Fellow Kinsman Closes Out Fat Charlie’s
Indie rock outfit Fellow Kinsman played a sweaty, vigorous set alongside Minnesotan rockers Mister Wes and Lapdogs as well as Milwaukee’s own North Warren at recently-begun Eastside DIY venue Fat Charlie’s Friday night. Although they had been the last to play, the crowd endured the basement heat and stayed put the entire time.
Fellow Kinsman is the brainchild of Nathan Kinsman; he sings and plays guitar while Isaac Repinski plays bass and Joey Miller is on drums. He dropped a debut self-titled album in 2017, which brimmed with surf-pop and summery guitar vibes combined with Kinsman’s soulful vocal delivery. His latest single “Joystick” dropped this past May.
“Joysick was one of the hardest songs I’ve made…when I was in the studio recording it, it took us fifteen takes. We did it all live on record – we wanted to capture that live energy on tape. After fifteen takes I lost my shit…I took my shirt off, my pants off, ran outside and smoked a cigarette. It came from playing too many video games in my basement. I wanted to bring this narrative of being who I wanna be, even if I’m being in a video game.”
Kinsman says his greatest inspiration in songwriting is his mother.
“It’s all about the love. The songs can be good but I want to take you somewhere, like a journey. I wanna create emotion, I wanna create fun. Dan Auerbach too, but my parents mostly, and my brothers too since we were in a hardcore band together.”
Kinsman describes the recording process of his debut album.
“When I first recorded I was eighteen. I did it all by myself – I recorded bass, guitar, drums…almost ninety percent of my songs weren’t finished, so when I decided to record in the studio I took the time to write and have fun since I wasn’t in school. Now that’s become more of a lifestyle. When I look at my writing, it’s about creating a story and relating it to people, and being super intentional with guitars and creating scenery with music.”
Fellow Kinsman is working on recording three songs in addition to Joysick, which will all go on an EP.
“The whole team came out on a Friday night,” Kinsman said with love. “They could be doing anything else but they came and partied with us.”
