around, see what you're not seeing. I also wanted to show that you can make a great album of music without a big corporate label or enormous budget.

Cosmik: Well if you don't mind sharing, what kind of budget can a great thing like this be done on?

Kevin: It was done with NO budget! I gave some of the street musicians money from my pocket here and there, food more often than that, but for the most part the only cost was in actually pressing the CDs themselves. Everything else was done on my own with help from some very generous people.

Cosmik: Who helped out, and how?

Kevin: Let's see, I hope I don't miss anyone but I'm sure I will. My employer, the ad agency Wieden & Kennedy, provided the funds to press the actual CDs and looked the other way when I came in to work looking disheveled from sleeping in the studio. My graphic design business partner, Kevin Bailey of Dezylum, was a huge, huge help in teaming with me to do all the artwork and the website design. Ryan Foster, of Freq Mastering -- he used to work for Prince -- he donated his time to do the final mastering. Basically there are also about 100 people I should thank for introducing me to people and for suggesting things at crucial points. Thanks to all of them, as this would have been much more of an impossible task without their help.

Cosmik: Listening to the recordings of the music from the streets and the railroad yard, I'm really shocked at how clear it all is. And full. How did you go about recording those segments to get sound like that?

Kevin: It was really important to me that the music be good and listenable, while at the same time keeping the raw sound and realness of it. I used a portable DAT recorder for a lot of the recording out on the street. I think that the railroad yard track ("Train Jumping") sounds so full because the environment had so many layers to it already... people talking, rusty trains rolling past, the wind, and of course the instruments winding through it all.

Cosmik: How did you time it? If I understand it correctly, you had to be in that train yard at just the right moment to catch those people or they'd be there and gone.

Kevin: I actually had gone down there to take some pictures of the railyard graffiti, but ended up sitting and talking with some kids around a small fire who were planning to train-jump their way out of town. Trains went by every so often and they weren't in any hurry so we ended up talking until it got dark and I was unable to take any pictures anyway. I did have my equipment with me so I set up some of the mics to record the trains as they passed by. The trains that you hear on the track are meticulously timed layers of probably three or four different trains. Ironically enough, the street kid who played both guitar and drums on the track got involved with the CD in order to satisfy his court mandated community service for graffiti tagging.

Cosmik: There are so many sounds from the street that make such an amazing atmosphere. How much recording did you have to do altogether to get enough of the right sounds for this CD?

Kevin: Well, each sound you hear was usually purposely done for that song. Rarely did I record music and figure out how to use it later, and when we did it didn't always work out the best. You can't force things musically; the ear is too difficult to fool. It was much easier for me to hear the song in my head and imagine what pieces of ingredients should make up that specific song. If I needed a drum part I would specifically head out to find that drummer, someone who sounded like I had imagined. It was exhaustive sometimes, just relentless searching and just kind of keeping an ear open for what you're looking for.

Cosmik: The song that tears me to shreds is by a street musician, and it's simplicity at its finest. "Didn't I," by someone named Bad Boy Blue. Not a household name, but that track is just freakin' amazing. What's the story behind that, and behind him?

Kevin: I'm glad you asked about that one. Bad Boy Blue is a street musician that I met one evening downtown as I stumbled home from a bar. He was on this really sketchy corner of town playing the blues and I just kind of walked up to him and sat down. We talked for a long time about living in Kansas and playing with Jimi Hendrix. Didn't I is one of the songs on the CD that was done entirely by a street musician and it is just so raw that it's good. I mean, I didn't bring an extra guitar cord and his was quite ratty, you can hear it pop from time to time and I could have edited that out, but I decided against it. It was really one of the more memorable experiences.

Cosmik: It's one of the most memorable tunes. Maybe the most, because it's so immediate and real. Where did you tape it?

Kevin: We recorded in the office of one of my out of town co-workers, high atop the building and overlooking the city. We recorded probably thirteen songs or so with the nighttime lights of the city flickering behind us.

Cosmik: Aaaw, man, that's just so perfect. Now I have a visual to go with that song. Thirteen of them?

Kevin: I picked Didn't I because it was my favorite of the group. Unfortunately, nobody has seen Bad Boy Blue for a while now. We don't know what happened to him. Hopefully he's ok.

Cosmik: That's scary. We'll ask our readers... Well, let's just do it now. If anyone reading this knows where Bad Boy Blue is or has any information about him, please drop us an e-mail and let us know. And tell him people are thinking about him. There. The direct approach.

Kevin: Yeah. Bad Boy Blue, give us a call, we miss you! At least let me know that you're OK.

Cosmik: How many of the musicians on the CD are people you already knew or had worked with?

Kevin: With over 75 musicians on the album, I would guess that about a quarter of them were friends of mine or people I already knew. The whole thing started with recording friends and local artists with street musicians and as the ball got rolling I was able to get some of the bigger names to join us. I really wanted to involve people who believed in the idea and the cause for the right reasons and not people who were just looking for a quick way to get some attention. And of course the big names were great because it gave people more reason to buy the album.

Cosmik: Some of the people on the album are Portland natives who have moved outward, like Pete Miser, from Five Fingers of Funk, and he's made a lot of contacts since heading for New York. I love that guy, by the way. Great addition to the album. There are others like that on there, too. Did you know Pete before this, and did he or any of the other Portland people help bring in some of the heavyweights?

Kevin: Yeah man, Pete Miser is as solid as they come and then some. There is absolutely no reason that kid shouldn't be signed by a major label already. I used to go see him with the Five Fingers of Funk back in the day at the X-Ray Cafe. Pete was actually the first person to agree to be on the album. He had already moved to New York so I tracked him down and called him. He was down since day one. We were talking on the phone at one point and I mentioned that I was talking with Mel Brown [former Diana Ross drummer] and he was interested, so we hooked them up with each other, and the song "Central Park" was born - one of my favorites on the album, actually.

The remaining Five Fingers of Funk are still here in Portland and they were literally the second group to say yes ("Hatin'"). Talbott, their drummer, he's got a pretty wicked studio built in his basement that my attic studio envies. And Mic Crenshaw of Hungry Mob, he's another guy that these labels are slipping on by not noticing. He was important for me to get on there, too. Mic will hit you with lyrics as heavy as bricks one moment and then turn around and teach poetry and writing skills to inner city youth the next. ("Urban Reality") Exactly the kind of person I wanted involved.

And the same compliment can be said for every single person who ended up on the album.

Cosmik: What was your pitch to these people? How did you sell the project, exactly?

Kevin: You know, it's kind of amazing that it even happened at all. Imagine trying to convince famous people to be on an album from some kid whom they've never heard of who wants to record in his attic and then give all the profits away... It's a huge statement of the faith, generosity, and integrity of every single person who contributed to the album.

Cosmik: Were there a lot of tough logistical issues? What IS it like to do a project like this?

Kevin: Not really, everything seemed to work out fine. We pretty much did whatever we wanted to and we dealt with the rest later. The charity and the music were the most important things and everything else we just worked through. The musicians were cool with the effort, so their labels and lawyers pretty much didn't give me any problems. But the project was a huge undertaking -- since I didn't have a label or staff, everything was pretty much up to me -- from the finding and recruiting of musicians, to the recording and mixing, to the artwork and website, to the legal stuff, to the media promotion... and keep in mind that I have a normal 9-5 job that pays the bills so I was doing all of this in my spare time, on weekends and evenings. I slept in my studio for a good amount of it. But I wouldn't have it any other way -- it was just a giant canvas for me to express myself on and the fact that it was all for charity made it that much more satisfying.

Cosmik: Talk about Outside In. What do they do, and how did you hook up?

Kevin: Outside In is a Pacific Northwest homeless and street youth charity just up the street from here. Actually, they handle a lot more than just homeless and street youth -- they have needle exchange programs, battered and abuse protection programs, pregnant teen mother facilities... Probably much more than I'm even aware of. I was familiar with them because they're right down the street from where I went to high school. We used to go there and get free condoms way before we even needed them. I have friends who used their programs, friends who probably wouldn't be here today if not for them. And practically every person that I encountered during the process of this whole thing, professional musicians included, had some story to tell about how Outside In had helped them. So it was an easy decision for me to give the profits to them. I just kind of walked in one day and told them what I was doing and that I planned to give all the money to them. Of course, they were pretty cool with that.

Cosmik: Yeah, I don't suppose they'd argue. You're getting strong reviews with this, which are deserved, and I'm seeing it in a few high profile places. It seems like the reviewers really get what you're trying to do here.

Kevin: One reviewer said that the CD... [reads from review] "never pedestals the plight of its participants or pleads for handouts from an ivory tower. Instead, it celebrates talent instead of lamenting urban blight." I like that. I never wanted to exploit the homeless situation for this album to succeed, nor did I want the listener to feel sorry for the homeless contributors. Instead I just wanted the listener to gain an understanding of the people and their situation, and hopefully an appreciation for some of the talent that they might not notice otherwise.

Cosmik: How are you marketing this?

Kevin: Well, since this thing is as grass roots as they come, with the majority of it recorded on the streets and in my attic, I don't really have a marketing or promotion budget. It's basically just been me contacting the media and telling them about the effort... entirely by word of mouth and by friends and people like you spreading the word. I think that the next time I will look for a radio station to sponsor the effort so that they can help get the word out, too. But you're right, it's had some great press and I've been surprised at how far reaching it's been. Stuff from as far away as Australia and the UK. My friends find stuff online about me and forward them to me, it's kind of crazy, actually. But it feels good that people have taken to it the way they have.

Cosmik: What has the reaction to the CD been like from the street musicians? I assume some of them had never been recorded before.

Kevin: It's been good. One guy came up and hugged me the other day and that was kind of scary.

Cosmik: When you look back on this experience, you'll remember being there taking part in the creative process on a lot of these tracks, which is a very cool thing. You did a good job, too.

Kevin: Hey, thanks.

Cosmik: Seriously. And you got to work with some top-notch players. What were your favorite moments in the studio during this project? Not necessarily songs, but things that happened.

Kevin: That was definitely a nice aspect of the project, being able to record with and become friends with some of the musicians whom I really look up to. It's funny because the whole project started with me just recording my own friends. Who knew that I would be making so many new ones? I also learned so much from them and by just picking up different instruments, you know, and working with so many different types and styles of musicians really teaches you different ways to hear things. Helping the charity was obviously a great thing, but it was also a great way for me to express myself and immerse myself fully into music. Doing the celebrity thing was great and all, but surprisingly some of my favorite moments were with the street kids and street musicians. There is one track with an incredibly creative name called "Song For The Streetkids" -- it was a spur of the moment song that we recorded on the sidewalks downtown. I was lucky to have a DAT player with me when I met these kids, they were downtown playing for money so that they could get to the next city. Beautiful instruments, too, as it was the tools of their craft. All strings: Gypsy Thai guitar, mandolin, violin. The wind and leaves were literally whipping around us as we recorded that one and for some reason the combination of strings, street sounds, and wind really summed up the environment we were in. I still get emails from them from time to time. Last I heard they were performing in a giant hollowed out tree and traveling by train.

Recording Bad Boy was another memorable moment.

Cosmik: Has this created any urges to make a lot of records? The label business is tough, you know?

Kevin: Definitely. I have so much that I want to do and plan to do. I've already started on Pacific Northwest Volume Two, and after that I'd like to do a volume for New York because the talent there, both street musician and professional, is so great, not to mention so diverse. Maybe I'll do one for California, too. We're working on new music from The Robots that we're going to get out there in some capacity, also. I've also been keeping busy doing music for various short films and movies, and I've also been lending a hand as a creative on some Dandy Warhol videos with my friend, who's the director.

Cosmik: Wow. All this and your day job, too. You don't like to put your feet up for long, do you?

Kevin: I love to put my feet up... ask anybody! [Laughs] But I love even more to put my feet up while listening to some good music. Honestly, I just feel like I have so many things that I want to do, so many ideas that need an outlet, that I can't waste any time. I need to get these voices, these songs, these ideas, out of my head... and I think that if I didn't find a way to express myself I would never be able to fully relax anyhow.

© 2004 - DJ Johnson