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Jason Nichols
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Miklo Brunner |
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Doug Hubbard |
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Andy Pulido |
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Around the year 1980, four creatures washed upon the shores of California. After many years of scattered wandering, it was the armpit of San Diego, El Cajon, which would provide the grounds for Kavena’s vision of “truth in sound”. Since uniting in August of 2004, Kavena has caught the attention of people in the oddest of situations. For most fans, that would be enough. But what are the details? For starters, it was a friend of guitarist Chris “Miklo” Brunner who in 8th grade told him that his parents almost named him “Kavena” the Hawaiian word for light. It was years later that Miklo would be inspired and reminded of this, by another friend’s life and death. Around 1996, Burton Mack Jr. was the first of Miklo’s friends to get his driver’s license in their Sacramento circle. It was on a boring summer evening that had the friends searching for something interesting to do. Burton was the one who said they should drive to the spotlights in the distance, and that the light would never let them down. Burton was also coincidentally an albino. He was later killed in a gun accident and since then, Miklo has continued to remember the example Burton set, an example that still hasn’t let him down. In July of 1998, just before Miklo’s senior year of high school, he and his family moved to San Diego is search of greener pastures. Despite leaving his home and friends, Miklo was able to bring a little of Sacramento with him. It was around this time that San Diego legends Sprung Monkey had a song called “Get ‘em out of here” getting much radio play. The lyrics are about love for their town “sweet home San Diego.” Sprung Monkey would later provide Kavena with their first stage experience. It was an opening slot at a sold out club in Pacific Beach. You are reading ahead though. Mar Vista High School (in Imperial Beach the southwest corner of the country) was the place that Miklo finished his last year of high school and befriended his future drummer’s sister, Lavonne. She told him that her brother was a drummer but that connection wasn’t made at that time. It was a couple of years later that Miklo had made friends in the Chula Vista music community, of which Doug Hubbard was a part. Doug, being an Imperial Beach native, went to high school in Chula Vista to march in their drum corps. Outlet (RIP), one of the bands Miklo was friends with, had a drummer named Rhett Creel, who was a member of the same drum corps. The first time Doug and Miklo met was on 3rd avenue in downtown Chula Vista when Doug was expressing dissatisfaction with Rhett having just quit their drum corps. Miklo was part of an Outlet offshoot-attempt-of-a-group with Kenny Mitchell, and Rosh Roslin on bass, called “Sera”. Two drummers from the same drum corps, which by the way won all –state their senior year, had a seat in Sera before it transitioned into Kavena. For some reason, Sera was not to last. Years later in Kavena, the main parts of two of Sera’s songs were reworked into their song “Sera”. The first attempt at a band called Kavena included Miklo Brunner, Rhett Creel on drums and Donovan Hernandez on bass. That drummer and bass player were really experienced guys on the scene and provided an image of what Jason and Miklo could someday be a part of. This new direction of where Kavena's sound was heading, wasn't the particular interest of Rhett and Donovan so they stepped out It was the frustration of chaotic lineups that motivated Miklo to start a fresh group. This time with his friend Doug, and a previous vocal audition/neighbor of his, named Jason Nichols. Miklo remembers that Jason was the only audition that didn’t dress like he had an image to uphold. Jason was the only seemingly normal guy, and Miklo remembers taking mental notes to not underestimate him. This hunch was proven correct when he saw Jason’s authentic energy and lyrical depth. The only missing ingredient was a friend that played bass. Miklo met Andy Pulido at work during a fire drill. Andy was a master of the custodial arts who recently moved to El Cajon from Los Angeles. He had a bandaged wound on his leg. During that fire drill, Miklo asked him if that bandage was over a fresh tattoo. Andy replied “I wish.” The two got to talking and it was mentioned that Andy was a bass player in a dying band. Miklo quizzed him on his background and learned that Andy spoke the language of music from having marched and played jazz trombone in high school. Even though Miklo technically introduced them, it was Doug that got their first rehearsal space in August of 2004 and met everyone. It was a blind date that for some reason worked out. A point Miklo would like to make is that Kavena didn’t start out cool or good sounding. Many friends of theirs, at the time, thought of them as a bunch of leftovers that didn’t have the sound. Kavena rehearsed constantly for a year before playing out. It was a fateful Sprung Monkey show on September 9th, 2005, that gave Kavena the opportunity to “cut their teeth” on the big stage. Andy and Miklo had crossed paths with William Riley of Sprung Monkey and they were instant friends. Sprung Monkey was playing a low profile gig at a coffee shop at Viejas Casino. The singer Steve Summers was known to do sound at the bigger clubs around town. On the way to the coffee shop show, Andy and Miklo saw Steve waiting in line to buy a burger through the glass walls of the building. They approached him and asked about a club reference for Kavena gigs. He asked if they had a demo, and upon their return, thanked them for it and said the show was soon to start. When the two got to the coffee shop, the band was set up and the crowd was hungry. Miklo said “what up?” to William and he asked Miklo to show him the clean breakdown riff of “Photon” one of the hits by Kavena. The crowd was wondering “who the hell was this kid playing Williams’ guitar?” in front of everyone. That was when Steve walked up and saw the commotion. Upon realizing it was the guy he had just met about gigs, he said “F*** (club that shall remain anonymous)” “want to open for Sprung on Saturday?” They did not believe it. They almost couldn’t accept it because Jason worked nights, but they pushed through and Kavena was somehow able to make the gig. It was the perfect beginning to a steady increase in awareness of the band. Over the years to come, Kavena has written two full length albums, toured the state of California thrice, co-hosted Rock 105.3 twice, and became one of San Diego’s most controversial bands. They have now signed themselves to their own “Kavena Music and Publishing” label. Kavena chose to name their label after themselves to maybe inspire other bands to take responsibility into their own hands too. These topics have become the main ingredients for the now infamous web logs. Their audience continues to grow larger and larger. Even still, Kavena is less of a band and more of a learning experience for all of us to share.
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