Sans Voix by Kevin Closs

It was always about the guitar. Singing followed, and then only because no one else in my high school rock band would do it. Songwriting, too, was an afterthought, almost a necessary evil, undertaken primarily to stand out from the crowd. I didn't really have much to write about in the beginning anyway. So singing and scribbling kept me moving forward, but guitar was the reason for the journey.

My first guitar heroes were the older musicians at my school. Impossibly tall and haloed with long, god-like hair, the rockers at Manitoulin Secondary carried themselves like mercenaries and their guitars like M16s. They stood apart from us (with their platform shoes, literally above us) and when they played, it was like a door being cracked into another reality.

My first guitar was a hand-me-down steel-string acoustic and the first lick I figured out was "Teddy Bear". Next came "House of the Rising Sun", "Last Kiss", and a dozen other half-remembered teen anthems. But it was heavy rock and the electric guitar that ultimately took possession of me. Eventually I saved up enough money for a weird Japanese import, the Teisco ET-460, purchased for $90 from the older brother of a friend.

Paired with a beat up Traynor amp, the Teisco and I struggled to learn the craft, stealing licks where and when the opportunity presented itself. Touring bar bands like Sheriff would play our monthly school dances. I'd shun the dance floor and lean against the stage, trying to see, through the billows of dry ice, how the magic was being created. I learned how to bend the g-string, what a power chord was, and how to play a few basic rock & roll rhythms.

I began to be able to pick out the guitar parts from AC/DC and Kiss records and teach them to my guitar-obsessed friends. I formed my first band, Tyrant, with three buddies and the journey began in earnest. Suddenly, I had an identity, a sense of self-esteem that would never have been achieved through prowess in sports or good looks. I was a small greasy kid who was always chosen last for teams. But after the guitar picked me, I felt I had a chance of being somebody.

I focused on rock and heavy metal for many years until, in the late 80s, my interests shifted to acoustic music. I wanted to create something original, something that spoke about who I was, not who I wished to be. I stopped putting my energy into bands and started playing solo shows. My setlist was the usual mix of folky covers and pub favourites. Gradually I replaced other people's songs with my own and, with the generous help of patient friends, I began making records.

As my interest in discovering the acoustic guitar's potential deepened, I embraced alternate tunings and eventually created a few of my own. It's taken thirty years to compose this small body of work. I continue to be surprised by the guitar's possibilities and it seems every day I stumble upon something new. The guitar is, indeed, a journey, and in many ways, it feels like a journey I've just begun.

Kevin Closs is a singer/songwriter from Manitoulin Island.

kevinclossmusic.com