Buzzing along a crowded New York City street, Kevin Devine is running his final errands before he begins his lengthy U.S. tour, followed by dates in the U.K.
“The albums came out yesterday and we leave for tour tomorrow, so I’m tying up all the loose ends,” Devine said over the phone.
Albums. Plural.
Defying what everyone expected of the singer-songwriter, Devine facilitated a double release of his seventh and eighth studio albums on Oct. 15.
And, what’s more, the albums are completely crowd-funded.
Rewind to mid-January, when Devine used Kickstarter, an Internet-based crowd-funding platform to support his albums. In exchange for donations, Devine promised two albums, one with a full band and one solo (along with a tour to support each). His goal was $50,000. He received $114,805.
“I didn’t think it was going to be a failure, but I didn’t know what to think at first. I went back and forth about how it was actually going to perform. I have a basic idea of how many people buy our records, but I didn’t know how that was going to project with the Kickstarter. I honestly thought I was going to have an outside chance of $50,000, but I thought it was going to take the entire 45 days and it would be some nail-biting towards the end. I was blown away by it,” Devine said.
And to make the process even more rewarding for those who donated, Devine had two producers hiding up his sleeve.
The first was Rob Schnapf, who is known for his production work with Elliot Smith and Beck. The second, who produced the full band record, was Jesse Lacey of the post-rock band Brand New. Due to their close friendship and professional relationship, Lacey accompanied Devine in the past, providing backing vocals on 2009’s “Brother’s Blood” and 2005’s “Split the Country, Split the Streets.”
“Jesse is obviously a very formidable songwriter in his own right, and he had very clear ideas about what he thought aesthetically and in terms of construction of songs. He had a very fresh perspective — he really helped push the songs into that direction. The record certainly has his fingerprints on it,” Devine said.
The writing style of “Bubblegum” (the punk-influenced album) is also different from the way “Bulldozer” (the singer-songwriter-influenced album) was crafted due to the full band aspect of the record. In the past, Devine has reserved his “Goddamn Band” for touring purposes, but this time the three members had the opportunity to directly contribute to the making of the album.
“[You have] musical shorthand with people you’ve played with that much. You just start to kind of anticipate each other,” Devine said. “‘Bubblegum’ is more of a band record and less like just a guy. It’s not articulating one person’s vision and then having a band coming together to make a record.”
Even though this was his first time working in a traditional full band setting, Devine has had his share of collaborations with other artists. In addition to his work with Lacey and Brand New, in early 2010 he formed the group Bad Books with members of Manchester Orchestra.
“Bad Books exists as a place for members to take a breath and enjoy themselves,” Devine said. “I think it’s made me a more confident singer, and I think I have an interesting and cool singular voice when I use it, but not in a traditional way. I think I can do things with my voice that other people can’t.”
And the road to becoming a confident singer has been a long one that began with Devine’s first release, “Circle Gets The Square.”
“I wrote that record when I was an 18-year-old kid, and now I’m a 33-year-old man. Some people show up fully formed — Kurt Cobain was 23 when he wrote “Nevermind”— but other people don’t show up to the party with all their tricks up their sleeves,” Devine said.
For Devine, every record leading up to “Bubblegum” and “Bulldozer” has focused on a certain part of being a songwriter. In every record, he’s tweaked something different and he finally feels that he’s made his best records.
And Devine is ready to finally bring his records to his fans.
To say that Devine knows his tourmate well would be putting it lightly. He’s known Harrison Hudson for the past five years, and for two of those, Hudson has been Devine’s tour manager. When it came time for Devine to choose a tourmate, Hudson was an obvious option.
Now, Now, Devine’s other tour support, joined the “Bubblegum” tour a bit differently. When he was writing “Bulldozer,” Devine had Now, Now’s albums on repeat and in many ways, the band influenced the songwriting that appears on “Bulldozer.” Now, Now was the only band Devine had slated for support (besides Hudson), and had the band not come through, Devine did not have a backup plan.
Devine began the first leg of his tour last week in Akron, Ohio, and is working his way south until he hits New Orleans on Nov. 8. He’s played Louisiana before, mostly in Baton Rouge, but looks forward to making his way into The Big Easy with his tourmates Harrison Hudson and Now, Now.
Devine will be performing at One Eyed Jacks on Nov. 8.

Gallery • 1 Photos

photo courtesy of Sean O'Kane