Hey, this is Paul Martin and Ray the Roadie for the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast. What's up, Ray? Not much. What's up with you? You look a little kingly today.

Kingly? Yeah, like a king. I am. I am part of royalty.

Are you really? Yes. Oh, Prince and the Queen Elizabeth, or? Yeah, I think so. Are you? You're not like a czar, are you? A czar? I'm not a bczar.

A bczar. Yeah, you are a little bczar. A little bczar.

So what's, how you been doing? Good, good, good. We're speaking with some royalty today, though. That's what I hear.

Some rock and roll royalty. Chicago rock and roll royalty. Nothing wrong with Chicago rock and roll royalty.

The best in the country. A guy who's been around for quite a while, and he's still there. Still got it.

Still rock and rolling. And that is Kevin Lee of Kevin Lee and the Kings. That's right.

And he's got a new album out. Kevin Lee and the Kings, Lightning Strikes. Yes, he does.

Yes, he does. So yeah, so we'll be talking to him about his new album, EP, actually, an EP. It's five songs.

So let's get to Kevin and see what he has to say for himself. That's right. Make sure you curtsy.

Oh, yes, I will. You have to curtsy. If he kisses a ring or anything? Maybe.

If he puts his hand out, you have to kiss his ring and curtsy. Let's go. Let's go to the drawing room.

Okay. Why are we trying? Isn't that where the royalty sits in their thrones? Isn't it the drawing room or the throne? Let's go to the throne room. Okay.

And I don't have to go to the bathroom either. So yeah, this is true what you're talking about there. How about we just talk to Kevin? Okay, let's do that.

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the show. Today we're speaking with a veteran of Chicago music.

You're no newcomer, are you Kevin? Kevin Lee. Kevin Lee and the Kings. How are you, Kevin? How's it going? I'm good.

Thanks for having me today, guys. No problem. So, like I said, you're not a newcomer to this music scene in Chicago.

No, no. I've been slamming around here for a long time. Yes.

I remember Kevin Lee and the Heartbeats. Yeah. We did really well.

Yeah. There's still people talking about that band. Yeah.

But now you've got a new band called Kevin Lee and the Kings. Yeah. Well, I've had Kevin Lee and the Kings for quite a while.

I had Kevin Lee and the Lonesome City Kings. That was the band I had that was signed to MCA. And then when that all came to a close, I did a few solo records.

So I've got a number of albums out under just my name. This is kind of funny. And then I had some guy, some country artist, which I'm not a fan of country, nothing against country, but it's just not.

I'm a rock dude. You know what I mean? It's just not my thing. I became aware of him.

He started hitting me up on various social media things. And it was just like, wow, I do not want to be confused. Nothing against that person.

But you know what I mean? I need to keep myself separated. So I just abbreviated the Lonesome City Kings from the other previous band name just went to Kevin Lee and the Kings. So that was 2000.

I released an EP in 2010. That was the first Kevin Lee and the Kings CD under that name. I see.

So what label was that at? That was when I started my own label. It's called Cygus Records. So that album I just gave you, the new one, Lightning Strikes is the fourth Kevin Lee and the Kings.

So I've had a few different lineups, but the current lineup with these guys, this has been since 2016 with Mike Kurtz and Patti Pendergrass on bass, guitar and bass. Patti Pendergrass and guitar and bass, right? Yeah. And who else? Michael Kurtz.

He played with Madfox. He's another one, man. Him and I are both a couple of just.

Right. Sure. Madfox.

I remember that name from way back when. Yeah. We've been slamming around here for forever.

Right. You got a new album out called Lightning Strikes. Just came out a couple of weeks ago.

Yeah. Tell us a little bit about it. It's a five song.

It's like an EP. So it's an EP. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, you know, the whole market is so much different now and everything. It doesn't last as long as it did.

You know, you remember back in the old days, these guys who put out albums, they were on the charts for two, three years, some of them, you know what I mean? So like now, I mean, I just read the other day, you know, so many people released singles. They said they estimate they last about two weeks. So that being said, I just thought it's smarter to do an EP.

I've already got a whole nother album written, but it just seems better to do them in shorter, you know, more frequent releases. But then maybe just EPs are probably a good shot right now. Right.

Right. So somewhere in between a full album and, you know, in a single release. Right.

And I know a lot of a lot of bands nowadays are just doing single releases because that's what people are buying on Spotify or on iTunes. They buy one song at a time. Sure.

Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.

It's just so much work on a promotion level. I think I'm going to stick with at least doing EPs because it's, you know, you know, I've been spending hours on my computer pitching effort to get reviews, you know, and just just all that sort of thing. And it just seems like maybe it's got a little bit more life.

I think an EP might last, you know, like three or four months or something. So. So let's do a couple of songs.

It's kind of a power pop sound. Back from that. You know, I think I'm more just I think I got labeled because Kevin Lee and Heartbeat was a power pop band.

Right. And we were just in that era, you know, that's right when Chief Trick was blowing up, you know, and Off-Broadway was Off-Broadway is the epitome of a power pop. Yeah.

I love Off-Broadway. What a great sound. Yeah.

But all my records are just rock and roll records with hooks. You know what I mean? So I think I think but I've definitely gotten labeled into that genre of power pop. Yeah.

Even though a lot of the songs are just straight hit slamming rock and roll. So I think your name has been mentioned in this podcast a couple of times with Frankie Capek. Yeah.

Frankie was a guitar player in the Lonesome City Kings. Right. Yeah.

And with Billy McCarthy. Billy McCarthy was the drummer, the first drummer in Kevin Lee and Heartbeat. OK.

Yeah. Yeah. Great guys, man.

I love those guys. Frankie and I've been friends since forever, since the middle 70s. Right.

Right. Frankie's a good dude. Yeah, he is.

Great guitar player. Yes. So the songs on your EP, you wrote them all? Yeah.

Everything. Yeah. All the records, I wrote everything.

Everything is yours. Yeah. It's kind of what I do.

Don't work with anybody. You know, I did years. I mean, I have co-written a few tunes that that Lonesome City Kings album I did had a couple of co-writes on it.

But I just I don't know. I kind of went through the short phrase phase where like I was writing all my own stuff and then I thought, well, I'll just branch out a little bit and just try to try with a few other people. I wrote some songs with Jim Peter, which was fun.

The one of the singles that was on that Lonesome City Kings record I wrote was Jim Peter called Time Alone. But then I just kind of like fell out of it. You know what I mean? It's like, you know, like when you're in high school, you're really into something.

You wake up one day and you never even think about it again. That sort of thing. And I've just written all those other albums just by myself.

So. Well, you're getting out what you want to hear. Well, that and I just think it's more focused for me.

You know what I mean? Too many cooks spoil the soup kind of kind of attitude, you know? So like you see some of these albums and there's five people writing on it, writing a tune. It's like, I don't know how they do it. You know, it's like, it's a lot of opinions to deal with and everything, you know? Right.

But yeah, it teaches on whatever works for you. But for me, it's kind of better for me to just write my stuff, I think. So are you a lyrics guy first or a title guy first or a music guy first when you write? I'd say a little bit of all of it, but I'd say primarily it's a combination of the music and a title is, you know, a title can depict to pick a kind of a mood on chord changes or whatnot.

And chord changes, you know, you go, Oh, well that title might fit cool with this. You know, like I'm always writing down titles. I have, Bob Seger always did that.

He worked off of titles. That's how he started his song. He's a great writer.

But a little bit of both, but sometimes lyrics, but it's a lot easier to fit a lyric when you're just going then you come up with the melody and you can, you can make the words fit into that versus the other way around for me. Right. But I know like Don Henley, for example, great lyric writer.

He writes the lyrics first on a lot of them and then they put the music around it. So. Right.

Yeah. It's tough. It's tough no matter which way you do it, I suppose.

It's just your own preference. Yeah. Yeah.

It's just kind of whatever works best to get the tune where you want it to be sort of, you know. And there's people out there that just, just play the melodies and rely on somebody else to get the lyrics. They don't, you know, they just write the song and give me some words.

Yeah. True. There's all different approaches to it.

Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Now you mentioned, you mentioned Michael Kurtz who played with Mad Facts and Patty who's, where did Patty come from? Patty was not the first player in Bitch, but I think she was the second bass player.

I think they went through some lineup changes, but she was like in the touring version of that. I think they, they played a lot of, you know, road shows and that was back when you could do that. You know, I think they were pretty successful on the road and they had a good name around town, but that's where Patty came from.

And then Mike, you know, obviously it was at Fox. She was in Tough Love too, right? Patty? Yeah, I think so. And that's what Bitch turned into, I believe.

And who's playing drums for you? A guy named Eric Strummer. He's from the East Coast. In 2007, I just was holding auditions.

I found him on Craigslist. Oh, really? Yeah. I had, you know, I just, I played with so many guys and just worked so hard.

I have all these years over and over again, just trying to find the right lineup, you know, and I've been lucky a few times and, uh, he walked in and just this old funky rehearsal hall downtown in the city. And, uh, I had a few other guys lined up that night and, you know, we tried them up and he was the last guy. And he came in and I was like, wow, this guy's good.

And I played with him ever since he's played on all those, all those records since. So it's been 13, 14 years, I think. Yeah.

Imagine that a drummer named Strummer. Oh my God. I never thought of that.

I mean like Eric Banger or something to be a good one. Boomer. I used to play in a band with a drummer named Boomer.

Could have been the Strummer Jammer duo with Joe Jammer. So where did this all begin for little Kevin growing up? Growing up? Did you just pick up a guitar, guitar or something one day? My brother and sister, I have a brother and sister, uh, were taking piano lessons and my parents, um, bought a piano that was in the living room in the house, you know, and they were like starting to get similar with the both of them. And I just kind of went, I wasn't interested in piano per se.

And I took a few piano lessons and it just wasn't my thing. You know, it was too, I don't know. I, you know, I started seeing bands on TV and stuff when I was five or six and I was like, that's me right there.

I even knew then, even when I was a little kid, you know, that's all I've ever pursued in my life was to play in a band. But I started out just like in terms of writing and getting ideas, like just coming up with little single note melody lines, you know, like Dean, do, do, do, do, you know, just little, little things. So that's kind of how it started for me.

And then when I was in, uh, fifth grade, I started playing drums. His drums just seemed so cool to me. They were pretty and cool.

You know, drums are great if you just look at it. Blue sparkle or something. Yeah.

I had a silver spark. So I put my first band together when I was 11. It was called Crystal Fire.

Um, which looking back, it wasn't a terrible name for a little kid to come up with. Yeah. So, uh, that's how it started, you know, and I played drums, uh, you know, back then they didn't, there weren't DJs, you know, playing all the events like they do now.

And I was always in the band, uh, right when I hit seventh grade and I went to middle school, you know, they'd have dances and just events. And even then I was the guy talking to him about booking my band. And, uh, so we used to play all that, all those events.

I had a little three piece band, you know? So I played drums until I was, um, about a sophomore in high school. And I got tired. I was always a singer and I got tired of trying to play drums and sing.

And we, and nobody ever had a bass player. So I started playing bass so I could get up front and sing and just be up front, you know, like it just was time to let the drums go. And then I always played guitar as well, but I kind of stuck with the bass for a while cause I could see where there was a demand for it.

Sure. So, uh. Bass players were hard to come back back then.

Yeah. And they still are. Yeah.

Yeah. They really still are. So that, so it's just sort of evolved from that, you know, and I was always working on songs.

And so when I was about 16 or 17, the band I was in, I started showing them tunes that I was writing and we do a bunch of covers and like two or three of my songs. And then it just kind of all escalated from there sort of. What kind of covers did you do? Do you do any coverage now? Oh yeah.

Yeah. We always throw a couple in to say we're doing it. We're playing like the Elmwood park, uh, 4th of July, uh, celebration or whatever, 4th of July this year.

And that's, that's more of a cover type of gig. So we worked up a few extras for that, but, uh, but you know, I'm a classic rock guy. That's what we all grew up with.

Right. So just, just good classic rock stuff. You know, we do Bowie, suffragette city.

And, um, do you find your writing is influenced by anybody in particular? Uh, well, I'm a big cheap trick guy. Yeah. You know, I just got smashed in the head like every other kid in the early eighties when those guys hit so hard, you know? Yeah.

And, uh, so that's really, really stuck with me. You know, cheap tricks, another, another band that, you know, they got lumped into that power pop thing. They're not a power pop band at all.

You know, they're almost heavy, like a lot of times. So, but it was just a genre categorization, you know, at the time that just stuck with a lot of people. But anyway, yeah.

It was Chicago or Midwest sound. Yes. Yes.

And people still refer to me, the Illinois entertainer just reviewed this new album and, uh, referred to it as Midwest power pop. Some of the songs. Yeah.

So, but anyway, yeah. Cheap trick. I really love, I don't know.

I love a lot of different, I love anything with like, it's got a rock, like chunky, you know, chunky guitars and it's got to have a hook and it's got a rock. Like if it's not slamming and hitting, you know, like I love ACDC and, you know, just stuff like that. It's got to have some impact or it doesn't really hit me.

You know, the funny thing about like cheap trick until live at Budokan, I mean, around the Chicagoland area in the Midwest, they were, they were the shit. I mean, everybody was crazy. Like you said about them, but outsider of this area, nobody liked them.

Nobody listened to them until they hit live at Budokan. And then they just went worldwide. It was crazy.

You know, I snuck in a bar when I was 16, uh, cause I re I wanted to go see, I heard some, a lot of these bands and cheap trick was playing in this club and there was a side door and I knew they loaded in that door and I knew they didn't keep it locked. And I snuck in and, and I just didn't try to buy a drink or anything. You know, I just sat and watched the band play and it was trick and they came on an hour late and that was back when you could do that.

And just, just to build up the anticipation, the place was packed and that's when they were playing three sets and they were mixing up their own stuff with cover stuff. And, uh, it just blew my face off. It's like one of the greatest things I've ever seen.

And bars were open until 5.00 AM back then too. Yes. And they played till four.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And the drinking age was still 19.

That was, that was back in the day too. When you go see, you go see true trick at a Tuesday night and Wednesday night you go see off Broadway and every night of the week somebody was playing somewhere. Yeah.

And it was just great. Yeah, it really was. You know, another band I snuck into that same bar and saw was the boys back in their heyday.

And they did them too. That was just like, Oh my God, I just thought they were so great. You know, Durant was such a great front guy.

Very, very powerful. Yeah. There was a lot of great bands at that time around the Chicago area.

There's a ton of them. The Hounds, some other ones. Tell us about some of the songs in your new album here.

Which ones are getting, which ones have you released as a single? Ruby Red Lips was the first one, the first cut, which has gotten a lot, a lot of attention on Spotify. It still is getting a lot of attention. Up on playlists, people's playlists and stuff, you know, which is cool because it's been really tough for me to crack Spotify on much of a level.

And this one, we're doing pretty good with it. So that was the first single. And then the one, the second one was The Best Is Yet To Come.

I've released those two. And then we're getting ready to, we got to get our act together here and get it going. But we're going to shoot a video.

We got a real good video guy for the last one. So tell us something about Saigus Records. You say that's your own label? Yeah.

Saigus Records, I'm a big animal lover. I just love all animals. I always have.

So Saigus is a combination of two cats that I used to have, Simon and Gus. Okay. And they've since passed away, you know, but I love them so much.

And I just said, how can I like remember these guys? So I did that. And I, my publishing company is called Sam Rock Publishing. And I had a cat, two cats named Sammy and Rocky.

So this is the way I've immortalized those guys. So like, I'll just always remember. I mean, I remember them anyway, but just, you know, it's kind of a cool little hook from you.

So, so you, it's you, I see this is produced by you. So you, you, you do all the mixing and everything or where was you recorded at? I don't do the mixing. No, Rick Barnes at Rackstracks, who is top five mixers in the Chicago area.

The guy is something else, man. The mix on this record is like the best record I've done. He really knocked it out of the park.

No, I just more, you know, cause I bring the songs in, you know, like I do full demos of every song. I don't play them for everybody, but I spent a lot of time in my home studio. Just, you know, I'll track 20, 25 tunes and then, you know, I'll hand the band five or six of them.

So it's the band can get used to them and learn them, right? And it's the easiest way to do it. Instead of me, you know, like in the old days, I used to just sit in a chair and everybody lined up because I saw Tom Petty do that. Tom Petty is another guy that I just adore.

And it just seemed difficult to me. And then they came out with those little home four track. They started out with the four track cassette ones, you know, so I had the first one boss came out and I've had them all ever since I've got a task cam eight track now at home.

So anyway, I do all these demos of them and I just come in and I give them to the guys and then we work all the songs up. And then we go in and start cutting it, you know, and just production wise, it's more like little, little extra parts that need to come in, you know, like counter melodies, you know, and courses. There's a lot more to it than just chords and singing over the chords.

You know what I mean? You got to add all your little parts in there. Yeah. Yes.

Yeah. There's a lot more to it, flushing out a song than just chords singing and like, okay, here comes the guitar solo or you know what I mean? Like stuff like that. So yeah, it took me years of studying how other people recorded records and whatnot to get that together, you know? So how did you get through COVID? This is a pandemic.

Obviously you couldn't play much, right? You couldn't do anything. Yeah. No, I wasn't going to, I quit going to the gym, man.

I was afraid to do anything. I'm big on working out. Like I didn't go to the gym for a year and a half.

I was just afraid to walk in the room. Um, well the first COVID, um, shutdown when they made the first, it was that three month one started in March. That's right.

When it hit, you know, actually this, this is a little hook into this current CD. I just put it out. We had finished wind it up that last song, the last week of February of 2020.

Um, I'm glad you brought this COVID thing up. Um, and, uh, we're going to release it just as a single and it came out really great. We were going to shoot a video for it.

And two weeks after that, March 15th is when I remember the day I remember going to the grocery store. It was a Thursday on March 15th and just going, Holy crap, what's going on? And everything was sold out, you know, and it was just, I asked the cashier cause I kind of knew him because I go there, I go to a Trader Joe's over in Evanston and she goes, I don't know what's going on. She goes, this is worse than Thanksgiving or Christmas.

You know what I mean? And then she told me this, the toilet paper was gone too. Everything. And she said, Tom Hanks and his wife had just announced the night before that they had caught it and they were stuck in Australia because they were shooting a film over there and they couldn't leave because they were really sick with it.

You know? And that's when it started. That's when I first really got worried about it because we don't heard about it. Like, you know, in October previous to that, but it was like, Oh, it's over there.

You know, you just thought I was in another country or something. So anyway, um, so that first day at home thing, that's when I wrote a lot of those songs. I wrote two albums worth of material and most of those were out of, out of that.

But, uh, so I just saved, winded up cause winded up for a real, really strong track. And so we remixed it. It's not the same mix that we had before.

We remixed it with all of these songs. So it, so it fit that all the mixes fit together and everything. Uh, so that's kind of how I got through it.

You know, I just thought, wow, this is great, man. I can just sit here. I'd go for a walk, long walks, you know, put a mask on and go for a long walk.

And just, you know, there was no traffic. Did you do any, uh, live streaming? We did one live stream once it started to get a little bit better, you know, in this guy's basement over in Elmwood park that, uh, uh, had a whole setup for it. He was doing a lot of other bands too.

I think Mike Tafoya went over there and did something and a couple other people, local people. Um, I did a few acoustic things, uh, that were songs that were, I probably wasn't going to show the band. They were really strong.

It just came across really well. Just me singing them and shot them out on social media. So that's kind of was my way of trying to stay out there a little bit.

Yeah. It was a tough time. Yeah.

I was, it was weird. It was just more weird than anything. It was like when 9-1-1 happened, you know what I mean? You could just feel it in the air to me, like something was wrong.

Yeah. I mean, we've, we've talked to a lot of bands, you know, over the years. And, uh, there's some bands that just completely shut down.

Nothing did nothing the entire time. And then there's other ones that still found gigs. Somehow they tell us they found a gig someplace opened up and they went out and they played me outside or something, but they're like, Oh yeah, we're busy all summer.

I was like, I wasn't even willing to do that. And none of nobody in my band was we're all pretty square thinkers and yeah, I don't blame you. No, definitely.

Yeah. We didn't do anything. And Patty, who we were talking about, the bass bass player has a real nice deck that goes out around a pool in her backyard.

So that summer of 2020, we did some outside rehearsals, a few just, just to get together. But other than that, we didn't do anything either. We just stopped.

Yeah. Because it was just too dangerous to go to a rehearsal hall or something. And I'll be in the same room.

We did, you know, who knew, you know, who knew what was going on? Yeah. We just didn't know enough about what was happening to them. Yeah.

Cause the information was changing daily, you know, like, you know, blah, blah, blah, this. And, and so, but we did hook up a few times, three or four times just, just cause we're all real tight. We got a real good family vibe in the band.

And it's, it's great. It's, it's just a great group of people, you know, outside of the music and everyone's playing talent and everything, you know? So yeah, we did get together a few times. We didn't play any gigs though.

So basically lightning strikes was the birth from the pandemic, huh? Of sorts. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Once, how long has it been since you put out an album? Well, it wouldn't have been so long had COVID not hit because I had way more ambitious intentions of getting stuff out there. But we did a record while in 2014, I got really disillusioned, sort of, I played a couple of gigs with some, you know, kind of bad cover bands on the same lineup and everything.

Not to not cover bands. Everybody's got their thing. I understand that.

But just, I remember sitting there going, what, what am I doing? So I stopped playing live cause I just thought it was not going anywhere with it. And started recording an album just myself with Eric, the drummer. He was still playing with me, but I played all, all the bass and just, you know, I'm just blah, blah, blah was, was three quarters of the way done with it.

And then Mike, Patty and I, I got them to join the band. So I ended up not using to like a lot of my bass tracks. I brought Patty in to do some stuff and Mike played a lot of the guitar solos.

And so I got those guys involved on it. So that was 2017. We released that.

So that was the last release before this, which these days you can't wait five years to release something that, you know. We learned that from Boston back in the day. Yeah.

Where they took four or five years to release albums. Yeah. You just can't, you know, and there was no intention behind it, but just COVID just slowed everything down and people, you know, I caught it.

I caught it at one point, you know, and just, uh, Mike, the guitar player caught it. So it was just like, we had various little setbacks, you know what I mean? So we had to just stop. So, you know.

So Mike and Patty really been with you since maybe 2014 or? 2000. Yeah. 2016, I would say.

Yeah. Because, uh, I had most of that album almost done just doing it myself for the most part. And then, uh, I'd been hitting on Mike.

Mike was playing in a band called Half-Bitten Moon. And I just said, Hey dude, you want to get together and play? You know, I, cause I've known Mike and I've known each other since the seventies and, uh, he goes, well, do you want to jam or do you want me to join the band? And you go, and then I said, well, I'm looking for a guitar player, you know, and he's going, well, you know, I'm, uh, I'm, I'm kind of committed to this band and he's a very loyal guy. And I respect that because I'm a loyal person too, when it comes to band situations or whatnot.

And then I think it kind of put a bug in his ear because he started dialing all my solo albums up on Spotify. And he sent me a message at one point and he goes, dude, he goes, I'm playing along with your stuff in my apartment. He goes, I sound great.

Maybe we should get together. And it made me laugh. So, uh, and then I, right about that same time, I had seen a video of Patty playing in a cover band.

I don't remember what the name of the band was, but you know, she's a little dynamo on stage. She doesn't sit still. And that's kind of what I like.

I like, I want everybody in the band to be killing it. You know what I mean? Some of these front men only want, they only want to shine and they want everybody to, you know, kind of stand behind them. And I'm the opposite.

It's like, well, let's kill them, you know? So I thought, wow, she looks really good. For sure, man, for sure. It just makes the show better.

And, uh, so I messaged her and I just said, Hey, would you be interested in just coming by and checking it out? I'll send you a couple of tunes. She was like, cool. And this was the coolest thing.

They, Patty and Mike had been really good friends for a long time before, you know, I talked to them at that moment. So they were cool. We got together and actually rehearsed before we got together with Eric, the drummer, just the three of us got together and ran down the songs and I played some stuff.

So, you know, most people would never do that. I've auditioned like hundreds of guys, you know, half of them show up and didn't even go over the tunes. They'll go, what key is this in? I had a drummer show up and asked me if I had any sticks.

That's the truth that a drummer audition was, was, was hilarious. I just go, dude, take a walk. Are you kidding? See you later.

So I really appreciated the fact that they wanted to do that. And we got together and played and, you know, it was a little more organized and together because we did get together that one time and it was like magic. It was like, holy crap, this is it.

And that's what that song, Best is Yet to Come is about. Okay. If you listen to the lyrics, it was just like, okay, I'm, I'm not doing so great right now, but you know, this is in my blood.

You know, I'm determined to get there and this and that. And that's where it goes to the chorus where I can't close my eyes. I'm staring at a new sunrise.

Now I know the best is yet to come because it just felt so good. Time will tell if there's something here to see. I'm in a cell waiting to be released.

I just can't believe my eyes. I'm staring at a new sunrise. Now I know the best is yet to come.

Something tells me this is real. I jumped off the spinning wheel. Now I know the best is yet to come.

I'm glad they got together this year and brought you out of that funk that you were in. A little bit. Yeah.

I mean, I would have kept going, but like, I'm a band guy, you know, I've always been in a band and I, and I, I need that interaction and just, you know, everything that a band brings to the table. So yeah, I can do it by myself, but I don't want to, you know, I don't want to play in a band. So, so when did you guys first get back out after the pandemic? Uh, let's see, we, the last show we played was March 8th, 2020.

And then the pandemic hit right after that. So I would say probably last summer, 2021, there's a, a club that's out on Montrose Harbor called the dock. It has live bands seven days a week, June through September 1st.

So we started playing out there, um, played some shows out there and then, uh, has just since played, you know, a few other rooms. You got a full slate, uh, this year? Uh, we're back. We're back to the deck.

We're playing actually at, I'm glad you brought that up at mad cats tomorrow night, uh, in, uh, Palatine, which is a cool little, um, cool little room. And, uh, we started eight o'clock. We're going to be playing all the EP and a bunch of other stuff, but, uh, yeah, we played there and we played some gigs at mad cats and, you know, just a few other places.

So yeah, we slowly gotten back into it, but yeah. But, you know, there's been a few setbacks, you know, there, there was that second shutdown. Remember that they, they, they, they, they did it twice.

So it was just, it's been a struggle for everybody. So where can people find you, uh, social media wise? Uh, Facebook, you know, facebook.com, Kevin Lee and the Kings. You can dial me up.

Uh, it's facebook.com. Kevin Lee rock. Um, Twitter account, instagram.com slash Kevin Lee and the Kings website too. Yeah.

Websites, Kevin Lee online.com. And I'm having a new website built right now. That's going to be really cool. So, uh, yeah.

And of course we can find you on Spotify and iTunes and all the places, all the, all the music is available streaming and downloading anywhere that that is available. I use a distribution company that just gets it everywhere. And then, you know, it's surprising.

I didn't think I printed up CDs because albums just aren't realistic, uh, costs. Um, and I, I thought, well, you know, a lot of people don't even have CD players anymore, but we've actually sold quite a few of those. Well, I know there's a lot of, there's a lot of vinyl coming out, except that there's a, there's a big issue with getting it out, I guess, you know, there's only a couple of factories putting them out.

Oh, is that right? I didn't know that part of it. Yeah. You know, to me, it's a cost thing, you know, what's, what's going to be a cost effective for the people.

You know what I mean? And like, you know, you see these albums of 25 bucks, some of them are 30, you know what I mean? Like, I don't know. I just felt like, you know, just for Chicago area band, like we'll just stick with the CD. So, uh, but you can get those if you are interested in the CD from the website, you can order them through PayPal.

And that's where we've sold quite a few of them so far. Awesome. So kevinleonline.com again.

Are all the, uh, all your albums available on the website? It's all on there. You have t-shirts to just, yeah, there's a whole merch page where you can go to. Awesome.

It's real easy to order it through the PayPal thing. Very good. Very good.

Alrighty. Well, we hope to see you out and about somewhere this summer. Yeah.

We'll, yeah, we'll be out there for sure. Yeah. We're going to be ongoing.

We're already working on some dates for 2023. And good luck with your music video. Thanks, man.

That should be fun. Yeah. Yeah.

A lot of fun. Yeah. This guy has done some major label stuff, so it's, uh, it's going to take a little time, but it's going to be a step beyond, uh, some things I've done previously.

So I'm looking forward to it. Yeah. Good luck with Lately Strikes, continued success with this.

Thank you very much. Thanks. Thanks.

Thanks for traveling all the way out to beautiful downtown Joliet. Thanks for having me guys. Appreciate it.

So it's great to come to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Thanks a lot. All right.

Thank you. Thanks guys. So that was Kevin Lee of Kevin Lee and the Kings.

Um, and Kevin's got 11, did you say 11 albums? Leo's got quite a few. Yes. He's been in a business a long time.

Yes, he is. Long, long time. And, uh, I just, I just want to tell you that was probably the best curtsy I've ever seen.

Thank you. Thank you very much. I mean, did you just naturally know how to do that? Or have you done that before? I've done it before.

Have you? Okay. Because I come from royalty member. Oh, that's right.

You do come from royalty. I forgot about that. I didn't know how to do that.

Right. I've never seen your crown. Oh, wow.

Did you ever bring it out? It's on top of my head. Is it? I don't see it though. It's a small crown.

It's a very small crown. Okay. I could show you mine, but if you look, it's right back here behind, behind my molar there.

I got a crown too. So, but yeah, that was, that was a lot of fun talking to Kevin. Uh, they're going to be out and about this summer playing, uh, probably some of your favorite venues.

Yep. Yep. Sure.

We'll be sure. We'll be definitely check them out on, uh, on their website, Facebook, Spotify, listen to their new, uh, EP lightning strikes. Yep.

Some great music on there. Yes, indeed. So I thank Kevin and, uh, for joining us today.

And I thank all of you for joining us today. And we want to thank the Illinois rock and roll museum on route 66 in beautiful downtown Joliet for providing us this spectacular podcast studio. Yes, indeed.

And don't forget our buddy, uh, Jeff says Malik he's got that, uh, podcast, uh, my three songs, check him out and, uh, let us know what you think. Okay. All right.

We will. Thanks for listening everybody. Thanks.

And we'll see you next week. Rock and roll Chicago podcast does not own the rights to any of the music that's played on this podcast. The music is used to promote the band or musicians that are interviewed.