Interview with OHKABE: ‘Classic rock ‘n’ roll is my butter ‘

OHKABE– the creation of Canadian multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter, Kevin OHKABE – will release his second EP ‘A Sunday State of Mind’ later this year, with the second single from the EP, ‘Your Light’, out on 21 June 2022.

After travelling the world and discovering his own unique sound that blends elements of blues, rock, jazz, and alternative pop, he settled down in Toronto in early 2020 to pursue his solo career as an artist. 

”A Sunday State Of Mind’ evokes a daydreaming perspective and brings about a sort of “fantasy otherworldly visual” to mind, plus I just liked how the alliteration sounded,’ he said. ‘All songs on the new EP are rooted in rock. My favourite song on it is ‘The World Is Cruel’. It’s just two minutes long, and it’s a piano driven track – a bit of a departure for me, it’s from the perspective of a parent giving their child life advice and perspective warning that “you better know what you want to do because the world is cruel”. It kinda happened in a weird way, I embodied someone else’s perspective which I never really do when I write – the piano arrangement just kind of reminded me of a lullaby.’

‘It’s about what music means to me and not feeling connected to anything but music’

Last month, he released the first single from the upcoming EP, ‘Blue Was The Feeling’, a crunchy rock and hip-hop influenced track that deals with feeling lost and confused about where your place in the world is. The main hip hop riff of the song was something that he had had in his back pocket for a while, albeit as something that he envisioned as a hip-hop beat for someone else. Eventually, the melody fell into place as he kept toying with the main riff: ‘Back when I played in a band, I had the chorus riff. A couple of years ago, I started scatting some ideas over it,’ he said. ‘The lyrics came later, they’re about not knowing the direction of where my life is heading and feeling tired and worn out. It’s about what music means to me and not really feeling connected to anything else in the world except for music. I think that everyone feels some degree of doubting their place in the world or where they are at in their lives at some point, but I wanted to write about that in a way that didn’t seem so depressing,’ he said. ‘You know that “stank face” you make when you hear a really crunchy groove? That’s the feeling I’m trying to elicit in listeners.’

As the track goes: ‘Can’t find no meaning living life this way. I don’t feel comfort, all I feel is pain. In need of healing, can you make me whole? I don’t feel comfort in the sympathy you sold.’

‘Free’, which he released as a single in March, goes in a completely different direction; it’s more jazz-leaning, with a dash of blues: ‘All the songs are a bit different, the sound meanders around (laughs). I listen to a lot of different stuff, including a lot of hip-hop like Anderson Paak and Kendrick Lamar. I’m rooted in rock but inspired by jazz, funk and blues. I love Jeff Buckley (an American singer and guitarist), he used a lot of diminished chords.’ We chat for a bit about how brilliant Buckley was and I ask if he has a favourite song. ”Lover, You Should’ve Come Over’, he said. ‘It’s just so good.’

It turns out that ‘Free’ is completely autobiographical and that the lyrics “France, Greece, Germany, down south to Italy. Tiptoe to Tokyo, wander lonely and low” reflect his own travels: ‘After a five year relationship abruptly ended, I booked a two month backpacking trip across Europe and left the next week,’ he said. ‘I wrote it a year after but it describes my journey and where I went.’ Barcelona made a real impression on him on that trip: ‘I was there for a festival, I loved it,’ he said happily. ‘I ate a lot of paella and drank a lot of sangria (laughs).’

As the track kicks off: ‘Let go, she left me low. Packed my clothes and my Nintendo. Gone away, on a plane. Found myself in Spain on the weekend. Out on the tiles, I feel the deep end. Swallow me whole, I feel weakened. Holdin’ me down, I try and breathe.’

‘Arctic Monkeys are my all-time favourite band’

Jimi Hendrix has had a huge influence on him, in more ways than one: ‘I’ve got a tattoo of him on my back,’ he grinned. ‘Arctic Monkeys are my all-time favourite band. I love Led Zeppelin and Mother Mother (a Canadian indie rock band), Mac DeMarco, Pink Floyd. Classic rock ‘n’ roll is my butter (laughs). I do like The Tea Party (a Canadian rock band from the 90’s with Middle Eastern influences) from just outside Toronto and Big Wreck (a Canadian-American rock band from the 90’s).’

OHKABE’s go-to guitar is a Gibson Les Paul Gold Top: ‘Slash is one of my favourite guitarists, he plays one, that definitely influenced my decision (laughs). It’s heavy, it weighs 10lbs! I’ve had it since 2012, the back is worn from my belt rubbing on it.’

‘Change’, which appeared on his debut self-titled EP last year, blends funk, hip hop and pop elements. It’s got a slight 80’s vibe, with the bouncy melody set against bleaker lyrics: “I feel weakened, stuck in the deep end. No home, nowhere to go. I feel broken, I have been hopin’. Holdin’ onto the rope.”

‘I didn’t really know what I was writing about,’ he admitted. ‘I wrote it busking in Montreal to try out new things and new lyrics. There’s an air of struggle in the song, it’s a theme I continually write about, I’m fascinated with human psychology. In the last band I played in, Pigeon Park (an alt-rock band in Vancouver), I was primarily a guitar player for 10 years. When that ended, I learned to sing and moved to Australia. When I write songs, it’s the guitar first. I struggle with writing vocal melodies the most, riffs come to me the most easily. I’m always trying to evolve. I’m planning on moving to Melbourne full-time by the end of the year. My partner is Australian, she always wanted to go back and I loved living there before, so she said I could pick the city (laughs). I love Melbourne, the music scene, the culture and the people, it’s such a great place, it has a similar feel to Toronto.’

‘Tash Sultana…she got me into busking’

The Aussie music scene made a huge impression on him and he gets very animated chatting about it: ‘I LOVE Tame Impala,’ he enthused. ‘I just saw them in Toronto, actually. Tash Sultana (an Australian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, music producer and engineer), she got me into busking. I started using a looper (an electronic device that creates instant recordings of a musical performance and plays those recordings back in real-time) watching her busking. She made me realise what you could do with it, it’s really cool.’

His dream line-up would be wonderfully eclectic: ‘Ooooh, I’ll say Led Zeppelin, Anderson Paak, Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave. Can I have The Doors? That would be cool, that’s my dream to see them in their prime every night!’

He’s had some funny – and challenging – moments on the road: ‘In 2010, with my old band, we were driving on Highway 101 and our van blew its engine when we were going to Vancouver,’ he said. ‘We had to ship our stuff back and also get back for a show that night. Amazingly, we made it to the show in time but without our stuff, so we had to borrow gear from another band (laughs). It was a good testament to what can go wrong and just trying to make it work!’