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VAIL, Colorado — Vail is becoming a favorite stop for the Pete Kilpatrick Band. The up-and-coming band from Maine played a show at the Teva Mountain Games in June, and will open for Barenaked Ladies at a free concert Dec. 12 at Ford Park.
Band leader Pete Kilpatrick recently took some time to e-mail responses to a few questions before the show:
Vail Daily: You're in your mid-20s and have a handful of albums to your credit already. When did you start playing music and when did you decide this was the path in life you wanted to follow?
Pete Kilpatrick: I began singing in the school chorus when I was in middle school and started playing guitar when I was a senior in high school. I realized that I wanted to be a full-time musician a couple years after I graduated high school. I had started playing shows on the weekends and that just ended up turning into a full-time thing.
Vail Daily: How did the band come together? Has the lineup been pretty stable over the years?
Pete Kilpatrick: I actually started out performing solo shows. I did that for about two years and when it came time for me to record my first album, I decided it would be really cool to have a full band play on it. I called up a few of my high school musician buddies and we all got together and went over the songs we would be recording. After rehearsing and recording with a full band I realized that it's a lot more fun to play with other people.
For the first couple years I had a rotating cast of musicians playing with me but since 2006 it's been the same five guys.
Vail Daily: On any record, there are some songs that don't make it from the studio to the final product. How do you make the decisions about which songs don't make that final cut? Do any of those songs stick in the band's live shows?
Pete Kilpatrick: Generally I think the songs that don't make the album are the ones that don't really seem to break free from the pack. I feel like each song has to have a meaningful place and purpose on an album for it to really connect with the listeners. Our band doesn't really play any original songs live that aren't on one of our albums. Luckily we've got five albums that we can pick and choose from to keep things fresh.
We're actually releasing our fifth album, “Shapes and Sounds” the weekend that we'll be in Vail, so the first place people can buy it will be at the two shows.
Vail Daily: You're based in Maine, but looking at your tour schedule, the next couple of months are split pretty evenly between your home state and Colorado. What is it about the Rockies that draws you and the band?
Pete Kilpatrick: We absolutely love coming out West during the winter. We do a lot of ski resorts during the season and always have a great time. I think our style of music really works well within the ski and snowboard community. We've been really fortunate over the last couple years to be able to consistently tour out west.
Vail Daily: If you could pick one musical hero to tour with, who would it be? What would be your dream venue?
Pete Kilpatrick: We would love to tour with Hall and Oates or Fleetwood Mac but I think that's just my guilty side speaking. Ha! On a more serious note, we'd love to tour with any band that plays a ton of shows. We love performing and would play 200 shows a year if we could. I have so much respect for bands like the Dave Matthews Band who are consistently touring year after year and still loving it just as much as when they first started.
Vail Daily: Which would you rather have — a song on this year's must-have video game or a monster smash hit on rock radio?
Pete Kilpatrick: Being an avid Ms. Pacman player I think it would be cooler to have a song in a video game. It seems like more people are turned on to new music through video games than the radio these days. It would have to be a cool game though, like the remake of Centipede or Burgertime.
Vail Daily: The band opened for Meese at the Teva Mountain Games in June. Any fond or fun memories from that gig?
Pete Kilpatrick: We had a really great time doing that show. The guys in Meese were super cool guys and I think our bands worked well together. It was our first time to Vail and we spent a lot of time walking around and checking out the town. I hadn't quite gotten used to the altitude because we flew in the night before the show but I think I managed to hide that fact during our set. The key is to drink more water than beer. I'll try and stick to those words for this next trip.
Band leader Pete Kilpatrick recently took some time to e-mail responses to a few questions before the show:
Vail Daily: You're in your mid-20s and have a handful of albums to your credit already. When did you start playing music and when did you decide this was the path in life you wanted to follow?
Pete Kilpatrick: I began singing in the school chorus when I was in middle school and started playing guitar when I was a senior in high school. I realized that I wanted to be a full-time musician a couple years after I graduated high school. I had started playing shows on the weekends and that just ended up turning into a full-time thing.
Vail Daily: How did the band come together? Has the lineup been pretty stable over the years?
Pete Kilpatrick: I actually started out performing solo shows. I did that for about two years and when it came time for me to record my first album, I decided it would be really cool to have a full band play on it. I called up a few of my high school musician buddies and we all got together and went over the songs we would be recording. After rehearsing and recording with a full band I realized that it's a lot more fun to play with other people.
For the first couple years I had a rotating cast of musicians playing with me but since 2006 it's been the same five guys.
Vail Daily: On any record, there are some songs that don't make it from the studio to the final product. How do you make the decisions about which songs don't make that final cut? Do any of those songs stick in the band's live shows?
Pete Kilpatrick: Generally I think the songs that don't make the album are the ones that don't really seem to break free from the pack. I feel like each song has to have a meaningful place and purpose on an album for it to really connect with the listeners. Our band doesn't really play any original songs live that aren't on one of our albums. Luckily we've got five albums that we can pick and choose from to keep things fresh.
We're actually releasing our fifth album, “Shapes and Sounds” the weekend that we'll be in Vail, so the first place people can buy it will be at the two shows.
Vail Daily: You're based in Maine, but looking at your tour schedule, the next couple of months are split pretty evenly between your home state and Colorado. What is it about the Rockies that draws you and the band?
Pete Kilpatrick: We absolutely love coming out West during the winter. We do a lot of ski resorts during the season and always have a great time. I think our style of music really works well within the ski and snowboard community. We've been really fortunate over the last couple years to be able to consistently tour out west.
Vail Daily: If you could pick one musical hero to tour with, who would it be? What would be your dream venue?
Pete Kilpatrick: We would love to tour with Hall and Oates or Fleetwood Mac but I think that's just my guilty side speaking. Ha! On a more serious note, we'd love to tour with any band that plays a ton of shows. We love performing and would play 200 shows a year if we could. I have so much respect for bands like the Dave Matthews Band who are consistently touring year after year and still loving it just as much as when they first started.
Vail Daily: Which would you rather have — a song on this year's must-have video game or a monster smash hit on rock radio?
Pete Kilpatrick: Being an avid Ms. Pacman player I think it would be cooler to have a song in a video game. It seems like more people are turned on to new music through video games than the radio these days. It would have to be a cool game though, like the remake of Centipede or Burgertime.
Vail Daily: The band opened for Meese at the Teva Mountain Games in June. Any fond or fun memories from that gig?
Pete Kilpatrick: We had a really great time doing that show. The guys in Meese were super cool guys and I think our bands worked well together. It was our first time to Vail and we spent a lot of time walking around and checking out the town. I hadn't quite gotten used to the altitude because we flew in the night before the show but I think I managed to hide that fact during our set. The key is to drink more water than beer. I'll try and stick to those words for this next trip.
