Possibly best known for a song that he neither wrote, nor sang, Kevin Bacon’s iconic role in Footloose 40 years ago set him on a path to big screen success for life. But longer than he’s been acting, he’s been making music, nurtured by his older brother Michael.
"If you really want to think about making music together, it would be more like the early 70s, late 60s, because when I was probably about 12 or 13, my brother was already off on a music career and I had songs in my head, lyrics and melodies in my head, and I would sing them to him - because I didn't play an instrument - and he would figure out how to play them. He would figure out the chord changes and kind of shape it into the song," explained Kevin.
Michael is a successful composer in his own right, and together, they come together as the Bacon Brothers, releasing their 12th album in April this year. He says they have their differences musically and as a pairing, that works.
"Two brothers who really have a lot of similarities, but a lot of differences in terms of our takes on music. I tend to be a seeker of beauty. I just love beautiful things, hence music, and Kevin tends to be more of a groove guy. So you see two different guys and we try to make it as if you came over to our house and you're sitting on the couch with our guitars playing songs for you," said Michael of their live shows.
They’re hitting the road this summer, and bringing that show to Ventura County.
"Kevin and I feel really strongly that tickets cost so much...going out to dinner costs so much...babysitters...that we have an obligation to the people to come out to hear us for whatever reason, whether they want to see a movie star or they heard about the band," said Michael.
The brothers both said they thrive on having the live connection with the audience at a music show.
"That's something that I love creatively. Is that electricity, that risk, you know, that little slight kind of a sense of danger. And I think that's what you get from live music. And I think in the best situation, that's what the people feel to, you know, they feel like, wow," said Kevin.
Kevin admits that he embraces his connection to Kenny Loggins' hit Footloose.
"When we first put the band together and I said to Michael, 'We got to do a cover of Footloose', he looked at me like I was nuts," laughs Kevin. "But I just had this kind of sense that people would get a kick out of it, and it was an important moment in my life, even though I had nothing to do with the success or the writing of that song. It is associated with majorly because of the movie, and we'd like to embrace the beast," he told KCLU.
Michael agrees.
"How could you hold back something that gives people such joy? That song brings joy to people, they love it. First I was like, 'do we really need this albatross?' But I played it 5000 times in my career or something like that," said Michael.
"And it's the 40th anniversary," pointed out Kevin.
The Bacon Brothers will be at the Libbey Bowl in Ojai on Sunday, June 30th.
