As I’ve previously mentioned, KEXP is my favorite Seattle radio station and they also organize live events. On October 24th, 2015 KEXP put on an event called “R” day at the Old Rainier Brewery. Beat Connection and Helio Sequence performed. While I was there a woman comes up to me and asks “Are you the guitarist from Motopony?” And I respond, “no.” Then she asks “Oh, well what band do you play in?” And then I say, “I don’t play in a band, but I love to see live music and really appreciate that KEXP organized this event. I’m a huge fan of that radio station!” So she says, “By the way, I’m not hitting on you. In fact, I’m married” as she points to the ring on her finger. She continues, “I’m Tilly. I work at KEXP. If you’re interested in a personal tour of the studio I can give you my email and we can schedule something. But we’ll need to do it soon because we’re about to move to our new space at the Seattle Center.” How exciting! I get to see how the magic happens at the radio station that I’ve been listening to for years.
I excitedly arrange a visit for the 28th at Dexter and Denny. The building is relatively small but it has a fantastic mural painted like stacks of speakers. On the tour I learn the building was previously a jewelry store so it has a vault. One day an intern was accidentally locked in there for a couple hours! The interior is pretty tight. The hallway had a breakfast bar type situation and apparently during funding drives they would pack the interns along the wall there.
Tilly tells me the band Dilly Dally is doing an in-studio performance that day and I’m welcome to observe it from the sound booth. So cool! That’s where I meet the legendary sound engineer Kevin Suggs who is a big reason the KEXP YouTube videos sound so good. I was surprised the in-studio room was sooo small. My dorm room in college was probably bigger. Bands that played there say they feel very comfortable playing because its like playing at home in a garage. It totally made sense how the YouTube videos felt so intimate. The camera people were literally just a couple feet away from the performers! Tilly says they wanted to preserve these aspects in the new space. For instance, although the public is invited to watch, they are behind a one-way mirror so the band can connect with the other band members instead of feeling like they need to perform to an audience.
Tilly then tells me Kevin Cole’s show was about to start. He loves to meet fans in person and I could meet him in the booth! Shortly after we enter the booth, Kevin is doing his thing adding colorful commentary about the track that was just played. Once the next song started he took off the headphones. We shook hands and said hi. He told an amusing anecdote about how he takes a bunch of vitamins every day. That morning, when he was trying to swallow them down, he started choking on them. He thought it would have been comedically ironic if he died choking on those vitamins as he was taking them to better his health.
Kevin was really excited about the new space for KEXP at the Seattle Center. He especially liked that the space allowed more direct engagement with the public. After visiting the new location many times since then, I believe they have succeeded in this goal. I’m glad it allows more people to share the special experience like I did. Both with tours and live performances.
I’m so glad I got this unique experience! I’m also grateful that the new Seattle Center location is just a 15 minute walk from where I live.