This year marks their return to the stage after 13 years“The excitement of our fans – we feed off them,” says K-Man Band front man Tony Richards. The band’s last major project was the album Live Sweat and on it, many a fan may be heard. “Everyone’s a star on that album!” Live Sweat was recorded at New Milford’s former Hayloft in 1989, now the infamous Cookhouse Restaurant on Route 7. This year marks their return to the stage and the fans are out in droves.
The evolution of the K-man Band took place over more than three decades. The group was known as New York Chalk from 1975 to 1978 and as Brother Jump from 1980 to 1983. “We were some serious road dogs,” Richards says. “We did huge tours. Then we all woke up and said, ‘Let’s take a little break.’ Everyone was starting to figure out what our responsibilities were. We were no longer just wild and crazy musicians on the road.
“We were on break for 13 years,” Richards goes on. “But we called each other every other week. And through the whole thing I was still writing songs.”
Although the band never officially broke-up, following that serious time off in the 90s, members of the band spent time focusing on other priorities like marriage and family. Today the group has reunited and they are tighter, stronger, and better than ever. It was about five years ago when the band had planned their first comeback, however due to a “comedy of errors” Richards says it couldn’t happen at that time. “We kept moving back the date. But about a year ago we all got to the point that we said, ‘It looks like all the kids are gone, in college …so we met face-to-face. Everybody looked great – and we started rehearsing.”
Formerly a horn, funk, rock band, K-man is now more rock-based. Back in the day, Richards says they were “chaotic – a shove-it-down-your-throat” kind of sound. “Today we have more solidity, (more) power,” he says. “We are much more spiritually based. We’ve grown – recognized more of the value in life.”
Getting back out there means kicking it in the clubs and coming up on August 15, K-man will be playing the Marbledale Pub in Washington, Conn. “We’re starting off in this area,” Richards says. “That’s what we know we can do.” Fans can hardly wait.
“The band is great, danceable, high-energy,” says Aura Showah, owner of the Pub.
“Tony is like the Pied Piper of music,” she goes on. “He works so hard at his craft. He is constantly writing, tweaking everything, practicing. He’s a great showman. And he transcends – young people need to hear him.” The crowds are growing and expanding across the generations according to Richards. “We have no qualms about getting to the younger people. Good music is good music,” he says. “There is a lot of life to us – we put on a great show.”
Appealing to an audience from ages 20 to 45 during their early years,
Richards says now those fans are bringing their 20-something children
along for a listen. Their first gig in the spring was to a packed
house. “The band was killer,” says Richards. “May 4 was out first show
at the (Marbledale) Pub,” he says. “It was just like old school. There
were more people spilled outside the club than inside. We took up from
where we left off.”
So who is K-man? “The guys are the ones that make it happen,” Richards
enthuses. On bass guitar is Kid Savard; Bob Marston and Dale “Doc”
Adams are both on keys; Brian “Bo” Ognan is on sax as well as lead
guitar; and Christopher Butler is on drums. Richards fronts on vocals
and lead guitar as well.
All are original band alums with the exception of Savard. Today’s group
is a “different incarnation” of K-man according to Richards. Savard is
young – just 23 – he adds a new energy, Richards says, and takes the
band into the 21st century.
A major claim to fame for K-man is that they have always been known for
enticing other musicians into their audience. And Richards also says
they were “always on the cutting edge.”
One “legendary” performance was a time when the entire band hung
upside-down from the rafters like bats with only the drums on the
floor. Crazier still, Richards recalls, “Then we led the audience out
onto Route 202 – there were like 250 people walking up the yellow line,
stopping traffic. It was midnight.”
“We’re a wonderful party band – we got that rep,” says Richards.
“Musicians (and celebs) would come from near and far to hear us. In the
audience it’d be Julian Lennon, the Saturday Night Live crew, Tom
Selleck, Sam Waterston, the Momix dance crew.”
Richards himself was classically trained, starting out on the clarinet
and as first chair in the all-city orchestra. “Then I got into the jazz
thing and played tenor sax,” he says. The Beatles were a great
inspiration and soon he also began playing the guitar.
Inspired by blues, other influences have included Eric Clapton, Jimi
Hendrix and Jeff Beck. “I’m also partial to singer-songwriters like Bob
Dylan and Gordon Lightfoot. I love a good song you could sing around
the campfire then bring it to the stage,” he says. “(Those) that are
timeless, classic.”
And Richards says he “cut his teeth with the masters” – touring with
the likes of Steve Miller and Santana. He also took the place of Matt
Murphy for a time with the James Cotton Blues Band.
“I really got immersed in the craft, the art,” he says. “There is a
certain legitimacy to me. I am old enough now I can say that and really
mean it. Looking back, I did do these things.”
And Showah, who has known Richards “forever,” is a devoted fan. “He’s music,” she says. “He really believes in it.” |
