It’s a classic mise en scene. The H-O-L-L-Y-W-O-O-D sign sits glaringly atop the hill – the small crackling sounds of the lights slaving away lost in the wind. Meanwhile, in the scopic streets of downtown LA people huddle around small round tables in a dimly lit locale vocalizing away. There’s no bombastic laughing to be heard. They’re all waiting patiently for the dark comedy. Suddenly the people are silenced – silenced by the sudden kink in the matter-of-course. The elevator music is gone. Merci Detroit. A deep funk laden voice echoes over the top of a simple hi hat and bass rhythm. The dark comedy stands seductively in the middle of the baron stage – chased only by his own shadow. Ladies and Gentleman please join your hands in welcoming to the stage Mr. Kenny Larkin. He stands there in momentary silence before he starts his dark comedy serenade, the music still jazzing to the future, before he says in an equally deep and funk laden voice: “M-m-my generation has become the me-me-me generation…” The crowd combust with guffaw.
It’s straight to the punch line. Though this time Kenny Larkin is on a different kind of stage. It may still be a one-man show and his shadow may still be lingering silently and patiently behind, but this is Kenny Larkin at the helm of the musical empire he has created for himself. A place where the lights aren’t so dimly lit and the many faces of Larkin and his dark comedy are more than visible. “Just being myself,” says Kenny modestly of his ability to materialise – evermore – full of surprises, lots of surprises.
From the air force to Detroit’s second wave rising star to black comedy – Larkin has maintained a chameleon grace that is full of classical and paradigmatic innovation. The only testimony you need is his collection of releases. Quite contrary to the title of his latest musical endowment – Kenny Larkin is no funk faker. “When I decided I wanted to push myself in a different direction I didn’t really know where I wanted to go, but because I was listening to a lot of James Brown and John Lee Hooker at the time and ever since I was a kid, I decided to try and create my own version of blues/funk/jazz/house,” says Kenny of the new direction in his musical exertion. “It’s not really a sexy story, but it was simply that. I remember having an epiphany and realising how that was the perfect and most natural progression for me musically.”
Having parted ways with Motor City four years ago for the bright lights and fake tans of LA, Larkin has found himself in a new social and cultural disposition – a disposition that elicited a new kind of inspiration from him. “I just realised after moving to LA that, because of all the shit that is currently on the radio, I was listening to different music – mainly old soul and blues music,” he says. “In addition to that I had new things to draw inspiration from. My surroundings were totally different so my sound went into a different direction to reflect that. Plus, I was sick of just doing “bleep, bleep” dance music. There’s more to music than a 909 and a Juno 106.” The impact of living in LA, it seems, has the same metaphysical presence in his music as growing up in Detroit continues to. Kenny concurs: “My cultural and geographical background has everything to do with the way my music sounds. You cannot separate the two. If I grew up in a different environment and listened to different styles of music, my sound would never have turned out the way it did. Detroit Techno always had the soul within it. So it’s not so much a thought as it is a feeling. My music, no matter what form it’s in, will have the soul and will be tied somehow to my roots.”
In two thousand and four his double-edged releases – ‘The Narcissist’ and ‘Funk Faker: Music Saves My Soul’ – demonstrated Kenny’s own ability to tip over both his audience and his own preconceived ideas of the ‘Larkin’ sound. “I’m proud of both albums immensely, especially the Dark Comedy album. It was important that I push the boundaries of what I had done musically in the past and this album was perfect for that,” he says without hesitation. “I didn’t allow myself to think about what people would think, and if they would be too critical of me trying to do something that would distinguish me from other artists’ including myself and what I did in the past. The Kenny Larkin stuff is mainly for my more techno side and the Dark Comedy is more for my experimental side. I don’t put any constraints on what I do musically with that project.”
While he keeps pushing himself into his own unfounded territory, Larkin’s intentions remain simple. “My intention in doing dance music is not to bang people out with what is considered ‘techno’ today. The stuff called techno today is that hard, banging and non-melodic. They should actually call it electronic heavy metal music,” he says nonchalantly. Not a hint of comedy in sight. “So it’s that much more important for us to maintain the spiritual quality in the music that we produce. My goal is to do and try different things. And I know I did what I set out to do if it goes over some people’s heads. If everyone gets it then I didn’t do my job. I wanna stay on the cutting edge, which everybody doesn’t get, and isn’t supposed to get. It’s much more exciting that way.”
With a new ‘Kenny Larkin’ album just completed and conceptualising constantly underway for some new ‘Dark Comedy’ – Kenny remains more than dangerously on the cutting edge and not just musically. In the sleepless world of LA, Larkin persistently works as hard at being sharp on the comedy circuit as he does behind the decks. “I’m pursuing comedy out in LA, but unfortunately I can’t do it full time. I still make my living doing music and travelling to do gigs. So that comes first right now. Once I get good enough to pursue comedy full time, I will have fulfilled a dream of mine since I was a kid,” he says with a child-like enthusiasm. “I wish I had have moved out to LA a lot sooner than I did. Had I done that I would be much further in my comedy career than I am right now. But things happen for a reason. There is nothing else I would change. I’ve been blessed to be able to travel the world and perform in so many different places.”
When he returns to Australian shores this month Larkin intends to effortlessly take us on a musical expedition that will trek through the primordial world of funk and beyond. “I’m doing a totally different show, which will be different from my normal set. I have implemented final scratch, and a program called traktor into my sets, which allows me to remix songs as I play live. I’m very excited about it. It has opened up a lot of different possibilities performance wise. People think that when you bring a computer into a club as a DJ, that the performance will be boring. Well, that’s not the case with my show!”
The crowd free themselves of one more hearty laugh before the lights dim and the waiting shadow disappears. The elevator music remains scant as the soulful funk laden music continues to entrench itself while the dark comedy exits the stage: at least for the time being.
Want dark comedy? Catch Kenny Larkin perform in Melbourne at the Playpen on Friday 19th May 2006 and in Sydney at Chinese Laundry on Saturday 20th May 2006.
