London’s musicians often find themselves in an interesting position when pursuing their careers. London is conveniently close to the music scenes of Toronto, New York and other big American cities; but those same ever-exciting scenes can drown out even the most exciting sounds coming from London. Ken Yates, however, is one London musician that has carried his London roots with him.
John Mayer recently said Ken Yates song was a “really great song.”“I guess I’m proud to be Canadian,” Yates says from Berklee College in Boston where he is studying music.
“I think I’ve been really influenced by a lot of Canadian folk music and I think a lot of the best music right now is in the Canadian folk indie music scene,” he says.
Although most of his support has come from a popular American folk musician.
“John Mayer went to Berklee for a year,” Yates explains. “In March he came back again for a day and I was lucky enough to be picked…to do a private Master’s class with John, which was amazing, and we got to play a song for John.”
Since then, John Mayer has promoted the song Yates played for him, “I Don’t Wanna Fall in Love.” He recently posted about the song on his website.
Modestly though, Yates is flabbergasted by the support. “I would never ever think that it would go even go further than that or that John Mayer would actually promote the song. A month and a half later, he did and I was completely surprised.”
Yates, however, shouldn’t be too surprised about his success, as many of Berklee’s alumni (including John Mayer) find considerable success as musicians. Berklee was founded in 1945 by Lawrence Berk, a musician and composer, to study jazz and popular music.
“That’s the main reason why I came here,” Yates says. “It just makes sense to be teaching musicians more of a contemporary knowledge base. It’s just amazing that I can actually take courses on pop song writing, folk song writing, pop production. That’s why I think Berklee right now is one of the [best] music schools.”
Yates’ first recording, Backseat EP, is the first professionally recorded venture by Yates and his band. He will be taking his recording on tour after he graduates this summer.
“This summer I’m just gonna gig anywhere, all over the place,” says Yates, who has already laid down some plans for a Canadian return.
“I’m not really quite sure where I’m going to end up. I’m going to stay here in Boston for the summer but I’m going to be playing a lot in London and in Toronto and in southwestern Ontario,” he says.
In fact, this summer seems like it will be a staging point of sorts for Yates as he tries to establish a foothold on his career.
“In September I think we’re gonna see how things are going. I think my options right now are New York or Toronto. I really, really love the music scene [in Toronto] but a lot of…the connections that I have are going to be in New York.”
But until that decision is made, London will get at least one chance to see Yates. He will be having a CD release show on June 11 at the London Music Club.
(Photos: Kenyates.com)
