Where are you from?
I grew up in Sydney, Australia and I moved to America in 2005.
What does home mean to you?
Family is the first thing that comes to mind, the beach, weather, and friends.
How has Venice influenced your music?
Greatly. I’ve been surrounded by great musicians here, Clayton Joseph Scott, The Makepeace Brothers, Peter Goetz, so many really. For a while every Monday night a group of ten or so song writers would gather at Studio Moon right by Intelligentsia and we would create, write, play, and help each other. It became a little community inside a huge city, it was family really.
What does Abbot Kinney represent to you?
The best coffee in America. I don’t need to say what (intelligentsia.) It represents a great meeting place, everyone is very open in Venice, I find it’s easy to talk to people. There always seems to be some interesting person there that is open to talk and exchange ideas.
How does style factor into your life?
I care about style, but I certainly don’t spend a lot of money on it. It’s important to me, but I find great deals at resale shops around LA. My Grandfather was a very well dressed man for his time and I believe he influenced me, I still have some clothes of his which mean the world to me and to this day are still some of the most stylish things I own.
How do you keep grounded?
I do a lot of yoga. In this business there are a lot of highs and lows and I have learned to keep an even keel with everything that comes my way. I think that happens out of practice, I love the word practice because it means you’re never going to master it. I think about music that way, art, surfing, and my spiritual life, really all these things I want to get better at, I know that practice is the crucial element.
I read the other day “because of impermanence everything is possible”, what does that mean to you?
I dig it. I’m a kid that grew up on the other side of the world with a dream of playing music in America. Now I’ve been doing that for over half of my life. I’m so grateful because everyday I get to practice what I believe is my greatest purpose in life, it’s amazing because I get to do what I love everyday of my life.
If you could share something with me what would it be?
I think that you have an opportunity in life to do something you love and you’re doing yourself a disservice if you’re not walking towards that. It doesn’t mean you’re going to arrive right away, but I think its very very important to find a passion and find something you love to do, whether or not its a career straightaway that doesn’t matter, I think you must follow what you feel in your heart. I believe if you don’t do that you’re cheating yourself, the happiest I’ve been in my life is when I have listened to and followed my heart.
Kai Brown
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