Rock and Pop: Interview - The Streets singer Kevin Mark Trail
Published: 22 September, 2011
by ROISIN GADELRAB
LET’S Push Things Forward – one of the Streets’ standout hits – has a chorus not easily forgotten.
But it’s not Mike Skinner who sings the catchy hook, rather his melodious stage accomplice, Kevin Mark Trail.
Kevin, whose solo album, Hope Star, is out soon, says he still doesn’t know how he feels about the end of the Streets after 10 years with the band.
He balances his rockstar life with the sanity of working in a nursery and getting involved in youth projects.
Last Friday he spent the day at the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm helping unsigned artist Melvillous produce a track – Kevin only discovered his own musical talents by hiding away in a music room after getting in trouble with a group of boys at school.
Melvillous is one of 30 artists chosen to take part in the Roundhouse’s annual 30/30 event, which offers young musicians the opportunity to make the most of the venue’s well-equipped music studio under the direction of a number of top producers including Guy Chambers, Jagz Kooner and Trevor Horn.
All the tracks will be recorded on the Roundhouse’s label and put out on iTunes.
Kevin, who studied at City and Islington College, WAC (Weekend Arts College) in Belsize Park and the University of Westminster, before becoming a key member of the Streets, spent the day showing Melvillous how to develop his track, and demonstrating which instruments should be laid down first.
He said: “They knew the parts they wanted to do and I helped them make the final decisions and aided them with the whole process. When I work with people I don’t try to make them do what I do.
“It’s not about you as a producer, it’s about the artist and the sounds they want to play, you’re just like the tool.”
So why the big interest in doing good?
He said: “I feel like youth are the future in every capacity and I believe the opportunity they have here – in terms of the equipment, the stage and resources they can use here, is amazing.
“The Roundhouse has a good connection with the professional world and community. When I was coming up I wish I had the access to studio time.”
And Kevin’s good deeds don’t stop there.
He works part-time in a nursery and holds workshops for youngsters.
He said: “For me, when I work with kids, I know where I stand with them. I know if they like me or not, they’re not afraid to say hello, they’re not afraid to show you love, you’re away from them, you come back, sometimes they’re upset with you and it takes time to warm to you, but mainly they come up to you, they hug you.”
When Kevin joined the Streets 10 years ago after being asked to guest on a couple of tracks, he never expected to stay so long.
He recalled: “None of us knew it was going to explode the way it did. It was really crazy – we did a really small gig at a working men’s club in Hammersmith for a couple of hundred people, then to Ireland to a couple of thousand people, then went to Japan and played to about 70,000 people.
“So it was a huge jump in a very short period of time. I love what I do, waking up in different places, not knowing who we’re going to meet, different environments, people travelling, I love it all, there’s not a bad thing I can say about it.”
And how does he feel about the Streets’s impending split?
“It’s a journey,” said Kevin, “I’ve been doing this for 10 years, I don’t know yet, I don’t know how I feel about it yet, I feel like I haven’t had time to stop to think about it properly.”