My name is Kevin Carlisle and I am a musician, DJ, and photographer from Cincinnati, Ohio. Music captivated me from an early age, not unlike most musicians. I remember carefully combing my parents' record collection as a boy and being fascinated by all of it, particularly LPs by Johnny Cash, Roger Miller, The Beach Boys, and Simon & Garfunkel. I gained my first access to a piano as a babysitter when I was 11 or 12, and I was immediately drawn to coming up with my own tunes. My interest in photography began around the same time, when I happened upon a Kodak Duaflex at a church rummage sale. I've been into picture-making ever since.

Bourbon Street

I first picked up bass guitar at age 14, upon discovering common musical interests with two friends of mine who already played, Greg Fritz (drums) and Brian Knab (guitar). The typical high school rock band ensued, complete with many personnel and name changes. Eventually calling ourselves Bourbon Street, we were interested in writing and recording our own music from the start and, with the help of Pat Osterday, we explored more creative recording processes than I think most folks our age did. The results of our writings and recordings were sketchy at best, but it was a lot of fun and was good enough to get us a gig at Bogart's and a spot on 97X's Top 20 of 1990 in their 97Xposure contest (97.7 FM, WOXY- Bang! The future of Rock n' Roll!).

Mind's Eye

I started the band Mind's Eye around the same time I began the Electronic Media program at the College Conservatory of Music, part of the University of Cincinnati. The lineup featured Matt Weisgerber on drums, Matt Pierson on bass, Liz Maurer on vocals, and me on guitar. Over the next year and a half, we were augmented at times by Anders Griffen on bass and percussion and Jeremy Jones on keyboards and acoustic guitar. With the help of Anders we recorded some tracks at WGUC and in the fall of 1992 we 'released' the cassette album Precious Time on my Eclectic Electric Music label.

The Plaid, Pepto, and Weary

In late 1992, drummer Chris Freson, an old friend from high school, was in the process of putting together a band with Eric Fricke (keyboards, and later, bass). They invited me to join the band as a singer and guitarist. The lineup was rounded out by Greg Long on guitar and Sean Mertz on bass and was dubbed The Plaid by Chris. We started out doing a few covers and old songs of mine, but new originals came fast and within a few months we had a nice repertoire and were playing out regularly.

We began recording some songs at a rehearsal studio in Over-the-Rhine in the summer of 1993, with Anders Griffen and myself producing. Completed in a number of different places over the next six months, we called the album Stimula and pressed 1000 copies on CD. It was released in the spring of 1994 and we sold quite a few of them. As a friend of Ken Bethea (of the Old 97s) would say, "It went plywood." By this time Sean Mertz had departed, Eric Fricke was playing bass full time, and the band was rechristened Pepto sometime in 1994. The gigs were pretty regular and we developed into, in my opinion, one of the better bands in Cincinnati.

Greg and I were writing a lot during 1994 and early 1995, enough for me to divert 15 or 20 of my new songs to a project apart from the band. I started work on my album Weary at the same time that we began preparations for the Pepto recordings that would turn into Something Tangible. I recorded the tracks for the Pepto album live to DAT at our rehearsal studio over a two day period. The recordings for Weary were an entirely different affair, spanning 6 months from late ’94, and on most tracks I played all the instruments myself. Both albums were released in May, 1995.

In June of that year I moved to Madison, Wisconsin, and Pepto broke up. In 1996, after returning to Cincinnati, Chris, Eric, and I recorded a one-off tune that I had written for a compilation album by the label Deary Me Records. We put the song out under the name The Plaid, despite the fact that Greg could not be a part of it.

Mickey and Unconditional

I joined the band Mickey in early 1997, playing keyboards and guitar, with Mike Roesch (drums), Dave Roesch (bass), Steve Lay (guitar), and Puck Dunaway (vocals). During the year I spent with them I recorded the songs that ended up on Unconditional, which was released in early 1998. This was a more diverse effort than Weary, with guest appearances by all the members of Mickey, among others. Local radio stations took a particular interest in the song ‘One Foot Dancing,’ and the album received nice reviews in the local papers.

The Early 00's

I spent the better part of 1999-2003 working on several projects with a broadening palette. Chris Freson and I partnered up for some loop-based recordings that resulted in the ambient collection Static. Kris Brown and I worked concurrently on his album, One Life Sentence (a wonderful and varied affair which I co-produced and drummed on), and my album, Only a Sun Delay, which was released on November 23rd, 2001. In August of 2003, I remastered many of my older recordings for a two disc compilation entitled Wear Your Insides Out/Where You're Inside Out.

Music and Photography

2004 brought about the exciting opportunity to co-own a bar, called alchemize, in downtown Cincinnati. This provided me with the opportunity to DJ regularly again, something I'd been doing periodically since the early 90's. With Brian Drabant, I started DV80s, playing my favorite dance music there on Saturday nights (80's alternative and new wave). DV80s has continued over the last four years through a couple venue changes, winning a CityBeat award for Best 80's Night in 2006 and contributing to two Best Dance Club awards for alchemize. Its current incarnation takes place on the final Saturday of each month at The Gypsy Hut in Northside. In 2008, I teamed with Brian Drabant and Puck Dunaway of the legendary "girls & boys" night for a weekly event called Underground at The Subway in downtown Cincinnati.

Also in 2008, I began selling prints of panoramic photographs I've been taking since 2005.

My latest album, Analogue, which I recorded at home over a two year period, was released at alchemize in 2005.
 

Special thanks to all my past musical collaborators: Greg Long, Chris Freson, Eric Fricke, Sean Mertz, Greg Fritz, Pat Osterday, Brian Knab, Greg Mastruserio, Matt Weisgerber, Matt Pierson, Liz Maurer, Anders Griffen, Jeremy Jones, Puck Dunaway, Mike and Dave Roesch, Steve Lay, Eric Falstrom, Tim Dixon, Laura Hollis, and Kris Brown.