Monday is here my excitable friends! Welcome back and I hope all of you had an amazing Fourth of July. It’s time to meet the latest fan spotlight. Give a big warm, 311est welcome to Kevin McNeill!
When the blue album was getting popular, that’s about the time Kevin was really starting to get into music. His friends had the album and used “Down” as the entrance music when they wrestled. Kevin enjoyed the music and as more came out, he downloaded a few songs here and there. “I downloaded Come Original on Napster when it was still free/illegal. I remember taping You Wouldn’t Believe and Amber off the radio too.” While he was listening to 311, he wasn’t fully hooked until college thanks to his friend Liam. He would walk into Kevin’s dorm and say, “K-Mick we’re going to smoke a joint…you’re driving…and we’re listening to 311.” It was Transistor that made Kevin fall hardcore for the band. “Use of Time” hooked Kevin, he was floored when he heard it. It’s even the song he narrowed down as his favorite. “If only because it was the song that most connected to me when I first heard it. Tim’s solos in it are incredible, and I remember being with Liam on one of our drives, and hearing the guitar and imagining hearing them live, and the chords ringing in my ears, and it gave me goosebumps. On top of that, the line “Every time I turn the volume down, all I hear is the deafening sound, of your heart’s pound” really touched me at the time, and it an example of the kind of beauty that their music creates and incites.”
After Transistor, Kevin stumbled onto Evolver and became even more hooked. “I couldn’t really understand what I loved about them so much; everything else I listened to was screamo or metal, and then there was 311. I think it was my subconscious trying to tell me that not everything had to be so glum; there was “positivity” in the world, to steal a common 311-esque phrasing. Liam invited me to see my first 311 show in August 2003 in Gilford, NH, and it was the definition of face-melting. I was speechless, then sweaty and exhausted, and finally hooked for life. My next paycheck was spent on purchasing the remaining albums that I did not yet own. Been a lunatic fan ever since.”
Kevin has attended 14 shows since his start in Gilford and he believes there is no greater joy that he can obtain than attending a 311 show (Granted, he said he hasn’t gotten married yet or had a child). While he said 14 may not seem like a lot, it is considering he didn’t see them live from June 2010 to July 2014. His location isn’t ideal for seeing live concerts. He’s seen them in a variety of locations though. “I’ve seen them in Gilford, NH; Mansfield, MA; Boston, MA; Lowell, MA; Portland, ME; and most recently in St. Louis, MO. And I’ll see you fuckers at 311-Day 2016!” Favorite show that he’s discussed many times with various 311 fans such as Dan, RJ and other tweeps is Gilford, NH 2007. “That show was incredible. They played “Gap”, “Borders”, “Let The Cards Fall”, “Life’s Not A Race” and “Creature Feature” for the first time ever. Pretty incredible show, and to know that I shared it with some friends that I’ve since met on Twitter is pretty cool too.”
Kevin grew up on the North Shore of Massachusetts, in a town called Peabody, right next to Salem (as in the Scarlet Letter and Salem witch trials). He lived there most of his life, then spent 4 years in Lowell attending school at University of Massachusetts Lowell. He graduated from there with a degree in Criminal Justice, but didn’t really want to head into that field professionally. After working in retail for a while, Kevin moved to Carbondale, Illinois in 2011 (way…..WAY down in southern Illinois he said, about 2 hours southeast of St. Louis). His girlfriend of 7 years is working on her PhD there and Kevin decided to go back to school while there too. He now has a Masters of Art’s in Teaching with a concentration in English. He currently is an English teacher at the local high school and he absolutely loves it! “It’s 1000x better than working retail. I love messing with the students, and I even have a 311 Quote of the Day, and write a different clever or inspiring 311 lyric on the board every day. All my students know I’m a crazy fan and pick on me for it. But they also say stuff like “Mr. McNeill! I heard 311 on the radio this weekend and I thought of you!” and that’s worth it!”
Cooking is a hobby of Kevin’s and something he says he does excellently. “I don’t like to do it every day, which is why I don’t try to work in a restaurant, but I love messing with spices and flavor profiles, and I’m surprisingly good at it.” He is also a bit of a neat freak and likes to keep everything organized and tidy. “So, the interesting fact is that I’m perfect husband material because I cook and clean.”
A unique talent Kevin has is that he can pull out a Simpson’s reference pretty much for any occasion. “It’s actually pretty pathetic. But when I do it, and someone else gets it and starts laughing, it’s worth the previous 2483 times that only I laughed. Every Wednesday, me and a group of my friends go to trivia at a local bar, and every week we name our team some obscure Simpsons reference. Last week, we were You Don’t Win Friends With Salad.” As far as his guilty pleasure, it’ all about the craft beer. “I’m a craft beer aficionado, and I’ve become quite obsessive about it. I used to be able to dabble in a few crafty things: Harpoon IPA, Yuengling, a few different Sam Adams. Now I’m maniacal.” Kevin has an entire cabinet full of craft beer that he says he is purposely aging. He also has a case underneath his guest room bed and 8-10 bottles that are too tall for the cabinet. “Everywhere I go, there needs to be some craft there, and I always want to try something new. I used to be a status quo kind of guy, and now I need to be on to the newest, tastiest brew I can find! So thank you craft breweries, for making my drinking problem seem like a neat hobby!”
Kevin is into many different varieties and genres of music. He said besides 311 his other favorite band is Funeral for a Friend. He also said that most of his other favorites fit the “posthardcore/screamo/alternative genre.” Nineties alternative also is a selection he loves like Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, and Stone Temple Pilots. Being from New England, he still has some local groups he likes such as Too Late the Hero, The Receiving End of Sirens, Therefore I Am, and Me As Time. “All great bands…check them out!
To the band that has meant so much to him over the years he’d like to send this message:
What you guys should do, is hold a worldwide 311 Tribute Band contest, judged by the fans, and whichever 311 Tribute band wins, gets to go on tour and open for you every year, so we get to see twice as many songs at each show! You could call it the ‘Who Can Be the 311-est? Contest’.”
Now to all the amazing fans in the land of excitable nation:
“It’s been a pleasure to meet and get to know all of you over the past few years on social media. I can’t wait to run into all of you at a show someday! Keep living the dream! Somebody has to do it, might as well be us.
And thanks to Christina for doing this stuff all the time! You rock!”
—-
Aww thanks Kevin! And thank you to all the supporters of my Runt Rant. I appreciate the time you all take to read more about your fellow fans. This is truly a passion of mine, writing about all of your amazing people week after week!! I hope you enjoyed Kevin’s story. Keep on rocking and being the amazing humans you are! You make the world a better place!
Much love – The Runt