About 5 years ago, the Phoenix based musician was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that left him unable to leave a hospital bed and near death. He found renewed life through music, an escape from pain, by teaching himself to play guitar and write songs. Losing faith in traditional Western medicine and baffling doctors who gave countless misdiagnoses, The Kaleidoscope Kid turned to Eastern medicine and psychedelics.
Kaleidoscope walked out of the hospital, sold his worldly possessions, and moved to Sedona with his guitar and dog, Blue. He lived off the grid in a remote cabin for years, wrote music while he focused on healing with reishi mushrooms, organic berries, and Sedona spring water. His holistic approach to recovery worked and he eventually started to experiment with hallucinogenic mushrooms sometimes tripping for weeks at a time. Through this process, he found his calling and decided to dedicate his life to music. He returned to Phoenix and lived in a recording studio where he recorded his first demos that eventually got him signed to indie powerhouse label Suburban Noize Records.
The collection of songs presented on The Kaleidoscope Kid are a culmination of stories from his time in the Sedona cabin. Kaleidoscope recalls, “These are the adventures of myself and my dog Blue, who was my best friend during those times of living in Sedona, wandering into the forest with no destination in mind. Anytime I would play my guitar blue would lay at my feet to listen. As long as Blue liked the songs I was happy.”
The first single released under his new label deal with Suburban Noize, and on The Kaleidoscope Kid, was “Hold Up.” It continues to gain momentum with his edgy vocals and idiosyncratic flows. Kaleidoscope declares, “Be careful not to fall down the rabbit hole. “Hold up” takes you on a magic carpet ride, through a psychedelic landscape like Never before!” Gaining fan and tastemaker accolades, the song has surpassed over two million streams on Spotify. The music video for the song plays like a cinematic homage to Breaking Bad, with the singer wrestling with a bad trip and burying himself — or his former self — in a shallow desert grave. Watch here [https://youtu.be/NOJFRjkcEvY]
The second single and music video from The Kaleidoscope Kid was “Watermelon Kisses.” With the maturity of ‘old soul, The Kaleidoscope Kids sings about being young and in love over a funky beat and some breezy acoustic guitars. Kaleidoscope recalls, “The song ‘Watermelon Kisses’ was inspired by the beauty of a new relationship. The concept is based around what it feels like to first fall in love with someone,” he continues, “At the time in my life when the song was written, I had just recovered from a broken heart and I wasn’t sure if I would ever experience that connection again. Shortly after I met a beautiful woman who inspired the song and reminded me that everything happens for a reason.”
The Kaleidoscope Kid was written, recorded, and produced all by The Kaleidoscope Kid with mixing and mastering by Matthew Campbell at Vaul Studios in Scottsdale, AZ. Kaleidoscope returned to Sedona to record the album and he recalls, “The songs were all recorded in a cabin in the woods where I was living at the time. It seemed more as though the location chose me. And with the solitude and freedom offered by the surrounding forest, the songs of the birds and the creek, it was the perfect place to get lost in a world of my own creations.”
The album artwork is by Mossy Giant, who Kaleidoscope met through his music and found they were mutual fans of each other’s work. After hearing Kaleidoscope’s story he created the one of a kind piece of art to commemorate the friendship with Blue and their journey. Joining Kaleidoscope on the record is Big B (Suburban Noize, OPM) Kaleidoscope comments, “Big B had reached out to me after hearing some of my music, and we immediately started talking about doing a song together! He really helped open a new door for me, and I’m so stoked to have him be involved with this record!” He appears on the last song “Maniac,” where Kaleidoscope closes the album with the sad story of Blue passing away.
With the new album The Kaleidoscope Kid , Kaleidoscope Kid has created a wonderfully creative musical playground that is an immersive escape from daily life. It is a psychedelic trip, reminiscent of The Kaleidoscope Kid’s own journey that traversed living in a cabin in the woods away from civilization for years to battling an autoimmune disease that almost cost him his life. Armed with blues-style electric guitar riffs and hip-hop percussion, The Kaleidoscope Kid emerged from his journey with a powerful self-titled debut album The Kaleidoscope Kid dropping April 22, 2022 everywhere you stream music. Pre-save and Order here: https://fanlink.to/kaleidoscopekid
ALBUM TRACKLIST
- “Hold Up”
- “Watermelon Kisses”
- “Stampede”
- “Cause and Effect”
- “Fight or Flight”
- “The Kaleidoscope Kid”
- “It’s All Love”
- “Hell or High Water”
- “Maniac” ft. Big B