KOOKT

Mike “Kookr” has been around music since birth. Growing up with piano played daily and singing along to his mom’s tapes of Heart, Beach Boys, Steve Miller and even Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals. It was his taste of the album “Smash” from The Offspring that set him on his own path. When he got a guitar at 17, he idolized the likes of Korn and Fear Factory. Having kids at the age of 21 didn’t give much free time, but he finally took a chance and joined a band at 29. This opened up connections to a world he fell in love with. Just being around other musicians as they created and showcased their efforts was all he needed. Or so he thought. All this time he had never made his own song, it was always riffs and ideas for others. Now recently being around and involved in the full writing process, a new desire to create has been reborn.

Brian has been a huge help in helping me find my voice.  I had played in a few little projects but never had the experience in writing and completing a full song on my own.  I have lots of idea but no idea how to turn it into a complete finished product.  Brian helped me try new ideas, suggested his ideas but ultimately let me drive the direction.  His method of “let’s try it and see if it fits” really helped to spark creativity and if I got stuck, he was loaded with musical ideas to help link it all together.

When it came time to vocals, I had not even thought of it because I had never sung into a mic before; but he heard me humming a melody with some words and pushed me to just try singing it.  I was awkward at first, but he made me feel comfortable and gave me some techniques to control some notes and voice.  Mid-way through I got more comfortable and leaned into it which got a cool grit from my voice which made us both stop and say “what was that?” and then he said “do it again!”  I’ve never had so much fun creating something and really instilled some confidence in me to want to continue to explore song writing and finding my voice.

Having someone beside you, who is genuinely having as much fun, made it such an enjoyable experience.