It’s no secret that Ocean Beach is a hotbed of musical activity. The focus tends to be on reggae and singer-songwriters, but plenty of topflight rock ‘n’ rollers also call OB home, including guitarist Brian Reilly, of the New Kinetics, who perform at the Adams Avenue Street Fair on Saturday, Sept. 26, at 4 p.m.
Like his manic stage persona, Reilly’s musical career is in constant motion – while the New Kinetics might be considered his main group, he’s also played with Hotel St. George as well as The Little Richards, currently drums for the Diddley Daddys and has a side project dubbed the Hiroshima Mockingbirds. An Ocean Beach resident for two and a half years, Reilly considers the area to be unique. “There is still a small-town feel and a sense of community [here]. It doesn’t seem like it’s changed much in the last 50 years. It’s got that wonderful long shopping district street that terminates in a really sweet surf break.”
The New Kinetics formed in 2010 with a blistering mix of punk, blues and ’60s influences – if you enjoy a cross-section of artists such as late-period Yardbirds, The MC5 and Bobby “Blue” Bland backed by a high-energy performance, you’ll want to hear this quartet. Releasing their first EP, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Has Got to Go,” in 2010, the group quickly found favor with the local garage and indie rock scene. Like many, Reilly cites Jimi Hendrix as an influence, but he goes much deeper when it comes to exploring music, also citing the likes of Jefferson Airplane guitarist Jorma Kauken in his playing. “I listen to a lot of different artists. It might not seem to make its way directly into my playing, but it’s all intertwined in my music,” he said.
Reilly is joined in the New Kinetics by his wife, Birdy Bardot, who has a solo career going, performing at the Adams Avenue Street Fair on Sunday, Sept. 27 and scoring a 2015 San Diego Music Awards nomination for Best New Artist. She also plays keyboards in garage rockers The Rosalyns. With so much going on, is it hard for the two musicians to coordinate activities? “Yeah, there is a lot going on,” he laughed. “It always works out, but I have to double-check sometimes, because there is a lot to coordinate. But it’s definitely better than when there isn’t enough to do,” he joked. Reilly plans on releasing a third New Kinetics album in 2016. “Our previous disc, ‘In Stereo’ (2012), was recorded in San Francisco with John Vanderslice, and it was a really good experience. But we did a couple of other tracks later with Mike Kamoo at Earthling Studios (in El Cajon), and those ended up being our favorites, so the next album is being recorded there.”
While some consider the music business to be losing a little steam, Reilly, now a veteran of national and international touring, notes the opposite, albeit on a smaller level than in past decades. “Maybe 10 years ago,” Reilly remarked, “there wasn’t as much interest in a lot of older music beyond the bigger acts like the Animals or the Velvet Underground and so on. Now, you have bands influenced by and listening to a lot of earlier artists, but it’s more than that. Camaraderie is also important. There really is a nice scene happening. There has been so much cross-pollination and support among the groups; it’s great to see musicians hanging out at each other’s shows.”