Kevin Wilson
After receiving his first guitar at age 13, in his birth place of Indianapolis, IN Kevin began learning chords from his father, a respected country guitarist and vocalist in the local community, as well as from his first Mel Bay chord book. Fast forward to St. Petersburg, Florida, where the family had relocated. Kevin found himself among a group of high school friends who all played guitar and concentrated on songs by Led Zeppelin, Rush, AC/DC and the popular southern rock bands of the Southeast such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, Blackfoot and Molly Hatchet. At age 15 Kevin began lessons from one of the areas most respected instructors, Joe Braccio. Kevin’s main influences on guitar were Michael Schenker, Randy Rhodes and Rick Medlocke.
Kevin co-founded his first original rock band, Liar, at age 17 and played his first live show at the age of 18. This band lasted for three years and Kevin was a main contributor of songs.
Kevin then co-founded Astaroth which picked up where Liar left off. Astaroth was in existence a little over three years and during this time Kevin served as main songwriter as well as co-management. Classical guitar was studied during this time to broaden Kevin’s musical knowledge.
When Astaroth disbanded Kevin co-founded Lucian Blaque. The first order of business was to assemble the best songs and immediately head into Morrisound Recording Studio and release a six song EP. Fifteen songs were recorded at the same time so a nine song full length release was ready shortly thereafter.
In the five years that Lucian Blaque was in existence over two hundred and fifty live performances were delivered, three local releases were made available, with a fourth released only to the sizable fan club they had garnered, and national and world-wide notoriety was gained. One song was included on a national industry-only release by Rodell Records. The band was nominated for Metal Band of the Year three years running at the Tampa Bay Metal Awards as well as two consecutive nominations at the Tampa Bay Music Awards. Kevin was nominated once for Metal Guitarist of the Year. A showcase performance was also delivered for the Southeast Music Conference, a gathering of members of all facets of the music industry in Tampa, Florida. One live appearance was also delivered for the Jammie Awards, the yearly music industry awards conference in Orlando, Florida. Opening slot performances were performed for national acts such as Quiet Riot, Savatage and Cry of Love.
After five hard driving years, numerous lineup changes to the bass and second guitarist positions and lack of a substantial offer from any record company Kevin made the decision to step away from the music business for a time to concentrate on another career.
Having never lost the desire to create music Kevin assembled a group of songs and offered his first solo release, Self Portrait, in April 2009. The two CD package included one nine song CD comprised of acoustic based songs, most with full band compliment, and a six song CD made up of hard edged, electric guitar driven rock, ranging from blues based to hard rock/metal and even pop-punk. Kevin played all guitars and bass, and even added keyboards on one song. Kevin’s nephew, Brad Hipsher, performed all drums. Two studio vocalists were employed due to the differing styles.
In April 2012 Kevin completed his first studio recordings using his own voice. Again, two CD’s were pressed, one entitled Saturday Sessions containing seven original songs and the other entitled Covers on Shangri La containing nine cover songs of varying styles. The recordings include only acoustic guitar and vocals.
During the recording of the acoustic project a publishing deal was signed with Fervor Records/Vintage Masters and two Lucian Blaque songs were placed in movies. Running A.D. was placed in American blockbuster The Grey starring Liam Neeson and Gene Pool was placed in Donovan’s Echo, a Canadian independent film starring Danny Glover and Bruce Greenwood.
March 2013 marked the completion of new music. Twenty-three tracks once again spread over two CDs. Rise Up contains blues tinged rock songs while Thieves Among Us is more straight up rock with a couple tracks that stray from Kevin’s conventional style by way of drum and keyboard loops.
March 2015 saw the debut of Rolling Papers, a new documentary film, at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, TX. The movie features Lucian Blaque’s song Bring Them Down.
Mean Machine, long the live set closer for Lucian Blaque and Astaroth, was featured in an episode of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia on FXX in January 2016 and also in The Colony on USA Network in February 2016.
Battleground, another Lucian Blaque original, was featured in an episode of F*ck, That’s Delicious on the Viceland Network in March 2016.
Karma, a collection of twelve new original songs, was released on April 22, 2016.
Vintage Masters Publishing continued to place Lucian Blaque songs as Battleground was featured in the movie The Rider, written and directed by Chloé Zhao, which was released April 13, 2018. Running A.D. was featured in the Verizon Go 90 online series Play By Play which began streaming in July 2018. And Bring Them Down was featured in the National Geographic Channel’s Valley of the Boom on January 20, 2019.
In June 2019 Kevin relocated to Austin, TX – The Live Music Capital of the World!
On October 4, 2020 Battleground was featured in an episode of the new series Walking Dead: World Beyond.
April 2021 saw the release of thirteen new original songs under the title of Warhorse.
That same month also saw completion of five new originals written and recorded with Kevin (KA) Agosta, drummer of the 80’s Sunset Strip stalwarts Lypswitch, who in 2018 re-grouped and released not only re-mixed and mastered previously released songs but also never before released originals and five new songs to celebrate the band’s 30 year anniversary. These songs will be released as an EP in the near future.
On March 31, 2022 Bring Them Down was featured in an episode of the CBS television show Young Sheldon.
On May 15, 2022 Running A.D. was featured in an episode of the HBO show The Time Traveler’s Wife.
In September 2022 Kevin relocated back to Phoenix, AZ.