Meet Kylo Gun

 

We recently connected with Kylo Gun and have shared our conversation below.

Kylo , so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

I knew I wanted to make music ever since I was a little kid. When I was eight or so I wanted to either be a famous actress or a popstar. My parents introduced me to the local theater in my town and I got to follow my acting passion through there, but the more I grew the more I fell in love with music, and by age 12 I knew music was my true calling. My genre of choice started to change more and more from pop music to emo and metalcore, and then punk. My dad was the one who got me into punk rock through bands like The Offspring and early Rise Against when I was very young, and I really leaned into that when I got to age 14 or 15. My dad took me to my first punk show, Authority Zero and Counterpunch at The Rock in Tuscon. During Authority Zero’s set when Jason commanded the crowd to turn the entire room into a big circle pit, I was like, “Yeah, this is it. This is what I care about.” I started my own punk band called Not Confined that played around the Phoenix valley from the time I was 16 to 18. I loved it, but I really hated my life when I was that age. I was in environments, relationships, friendships, that were toxic for me. Punk rock and playing punk music was always the thing that got me through it, the thing that kept me going. But I relied on that band I was in so much to keep me up that that became toxic too. I stressed about it day in and day out always wanting everything to be perfect. I was very anal about the way I wanted us to sound while the chemistry between us bandmates was weird at times (I wish them the best). Something had to give eventually and I ended up trying to take my own life, landing myself in a psych ward. It was the biggest wake up call I’ve ever had. Since then, I’ve listened to myself more, listened to what I want more. Since then, I realized my purpose was not Not Confined, it was not a singular music genre, it was instead my own happiness. My happiness comes through making all kinds of art, learning new things, and listening to my heart. I’m no longer tied down to one project that I put a lot of pressure on to keep me afloat, but free to express and explore through any creative process I choose and to let go of things that do not contribute to my happiness.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I make music that I like to describe as cowboy folk punk. I use this project pretty much as my diary, my songs tend to be about whatever I am going through or experiencing at the time of writing. I am inspired by artists like Chris Cresswell, Zach Quinn, Big Thief, Hudson Freeman, as well as the classic old country blues sound. Kylo Gun is very raw and very me, but it’s almost like an extension of myself, a cooler version of myself. My image as an artist is very cowboy inspired, because that feels like me, but also because it’s who I want to be, almost like what I wish I was. I use the cowboy theme as a way to express my gender, because when I chose the name Kylo Gun was around the same time I realized I’m genderfluid. I love wearing a mustache and a cowboy hat and just really feeling myself. I wrote my first EP before the name came about, and I just went by my real name. After traveling to Bisbee, Arizona for the Sidepony Music Festival in 2019, I fell in love with the cowboy culture I saw all over that town and I really connected to it. Choosing the name Kylo Gun I knew I wanted Gun to be the last name because it sounded cowboy-ish to me and I imagined an old school cowboy pistol when I thought of it. I didn’t know yet what I wanted the first name to be, and my friend Jamie suggested Kylo as a joke, an homage to my Adam Driver obsession. But Kylo Gun just had this ring to it that I couldn’t get out of my head and thus the Kylo Gun project in its current form was born! I am working on my full length album and hope to release it this year. It’s called Baby’s First Rodeo because a lot of the songs are about a lot of first-time experiences I was having while writing the songs during my first year of college.

In addition to my solo project as Kylo Gun, I have a band called I Am Miss Havisham with my friend Ava. This project is very exciting to me, it allows me to express myself through punk while not limiting myself to sound one way in terms of punk. It’s very experimental and just kind of sounds however we want it to, which I think is what I need from a band. We also have a full length album in the works which I cannot wait to share with the world.

In addition to music, I paint, draw, weave, make zines, and more. I have my art for sale on Etsy under the name KyloGunArt. https://kylogunart.etsy.com

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I think my resilience, passion, and willingness to learn have been the most important. The passion I have for music is something natural to me, and it drives everything I do. Resilience is something that came from going through tough things in my music journey, like being in toxic environments as I mentioned earlier. Even though I was around people who operated very differently than me in ways that were unproductive to my musical journey and wellbeing, looking back it taught me that the only person I have to create for is myself. The only person I owe anything to is me, and I’ve found pride and joy in discovering what I want to do for myself, as opposed to feeling like I have to prove something to other people. The best advice I can give is to create for you and only you, there is such magic in being yourself and expressing that through art, because no one else can express you better than you!

Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?

My parents have been the most helpful in that regard. Not only did they raise me to be a fighter and teach me to stand up for myself, but they’ve helped me through the stickiest situations I’ve faced in life. The values they raised me with gave me to the tools to always be true to myself, and they’ve always been there when I’m struggling and gotten me through it. I think my parents are both very resilient people themselves and that’s what gave me the drive that I have today. Having them has been really important throughout my journey as a musician because every core lesson I’ve learned from them and all the struggles I’ve had bleed into my music life, whether it’s in my writing or how I’ve navigated music spaces I’m in. Music is also the main medium through which I express myself, and I wouldn’t be me without the things my parents have taught me over the years, therefore my music wouldn’t be what it is without them.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

first/main image – Bryan Casebolt @bryancasebolt on instagram
second image of me playing live (green outfit) – Sofia @_photosbysofia on instagram

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