Listen to the live interview Episode #455 Behind The Music with Jacqueline Jax : http://tobtr.com/9933709
GETTING TO KNOW Kryss Dula & Friends
by Jacqueline Jax host of A.V.A Live Radio
The Music…
From my original music, you can expect positive, uplifting messages, in an upbeat song. To me, having made such a positive shift in my life, sharing inspiration with others is part of my personal mission.
From my band Kryss Dula & Friends, people can always expect a good time and great music delivered by excellent musicians. My “Friends” consist of about 25 awesome musicians and awesome people who donate their time and talents to the group’s mission. Thus, at any given show I might be joined by 3 to 6 musicians, who vary based on their availability.
We have only 3 rules, and they are
1) We never take money to play (and I think all bands should be paid for their time and talents, but I happen to be Blessed with a wonderful day job that provides for all my equipment needs and gas money, and our mission is to play mostly for charity organizations events and thus, the last thing they need is to pay out money while trying to raise money for worthy causes);
2) We never practice (because technically we’re not a “band” in the classic sense); and
3) We must have fun (with that as our only goal, we have a blast at every show, and that positive energy is contagious with our audiences).
I live in Johnson City, TN…
The scene is populated by an incredibly large number of outstanding musicians, mostly in the areas of bluegrass, folk, and classic country, but also including rock, alternative folk and alternative rock, and metal musicians. The best places to go in Johnson City are The Willow Tree Coffeehouse & Music Room, which hosts lots of regional and national acts, as well as local bands, and has an amazing Open Mic session every Wednesday; The Acoustic Coffeehouse, where they have live music every night, and if they don’t have a booked act, anyone is free to take the stage at any time; The Hideaway, which hosts mostly punk, metal, and alternative rock bands, from the local to national levels; The DownHome, which is famous for being a listening room which focuses attention on the music, and which has hosted many national acts, and also hosts local and regional bands. And, Capone’s, which has local, regional, and national bands of a wide variety, but focuses mostly on rock and metal.
Music industry…
I’m entirely outside the music industry, though I have many friends who’ve struggled within it, and to get into it. I’m a professor at a university, and that takes most of my time, and I’m grateful for my amazing day job. Thus, I’m not trying to make myself a success in the music industry. If it happened, I’d welcome it, but I could only tour in the summer months. All the music I record is available for FREE DOWNLOAD at www.reverbnation.com/kryssdula I love to share what I’ve created with others, and I’m able to do so for free, though again I feel all other bands and musicians should be compensated fairly for their creativity, hard work, investment in equipment, time, travel costs, and talent. I actually pay to promote all my own work, as well as our charity gigs, so that I (and we) can connect as many people as possible to what I (and we) do musically. Thus, I’m very appreciative of the efforts of Jacqueline Jax and A.V.A Live Radio in helping me further my efforts to reach to others.
Recommitted…
It is about how I took a turn for the worse in my teens and early adulthood, and how I made a complete turnaround, and how continued progress in life takes constant recommitment, and how we should give the same opportunities to others, and support them in any positive changes they undertake and give them the benefit of the doubt rather than make negative judgments about them.
Yes, I have played in a wide variety of bands since my teen years (now being almost 48 years old), and my current band doesn’t do originals very often, as our mission is to provide background music and atmosphere mostly for charity organizations and/or events. So, while I’ve written lots of music in my life, I didn’t have any of my originals that were fully my own recorded. So, after my wonderful wife bought me a really nice microphone, I purchased a very inexpensive recording and mixing software, and set out to record a full album of my music.
On that album, titled ‘Completely At Home,’ I literally recorded the entire thing in my dining room on my computer. And, I play all of the instruments and did all the vocal parts, with the exception of the percussion track, which I picked from the software’s open-source tracks, as I didn’t have a way to record drums in a quality manner. Like most of my original music, it started as a poem, where much later, I had a song structure and vocal melody and thought the words would fit well.
I would love to have 5 minutes alone with…
Ozzy Osbourne. I’ve got a lot of musical heroes, but Ozzy and those he’s worked with from Black Sabbath through his entire solo career, made a huge impression on me, from my early teens, up to the present. I see him as a person who has struggled with a lot of personal demons, and succeeded nonetheless, and oftentimes in spite of himself. Thus, I’d love to just meet him in person, but also to talk about all those other heroes of mine, and especially the guitarists, he’s worked with across his career.
Complete List of Social Media Connections:
ReverbNation: www.reverbnation.com/kryssdula
Facebook (Band Site): www.facebook.com/kryssdula/
Twitter : https://twitter.com/kryssdula
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kryssdula/
My YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqgQzqEq80cTJFDyC5IJGfQ
Google+: https://plus.google.com/107382149718402912197