Kev grew up around computers and music. His father was always up on the latest in computer technology, which in the 80′s consisted of storing data on cassette drives and having computer parties in the basement. This same basement would shortly be overrun with musical instruments, as Kev and older brother Jeff took a quick liking to all things musical, which was natural since music blends technical precision with creativity. The Pelletier line is rich with technical skill and creativity, the most notable being Jack Kerouac, author of “On the Road”.

This same basement would shortly be overrun with musical instruments.

Kev played his first show around the age of 13 as the front man for his first band, Mustard. At 15, he joined the band “The Underdogs”, playing both bass and guitar at various times, providing backup vocals as well. Brother Jeff remained on drums for his duration with the band. The Underdogs had a good run, remaining a 3-piece rock powerhouse for most of their years, playing various venues in the Boston area such as Great Scott, The Middle East, TT the Bear’s, the Paradise, and Johnny D’s.

During his teen years, Kev performed in his high school’s annual music show named “The Top 40”. This show was a yearly display of talent where vocalists would choose songs to sing and instrumentalists would learn the parts to play live. Kev played guitar on more than half of the 34 songs and expanded the boundaries of his live performance resume to include Jay-Z’s verse from the remixed version of “Heartbreaker” by Mariah Carey (video of this exists, though Kev tells me it will never find its way to the internet). In addition to performing in this show, Kev also worked with the production staff to produce the live events. After graduation he was invited back year after year to be the Lead Sound Engineer of the remaining 5 shows until the legendary teacher retired and the shows stopped.

Kev and older brother Jeff took a quick liking to all things musical, which was natural since music blends technical precision with creativity.

Kev’s high school music teacher let him borrow the recording equipment every summer as part of his payment for his role as Sound Engineer, as long as he promised to have it back before the start of the next school year. A love for sound design was reborn as this was the first time that Kev got to replace his tape decks and radio shack mics with a full 24+8 Mackie board with 2 Tascam DA-38′s, a Mastering deck and a full compliment of studio mics to start to harness the full power of recording music.

After the older Underdogs went away to college, Kev continued to play guitar and sing backup with a local hardcore band, “Silent Reflect”. It was here that he honed his craft of writing guitar leads, his favorite part of the songwriting process.  One of their finest performances came in a battle of the bands at The Palladium in Worcester, MA, where WAAF DJ Rocco introduced them as “Silent Reflection”, to which front man Andy replied, “Its Silent Reflect, Rocco”.  Kev eventually left Silent Reflect to focus on school. The band eventually dwindled, yet lives on in the form of Highfire Skyline, which features members of Silent Reflect.

During college, Kev continued his exploration of music and art by majoring in Graphic Design/Interactive Multimedia and writing, mixing and producing 3 albums and an EP of his own original work. He worked for Fitchburg State College as a web and Flash designer, before landing a full-time gig as the Web Content Specialist at Southern New Hampshire Medical Center.

Since the college days, he has recorded about 3 more albums worth of material. This time around, he’s in no rush since he owns his own equipment and studio. The music isn’t contained to summers, and surely never stops. Kev added the sound of a female vocalist to the mix in 2006 who he has enjoyed growing musically with.

When asked why he loves music so much, Kev responded, “The purpose of my life is to create music to make myself and others feel emotion.”

Recently, Kev has started moonlighting with “The Fitted Shirt”, playing drums, acoustic guitar and singing live.  The live performances feature mostly original work by The Fitted Shirt, with some original Vigor songs, and an assortment of covers when they get booked for longer shows. In March of 2009, The Fitted Shirt started recording their new full length album, in Kev’s studio.

Written by Jeff Pelletier