RUBBER
BAND
GUN
A refreshing approach to the writing and recording process.
Just days before graduating, Kevin Basko was on his way to the Berklee School of Music’s job fair. He came looking for a teaching job, and left as the new touring guitar player for Foxygen.
Songwriter, producer, engineer, and collaborator Kevin Basko takes on a refreshingly casual, yet passionate spirit in his work. Writing and releasing hundreds of songs per year under the moniker Rubber Band Gun, Kevin sees his music as “polaroids” of his life, allowing each song to be a snapshot of the moment in which he wrote it. With his ethos of write and release, Kevin never sits too long on any one project, creating an “approachable” and “honest” feel to his music and production style. Recording strictly analog from his apartment on multitrack tape and cassette machines, Kevin’s production style becomes equally as important as the instrumentation itself- a warm, retro feeling that you can feel in each song.
In his most recent release, Adventure Violence, Scary Images Kevin created a piece about the changing concepts of relevance, connection, and disconnection during these past 9 strange months. Kevin noted that of the many releases in his career, this one felt the most vulnerable. As he puts it, “you write what you know.” Whether it be improvising lyrics or setting specific parameters for instrumentation, Kevin uses his inventive approach to songwriting as a way to keep it honest and learn to love his music as he releases it. And while his sound is an evolution from track to track, Kevin explains “If you don’t like that one, you’ll like the next one.” Inspired by the pools of talent he’s dipped in throughout his career, Kevin aims to kick it old school, capturing a classic sound through his laid back, sometimes “comic book” esque sound. Since touring with Foxygen, Kevin has worked closely with retro-revival acts such as The Lemon Twigs as a producer and engineer. While it seemed “people were giving up on rock” in the early to mid 2000s, acts such as Foxygen, The Lemon Twigs, and now Rubber Band Gun became pioneers of a new wave of classic rock-inspired songwriting.
“When they showed me Ableton, I bought a cassette recorder.”
Rubber Band Gun was Kevin’s first solo project, created to give him space to “have his voice heard.” At Berklee, Kevin would watch his friends mix and produce, learning the things he didn’t want to do as a producer. “When they showed me Ableton, I bought a cassette recorder,” Kevin expressed. Since his start in college, Rubber Band Gun has become an ever-evolving solo project that pushes Kevin to his limits as a songwriter. In 2019, after a joking bet with Foxygen’s Jonathan Rado, Kevin started his project RBG 25; a challenge in which he would produce 25 releases in one year. This insanely ambitious, yet light-hearted project paints the perfect picture of Kevin’s brand as a musician: never taking anything too seriously, never second guessing, sticking to the basics. In addition to RBG 25, Kevin has held himself to other wild personal challenges like writing 10 songs a day for 2 weeks straight. The middle ground Kevin finds between hard work and honest fun is a rare balance for musicians- a balance that has become his trademark as a musician and collaborator.
Despite his relaxed, humble demeanor, Kevin has had an incredibly fast paced, fruitful career since graduating from Berklee. From touring with Foxygen, to opening for acts like Mac Demarco, Weyes Blood, The Strokes, and The Flaming Lips, Kevin has the touring experience of a seasoned pro under his belt. He explains that after seeing his face on a jumbotron at the Primavera Sound in Barcelona, he was “strangely happy” to play for small crowds at bars on tour with Rubber Band Gun.
Since the lockdown on live music and touring, Kevin has hunkered down in his home studio in Philly, continuing to work on Rubber Band Gun music as well as mixing and producing for others. His production company Historic New Jersey Records is an ode to his roots, aiming to capture the timelessness of music. Turning away from the “thick glass” studios with thousands of dollars of gear, Kevin’s home analog set up “feels human in a time where people are trying to protect the image of themselves.” Breaking down the physical and metaphorical barriers between artist and engineer, Kevin attracts clients looking for a grass-roots, stripped down approach to studio work. But what’s lost in volume of gear is not lost in quality. Kevin’s portfolio of diverse, impressive production and engineering work lands him neck-deep in Instagram Message inquiries for production work. Historic New Jersey Records is the studio embodiment of Kevin’s brand. It gives Kevin pride in his Jersey roots, proclaiming that despite not knowing where he’ll land next, “New Jersey goes wherever I go.”
Given Kevin’s approach to writing and recording, there’s no doubt he’ll have new music out in the near future. And whether it be another fun personal challenge, a bet with a friend, or a full LP, we can be sure that whatever’s next for Kevin is going to be uniquely wonderful.