All Kinds of Perfect
About...
... An extract from an interview with T Dawn at BTD Radio, California – April, 2017.
All Kinds of Perfect’ is the vehicle for the creative output of songwriter/musician, Ken Walters, who, after spending his formative years writing, performing and working in ‘live performance’, became disillusioned with the industry and took a sabbatical… a very long sabbatical.
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Inspired by a close friend to “… pick up the guitar and play…” (to quote Pete Townshend), he began playing again in 2010 whilst splitting his time between rural Wales and the USA. A move to Leamington Spa, England, in the fall of 2013 was the impetus to commence writing and recording again. The fruits of his labour during 2014 culminated in an album released in the December of that year entitled ‘Catherine Street’ (with inspiration from the poetry by Charlie Mack on a few songs).
Whilst Ken cites many different influences for his songwriting – from the Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel and Johnny Marr – through to Mumford and Sons, Kings of Leon and Noel Gallagher, the melodic layered sound of All Kinds of Perfect has been likened to the Stone Roses on many occasions. However, he refutes that this was in his mind whilst writing and recording.
“The album was more of a demo album in truth”, Ken comments. “It consisted of a dozen songs that were an exploration into what types of textured sound I could achieve – piano, strings, as well as my first love, guitar and bass. The foundation of some songs were scribed many years ago. For example, the music to ‘Will I ever learn?’ was written when I was a teenager. But when I read a poem by Charlie Mack, I knew I finally had the complete song”. Ken continues, “Some songs were brand new – and there were a couple of covers too. I tried to experiment with sounds to see what worked in different environments. I wanted every song to work in all the places we choose to listen music – at home, in the car, through earphones, through speakers. Music has to work everywhere”.
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Songs from the album quickly got airplay on radio stations in both the UK and US. Ken modestly talks about what happened next. “To be honest, part of what I was doing was cathartic. Getting a monkey off my back. If no one bought it or even listened to it, I didn’t really care. But when I saw that ‘Jimi…’ was sandwiched between The Sex Pistols and The Eurythmics on a play list in the USA in January, 2015 and then on a Friday night show with The Doors, Cream and The Rolling Stones in the UK, I was a bit overwhelmed and humbled that my songs could keep such illustrious company – albeit, on the same playlist.
Songs like ‘Jimi…”, ’She said’, You’, ‘Magic’ and ‘Ray of light’ – a cover of the Curtiss Muldoon song (and later, Madonna) – became staples of a few radio stations. Critical acclaim followed through radio interviews in LA, Miami, New York and, more closer to home, London and Manchester. All of this activity kept Ken busy throughout 2015 and the desire to perform the songs grew – supported by invitations from radio stations, venues and festival organisers.
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After establishing a working relationship with fretless bassist and keyboard player, Andy Foster, working with a few session musicians in 2016 made the possibility of performing the album and collaborating on new material a possibility. However, the desire to maintain the integrity of All Kinds of Perfect prevailed and, whilst it remains an ambition to perform ’Catherine Street’ live, rationalising and maintaining what All Kinds of Perfect represents became the strategy for 2017 and beyond.
Ken concludes, “The album ‘Catherine Street’ is now discontinued. I’m very proud of it as a body of work, however it has served its purpose to define the sound of All Kinds of Perfect. Some songs will be available in the original format and released as an EP (also entitled ‘Catherine Street’). Some songs will be re-visited – like ‘Play the Music’, ‘Lies’, ‘The Bridge’ and ‘Where is the love’ – and there are new songs on the horizon that help tell the story of what All Kinds of Perfect is trying to achieve”.
All Kinds of Perfect has found its sound. It’s time for it to grow into that space. There is some great music to come in the coming weeks, months and years – of that there is no doubt.
Finally, when asking where did the name, ‘All Kinds of Perfect’ come from and why not self-title the work? Ken smiles, “All Kinds of Perfect was a phrase used by a film critic to describe a German art movie once. Whilst I was looking for a name for the project, it seemed to fit... and as I’ve just described All Kinds of Perfect it is a project. I’m just a collaborator".