Meet Nick Kendall, Steve Holness, Greg Hagger and Tom Clare, the four guys whom together make The Kendall Connection. They officially established themselves in 2016, six years after they first began forming, they have been making blues rock waves in the five plus years now that have followed since and show no signs of slowing down. Intriguingly there’s more to these guys than meets the eye, and ears, as when they’re not producing band material they’re busy lending their creativity to other projects both on-stage and on the road. These guys even took to the road with Jools Holland, lucky lucky lucky
“We let it all into our music and don’t out boundaries on anything or write with any rules or restrictions”
You’ve been together since 2016, how’s the journey been for the band so far?
It’s been a lot of fun, which was one of the main reasons for putting the band together. We’re all full time musicians and so spend most of our time playing on shows in the West End, performing with other artists, and recording on sessions in the studio, and so we wanted to have something of our own that got us back to the reason we started playing in the first place. We all come from band backgrounds and the session musician thing kind of happened along the way, and so it’s good to be doing something totally ours where we have full creative freedom.
How did you all get together?
We all met playing in London’s West End. Tom Clare (Drums), Steve Holness (Keys), and myself (Nick Kendall) met when we were depping on the Queen show, We Will Rock You, around 2010, and then Greg Hagger (Bass), and I met a few years later working on Jersey Boys. Tom and I had always talked about putting a band together, and so when I started writing and getting some tunes together around 2016, we floated the idea with Greg and Steve and they immediately jumped on board.
The name, The Kendall Connection has a ring to it, how was the name decided on?
When we formed I had a very definite vision of what I wanted to aim for as a band from a music point of view. I wanted to write and record songs that stand solidly on their own as pure songs, even without any of the ‘musician’ stuff, like guitar solos and improvisation, but then also have space for us to stretch out as players and have a blast. I feel that a lot of the time you get one or the other, bands that like to take lots of solos and are into say, the guitarist thing, often fall short on the songwriting and emotional / lyrics front. As we are session players, and therefor love and play in many different styles with lots of different influences, we wanted to let that all come through in our music, and although a lot of the core songwriting happens from my side, it’s when all the players bring their various styles and influences into the studio and put their stamp on the tracks, that brings the magic to the songs. We wanted it to be a band with music that is both fun and exciting for us to play while still connecting with the everyday man, hence the name The Kendall Connection.
Now you’re a London-based band and it’s got a reputation for numerous notable artists but what’s the music scene like?
Oddly enough we don’t tend to play in London itself much. A lot of live music tends to take place outside of the city, for us anyway. It’s also rubbish for parking and offloading gear!! Haha! That said we’re all on shows at the moment as so always play in London on nights when not off gigging elsewhere. Tom is the drummer on Moulin Rouge, Steve is the assistant MD on Back to the Future, I’m (Nick) finishing my run at Only Fools & Horses before doing We Will Rock You at The Coliseum over the summer, and Greg is currently covering bass on a handful of other shows in town.
For those who’ve yet to go down there and explore, which music venues would you recommend?
We had a great gig supporting Aynsley Lister just before the pandemic at the 100 Club on Oxford Street which often has some great acts. We also did Bush Hall supporting the B.B. King Blues Band, and we’ve seen some great acts there too. The Half Moon in Putney, and the 606 are some great ones too.
And do some of them still run today?
The Borderline was a good one, but it’s sadly shut its doors. The 100 Club was declared a protected venue the day we played it actually, which was a really good feeling, as the future of these venues is sometimes precarious. However I think there will always be places to see live music for those that know the experience can’t be matched scrolling live footage on YouTube! I think sometimes people forget that.
Alice Cooper, Paul Weller and Adele are amongst some of the artist’s who’s music influences yours. What is it about them that draws you to their material?
Those are actually not any of our direct influences, those are some of the artists we’ve been lucky enough to play with in our session careers. Some of our influences include Stevie Ray Vaughan, Sting & The Police, Fleetwood Mac, Mike Stern, Brad Paisley, Cream, Scott Henderson, Santana, and the list goes on and on in many different styles and eras. We let it all into our music and don’t out boundaries on anything or write with any rules or restrictions. That’s one of the positives about todays music era, so much has been done and with the new age of the recording industry, you can kind of do whatever you want, which we embrace.
You’ve made over 6 albums since you’ve been together, what was the process like in putting them together as it was probably different for each one
Well we’ve actually only put out our debut album as a full length album officially. The rest of the releases have been singles, and a small EP. As we are playing full time and we also all have families with young kids, when we formed we decided just to get recording and releasing songs individually as singles, because we weren’t sure when forming, what our time frame to put together a full length album would be. We also figured because the industry works differently in the digital age, there’s no real need to release full length albums, and so we wanted to put music out continuously, rather than having long gaps between full length releases. However, people who were getting into our stuff and becoming fans, wanted to be able to buy a CD, and the press also wanted to review something as a full release, so we compiled some of our already released tracks along with some new ones to form our debut album which came out in 2020. We’ve decided to follow a similar process for the second album and so there are three singles out for that so far. We have also just finished mixing a 5 track EP titled ‘Blood & Water’ which will be coming out in the spring / summer. We’re very pleased with it, and can’t wait to share it with everyone! We’re also continuing to write and record for the second album which will follow.
As artists what inspires your songwriting?
Life, family, and the world around us. Although we’re not over political or trying to get involved in that discussion at all, it’s a subject that creeps into our songs too. One of the songs on the Blood & Water EP was inspired while remembering the late great Jeff Beck, and the instrumental song (our only instrumental to date) came about while noodling on guitar in the style of Jeff Beck in the days after he passed. So really whatever is going on at the time.
Do some of these go into the process of creating your music?
100%, I think it means the songs come out honest, and aren’t trying too hard to be anything, as they come from a true place.
And do you find it a therapeutic process in that you can pour your heart, soul and emotions into your songs?
We don’t really think about it that way or write for that reason, but I suppose if I look back on all the songs written, then yes that’s probably happening naturally.
As music loving individuals which artists did you listen to in your lives?
It changes all the time, depending on our own moods, musical interests, and goals on our instruments. I’ve mentioned some of our various influences above and the list is endless. Although we love so many varied styles and artists, at the core of everything we play, there is a blues and rock gutsiness to our playing and writing. I grew up playing in the blues clubs of Johannesburg, and I think even as you mature and your interests morph, the music that first hit you and inspired you in your early years will always show through in everything you write and play.
We’re officially out of lockdown now but how was it for you during that time with social restrictions?
Being full time musicians with families to support, the pandemic was very tough in a lot of ways, as it was for so many self employed in a certain group, but we also enjoyed having some quality time at home. We’re always working nights, and away a lot, so we just tried to focus on the positives, and we’re grateful to be out the other side, and back playing again.
Your most recent gigs were in places such as Nottingham, Whitby, Guildford and London. How did they go and what was the feeling you felt when you went before a live crowd after so long?
We’ve been back out and playing live since 2021, and the strange thing was, when we first went back, it was almost like we just slotted straight back into place, like it was all just a very surreal dream. We’re definitely glad live music is back, and our only hope is that people haven’t gotten too used to the idea of sitting home watching tele rather than venturing out to a gig or festival.
You supported music legend Jools Holland, what’s it like to share a venue with him?
The Jools Holland gigs were fantastic to do! His crowd is a great fit for us, because they are people who want to hear musicians doing their thing, but also just like hearing songs they can sing to. We’ve also played the venues before as session musicians, but not with our own band, and so walking out to a packed Nottingham Royal Concert Hall and similar venues to play our own songs was a real thrill!
We’re now into 2023 so what can we expect from you for the remainder of this year?
We’ve spent the first part of this year, writing, recording, and producing the Blood & Water EP, so next is planning the release for that, videos, packaging, and all that goes with it. We’ll then start planning live gigs for the second half of the year, as we will then know what times we have available around other tour and playing commitments.
And where can we find your music?
Website: https://thekendallconnection.co.uk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thekendallconnectionband
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/25JOX9jeOa51iDtPf9mESS?si=vb3OUj0eS0CtX0vWEee5GQ
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/gb/artist/the-kendall-connection/1234342034
