Stephen Kellogg just might have earned the title of The Hardest Working Man in Indie Rock. Since 1995, he's recorded eight albums, including "The Early Hits" (1999), "South Of Stephen" (2000), "Lucky Eleven" (2002) and with his band the Sixers, "Bulletproof Heart" (2003).
By the end of 2004, he and his band had signed a contract with Foundations Records, an imprint of Universal, and a new album that seems destined to finally put their music in the hands of a much wider audience. With a fresh album, "Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers," and a new single ready for the masses, there seems to be nowhere for Stephen Kellogg to go but up.
Despite his band's recent success and the support of a major label, Kellogg said he wants people to know that nothing about the band is really changing.
"We didn't really look for it, a deal, it sort of felt beyond my control," he said. "Foundations is a label created for grassroots bands like ours, so we can have the ability to record albums and tour in the same way we have for years. That was really appealing. Essentially now we have a record contract and a label working to promote the music, so we as a band can focus on writing music and playing it for live audiences."
Live performances are this band's bread and butter, Kellogg said. In the last two years alone, Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers played 300 shows and sold over 10,000 copies of their independently produced albums. He's also made fans out of some widely respected musicians, including Carly Simon and Roseanne Cash, who suggest it is his lyrical intelligence that sets him apart from other rockers.
Kellogg said it is difficult, however, to strike a balance between writing accessible songs and having intelligent lyrics.
"I think that's the goal," he said. "I totally respect Bob Dylan and Tom Waits, but I'm a sucker for hits that are accessible. So I'm always working to find that middle ground. If it goes too far one way, people get lost, but otherwise if I go too far the other way, I may not have said everything I wanted to say in the lyric. The bottom line is you need to know how to be meaningful in your own voice, whatever that may be."
Kellogg is also a self-proclaimed perfectionist, and he said he frequently reworks older material if he thinks there's a way to make a song better.
"I write a lot of new songs, but I also like to rework songs as our resources have grown, to find the most perfect version. With 'Anthem [of our Discovery],' I saw where it was coming from in 1997 when we recorded 'Buffalo,' but the song has become a totally different tune. It is rewarding to rework this stuff."
The band has recorded versions of "Anthem of our Discovery" on three albums, including "Buffalo" (1997), which has since gone out of print, and their latest self-titled record. When asked if they'd try recording it again, Kellogg laughed.
"Three versions of it is enough, I don't think we'll be recording that one again, that would be too much."
Kellogg said as he has honed his skills in the recording studio and his recording budgets have improved over time, he has become more comfortable in a studio environment.
"The biggest thing is the more you do, the more comfortable you get in a studio ... you're still going to tense up, and that makes it hard to get the live sound in studios. So we've had to work to overcome that."
He said it helped to have the backing of a major label when recording the band's most recent album.
"What's great is there was no pressure to change to impress the label. Everyone at Foundations has been artistically supportive, and I guess as a bonus we all have money now to pay our rent. So it's a good deal."
Kellogg said his music, over the course of a decade, has continued to evolve because he's made a conscious effort to understand why a song does or doesn't work.
"I always write songs, but the recordings vary and grow. I listen to a song to decide for myself why it works. It could be the chorus, a great lyrical statement, or just about anything. Then I have to decide how to make that work for the song, playing to strengths over weakness.
"As a songwriter, evolutions are part of life. I think what makes the new album work so well is that this was our first true record as a band. So we're getting closer in the studio to finding that live sound."
He said part of that evolution involves being aware of musical influences that shape how an album is fleshed out.
"We've been influenced by everyone from the Rolling Stones; the Eagles; Crosby, Stills and Nash; then there are the more recent bands like Counting Crows, and the Wallflowers. Every time we enter the studio, I want to create an album that takes the technology of a studio to create the sound of old school rock and roll."
Kellogg said he and his label think that strategy has produced a radio-ready single in the track "You've Changed," which Kellogg and the Sixers reworked from an early version on their album "Bulletproof Heart."
"Universal saw that song as a good single, and we'd recorded it on 'Bulletproof Heart' and played it out to where we thought we had that perfect version. But sometimes a song has more of a life to it, it was great to be able to re-record the song to make it even tighter, a better song than what we started with."
Regardless of whether fans latch on to the song as a single or how the album will be received, Kellogg says he and the band try to stay rooted in what's happening now, rather than looking toward future goals.
"I don't want to sound unambitious, but I don't think very far ahead," he said. "We try to think about the next show, or the next week, because things shift. It's good to stay in the present, that way you're ready to focus on things as they come."
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