It ain’t no joke. This guy is one seriously funny motherfucker. I mean, I was expecting some serious, low-down, philosophical, thinking man – but instead, I got this energetic, charismatic and vociferous ball of laughs – enough to have me in stitches by the end of the interview. I mean, how many people can lay claim to being there for the birth of a genre? How many can maintain a hectic production and DJ schedule – and then come home to perform in two of the biggest comedy clubs in town? If you’re unsure, the answer is `one’. And his name is Larkin.
Born in Detroit Michigan, Kenny enjoyed a typically Detroit upbringing. “I had huge influences from music like Parliament and Kraftwerk. And there was Mojo, this disc jockey who was playing all new Juan Atkins stuff – he had the freedom to play whatever he wanted. He spun Kevin, Derrick, Juan, Carl – all that – he even played Prince and with stuff like New Order, which we had never heard before”. With contemporaries like that, it seems like music was his destiny – although not necessarily, but we’ll get to that.
“I had the music in me; I could play on the keyboard what I heard on the radio. I got into university and met Richie [Hawtin] and got onto the music wagon. Fuck, I like hit the ceiling when I heard techno”. Of course, the genre is so poorly interpreted in the United States [he concedes American’s think ‘techno’ is Crystal Method and Moby] that paradoxically, the biggest lovers of soulful Detroit are from outside the USA. But on the topic of Detroit vs Berlin his contention is clear. “I don’t know why Detroit is such a big city for electronic music; the thing with Detroit is soul – you can put on a blindfold and hear the difference between Detroit and Berlin. We sound totally different – I mean, get this – a guy in a record store handed me like 100 records in Europe; do you think I found 1 record I liked? No! It was all bullshit – all hard, you know. But there is room for both genres to coexist. The cool thing about these guys [Kevin, Derrick, Juan] is that they still show everybody that you can have electronic synths and make the shit funky and melodic”.
To this end, he has represented that spirited goodness on virtually every relevant label on earth. “It’s like a respect thing. +8 I was cool with because of Richie; Transmat was cool because I was friends with Derrick. But with the last album I completed, I started getting approached by other labels”. Yet he didn’t sell out. Contacted by the head of A&R at EMI Records, Dan Keeling, Kenny was dubious and with good reason. The guy who signed ColdPlay claimed he would make him famous too. When Kenny asked for a proposal, “he sent me some bullshit and fuckin’ dissed me and thought I was going to jump at it. I said fuck you dude!” At peace despite turning him away, he completed the project [entitled Dark Comedy] and is approaching labels to complete its release. Furthermore the album proves that even after so many years, he can still maintain that balance between darkness and soul, staying true to Detroit and importantly, to himself. “This project is almost on the level of St Germaine – I’ve taken the dance elements and made basically an electronics blues album! It’s really black soulful music and it was the most fun I ever had recording an album. There were no guidelines – I just put my James Brown CDs on started writing”.
Nevertheless, there is another, more mysterious side to this character. Comedy is, believe it or not, his first love. “Even before music, I always wanted to make people laugh. In 1986 I went away to the Air Force and after 2 years I decided I wanted to do standup. I confronted my mother and was shocked when she encouraged me. Earlier on, she wanted me to do some ‘proper’ bullshit like a corporate job with benefits, so when I decided to do comedy and she buoyed me, I was like, wow!” Moving from Michigan to California to pursue his dream, he now finds himself in Hollywood, where everyone wants to be an entertainer. “It took me so long because I travel so much, but I have 2 shows coming up in December in the biggest comedy club in LA. It’s a work in progress”.
Indeed, the sabbatical he took mid career to concentrate on his standup was more to do with taking a step back, than leaving music altogether. “That whole thing is a bit of a misconception. I just wasn’t interested in putting out electronic music for a while; I never stopped producing it, I just stopped releasing it. With all the traveling I was doing, while trying to refocus on the comedy thing, I left it for a bit. The scene was going in this fucked up direction and I didn’t like it”. But in 2004 he’s back with a vengeance. And on the topic of his current tour he jokes, “Living in LA, I ran into Britney Spears recently and she gave me some dub plates, so I’m going to play those”. While I sat on the other end of the phone wondering what to say next [you know those long moments of uncomfortable silence] he jumped back with “I’m just kidding you man!” Phew. “I’m going play that dark funky shit. I’ll play darker than I normally play, it will be a nice little surprise”. Nonchalantly he added [which amazed and saddened me at the same time] that he was on the home stretch with techno. “In 3 years I might be done with techno – I wanna be the next Eddie Murphy man!” And if he is half as successful in the world of comedy as he has been in music, it will happen. This then, could be your last chance to catch one of the greats. Life moves pretty fast – if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
Kenny plays this Friday in Melbourne at Blow Your Own Way (Buy Tickets) and on Saturday in Sydney at Bohem. Check ITM whatson for more info.
