Even though he grew up with all the privileges of a well-educated suburbanite from Brooklyn, indie rocker Kevin Devine knows how to work for what he wants.
“You’re responsible for raking the leaves in your yard and everyone else’s yard is their problem,” Devine said.
With this lesson in hand, 28-year-old Devine said he knew he loved music and he loved making it, but even though he began writing music at age 14 and joined the band Miracle of 86 in 1995, he never thought he would be able to make it a career. The band released a few demos and EPs ,and the full-length album Every Famous Last Word in 2002 and went on some brief Canadian and European tours before it broke up abruptly in 2003.
In 2001, Devine released a mellow, acoustic album as a solo artist titled Circle Gets The Square because his band had a harder punk sound that his individual music did not fit. After Miracle of 86 broke up, Devine returned home to Brooklyn to work in a friend’s restaurant. It was there he realized that the solo album he had put out as an afterthought was receiving positive press reviews.
“I was stunned to be written about in The New York Times and Rolling Stone,” Devine said. “I was shocked because we made that album on such a whim. For some of those songs (when we went in to record that) was the first time the drummer heard the song. But I started to do more touring and somewhere in 2003 or 2004 I was able to be predominantly living off music.”
Another advantage of the release of Devine’s first album was that Triple Crown Records heard it and was interested in signing Devine. In addition, Jesse Lacey, Long Island native and lead singer for Brand New, also got his hands on Devine’s music and was impressed. In 2006, Devine was an opening act for Brand New on the band’s U.S. tour.
“I actually (met Lacey) in an amateur archery camp in 8th grade in Queens,” Devine said. “It was for these glam-rock city kids that don’t get to do a lot of outdoor activities. But we only came really close about five years ago. In that time he has been amazingly cool and supportive of me. Fifty to 60 percent of the kids who come to see me are Brand New fans, and I will never complain about that.”
Once signed to Triple Crown, Devine released a lot of new material. Make the Clocks Move was released in 2003, Split the Country, Split the Street in 2005, and his most recent album, Put Your Ghost to Rest, was released by Capitol Records in 2006. Since then Devine has been on multiple tours around the world with roughly 50 different musicians depending on the city where he is playing.
“I’ve been really lucky to incorporate this many people in my music. It helps you to become a better songwriter and the songs can shape shift in so many different instrumental formats,” he said.
Once Devine finishes his tour, he will head to Los Angeles to finish his next album, which he says he already has 11 songs ready for. That will be followed by a four-week European tour this summer.
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