Kent Evans



Kent Evans (born 1975) is a British and Asian American experimental fiction writer, and musician from New York City who has contributed to a number of literary outlets including YRB, and NPR's Nuestra Palabra, the Front Row, and Living Arts showcase, while also contributing to the diverse music scene in New York and other locations across the United States.

Life and career
Kent Evans was born in New York Hospital in 1975 to Elmer Alan Evans, a native of Melrose, Massachusetts of British descent, and Evelyn Lee, a Cantonese Chemist residing in Stamford, Connecticut. He started writing at a young age, debuting in a local paper for his poetry in 1988, whist attending Middle school in Greenwich, Connecticut. Later, he attended Fairfield Prep, where he subsequently started his own underground paper and garage band as an outlet for his youthful creativity. These youthful forays into writing left a deep impression on him and helped shape his future literary, and musical, career. In 1993, five years after his print debut, he began appearing in literary journals and zines while simultaneously participating in Slam poetry sessions. This began his career as a Spoken word artist (frequently as KentWood or Woody), and his performances which combined Poetry, Music, and Multimedia. Evans also attended New York University during this time, specifically from the years 1993 to 1998. He majored in Psychology and Dramatic Literature and eventually graduated with a Bachelor of Arts. He ruminates about his most influential creative writing instructors at NYU in a blog post from September 2012, saying "I started discovering different writers and had some really great Creative Writing professors, like Jillian Medoff, author of Hunger Point, and Pearl Abraham, of The Romance Reader, and they were great writing mentors to me". After graduating in 1998 Evans took time to travel through the continental United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, and the Caribbean; and briefly lived in Paris. Afterwards, he worked for several Fortune 500 companies and began to do Technical and Academic writing as a means of support. This was only a temporary means, and soon his true passion for music and literature manifested itself. Prior to 2002, he continued to perform at various New York venues, including Nuyorican Poets Café, The Wetlands, CBGBs among others. As part of several performance collectives at the time including Augenblick, Wanderlust NYC, and Soulkid/Nossa, he appeared in various Hip hop, Electronic music, and Experimental theatre events such as Dumbo Arts Festival and DUMBO Theater Exchange (DTX). In 2002, a trip to Mexico, along with a long distance break up, and the September 11 attacks, would provide substantive material for his first semi-autobiographical novel Malas Ondas: Lime, Sand, Sex and Salsa in the Land of Conquistadors. He began touring the book in July 2003, however the untimely death of his mother and subsequent disarray in personal life would lead to delays and cancellations of many public appearances until 2006. However, in this period he still did several appearances on radio for KUHF and KPFT in Houston, was put on the poetry curriculum for Burlington High School (Burlington, Vermont), and managed to make appearances at various books stores and venues throughout New England. It was at this time that Evans began spending much is his time in Guanajuato, Guanajuato, where he presently resides part-time.

In 2006, Evans went to Southeast Asia and subsequently Edinburgh where he spent much of his time till 2009. He began to pursue his artistic craft through writing and composing music. "His performance of choice involves gathering nontraditional musicians – DJ’s, classical players, Latin funk bands – and performing poetry in a live Jazz/Trip-Hop format".

Much of the events since his mother's passing shaped the idea for his next semi-autobiographical novel, which came out on September 2012: A Crash Course on the Anatomy of Robots, as well as The Original Soundtrack for the Novel. The IBook version of the novel includes the album embedded with the text, and is one of, if not, the first Fictional Novels with an Original soundtrack released on an EReader. From September through November 2012 Kent performed a Nationwide Tour for both the book and the album, with stops in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Texas, Arizona, and California. Shows typically featured a recreation of the album and reading with several touring musicians including Carl Restivo, Laura Wilson (Klezmer Fiddler), Johnny Hunt (Country musician), and Drew Trudeau (Sicboy). Notable venues included Book Soup in L.A., Bluestockings (bookstore) in Manhattan, Franklin Street Works in Stamford, Books Inc in Opera Plaza in San Francisco, and Halcyon in Austin, Texas. In this same time period Kent did interviews for Big Blend Magazine and Internet radio, It's Relevant and Martini Productions Internet television, as well as writing multiple guest blogs and articles for publications such as the Portland Book Review.

Writing style
Evans's writing style is particularly unique, and is consistent throughout his literary work. It has been described as Confessional literature, Experimental fiction, as well as Fictional Memoir. In a post by the blog Think Like a Label he described his style as, "conversational..it jumps between all different formats, between first-person poetry and journals to direct conversations with the reader, to narrative third-person fiction, to more traditional narrative styles" This is logical considering that Evans chooses to his content based on experiences from his own life such as his various travels, his personal struggles, and his observations of the world. His first novel Malas Ondas: Lime, Sand, Sex and Salsa in the Land of Conquisadors, which translates to "Bad Vibes: Lime, Sand, Sex and Salsa in the Land of the Conquistadors", parallels his personal Odyssey through Mexico. The novel can be overtly characterized as a traditional travelogue, but the personal struggles of the main character are parallel to that of Evans's.

His second novel, A Crash Course on the Anatomy of Robots has gained attention for its format and content. The book's structure parallels the structure of a User guide, creating a mechanical tone that compliments the over arching theme of the novel. The Cambridge Day described the novel as, "Dreamy, funny and eclectic — a kitchen sink kind of a novel in which reference material, journal entries, bite-size chunks of narrative and poetic observation boil up in a postmodern typographical barrage that captures well the sensory overload hitting Damien Michael Wood as he reels from the agonized death of his mother." Evans briefly comments on this theme having similarities to his life, as well as the plots similarity to L'Étranger; "Thematically there are obviously similarities, with a very existentialist protagonist and the violence that comes from and befalls [Damien]. I even namecheck Camus within the text [and] I kind of view ‘The Stranger’ as sort of one of these essential stories of our era in history and philosophy. I would love to think I was channeling something from the same place".

Music
Along with performing poetry and vocals, Evans plays Electric guitar, Acoustic guitar, and composes and provides Music production on much of his works. His collaborations live and recorded have included tracks with Meitz from Sonar Kollektiv, DJ Sujinho from Nossa (Baile funk), Michael Severens (Tom Petty, brother of Gene Severens), Carl Restivo (Tom Morello), and Ramon Hernandez (Barro Negro). He has also formed or been a part of multiple instrumental groups, including Mexican experimental Drum and bass/Progressive metal group We're Not Vampires. Evans's style is a unique and contemporary combining various influences and styles. The Examiner describes his musical style as something, "unlike anything you’re likely to have read [or heard]. Kent Evans’ talents as a poet and musician lend themselves to a narrative that is both lyrical and immediate; further, he possesses a rare voice: one that is wholly original – and that will speak to, and perhaps for, his generation. His ultimate achievement here, though, may be in that he serves to remind us that in order to find ourselves we must first be lost". Evans's soundtrack for Crash Course has been described as a seduction of style, which exhibits "a fusion of rock, trip-hop and jazz." according to Cambridge Day.

Books

 * Malas Ondas: Lime, Sand, Sex and Salsa in the Land of Conquistadors - June 2003 by TFG Press
 * A Crash Course on the Anatomy of Robots - September 2012 by Pangea Books

Discography

 * A Crash Course On the Anatomy of Robots: The Original Soundtrack for the Novel (2012) "with elements of spoken word, trip hop, progressive rock, jazz, and classical music."
 * Album introduction featuring Ramón Hernández, Michael Severens, Verena Elisabeth Wacker, and Moisés Ruiz Negrete
 * "Texas Highways" featuring Ramón Hernández and Michael Severens
 * "I Told Alex" featuring DJ Sujinho and Verena Elisabeth Wacker
 * "On Top of the Giant" featuring Ramón Hernández, Michael Severens, and Verena Elisabeth Wacker
 * "Too Many Nights at Nuyorican" featuring Ramón Hernández and Michael Severens
 * "The Beginning of the End of Pre Millenium Blues" featuring Ramón Hernández, Michael Severens, and Verena Elisabeth Wacker
 * "Battambang With Eilidh" featuring Moisés Ruiz Negrete and Michael Severens
 * "Back in Phnom Penh" featuring Ramón Hernández and Michael Severens
 * Vertikal by Meitz (2003)
 * "White Powder Everywhere"