STORY:
If you've never heard of Killian Garnet MacGeraghty, chances are, you will soon enough.
An artistic madman of sorts – a writer, composer, guitarist, drummer, keyboardist, vocalist,
filmmaker, band leader, performance artist and ultra-creative D.I.Y. marketer - Killian has pumped out
more projects than he can count and he's just getting started.
Killian was born in London on July 1, 1962 only to be shipped to California with his family one year later.
At fourteen, he chopped off his finger in a motorcycle accident. Staring at his shortened finger,
his first thought was, "well I can still play drums." To satisfy his musical calling, he began studying drums
and was soon playing with some of the best local bands in town (not surprisingly, Killian went on to play
drums with Sharkbait on the '92 Lallapalooza tour).
He didn't stop there. Killian returned to London to study both film and music. He also became a
long-distance runner for various city teams and swears that the rigorous endurance training he underwent
during those years gives him staying power to this day. Killian has rewritten the D.I.Y. (Do It Yourself)
bible on how to do big things with little money – he has served on countless D.I.Y. panels, was featured
on a D.I.Y. or DIE documentary DVD and reinvents the wheel when it comes to getting his band known
(past antics include a decked-out milk truck, high-flying balloon and dragging via truck a guitar-playing
mannequin down busy city streets).
Besides the famed Gun and Doll Show, Killian's other projects include writing a series of articles for
Rolling Stone-owned Gig Magazine, teaching a San Francisco film class called, "How to Make Your First
Short Film," creating breakthrough video clips like "I Dropped My Super 8 Off the Golden Gate" and founding
and leading the 50 Guitar Orchestra, a huge musical collaboration of local artists which has performed at the
world-renounced Fillmore venue, among others.
Out of all his many projects, what Killian lives for is creating the music. Songs are what feed the fire for
each story and genre Killian takes on. Whether it's rock and roll, R & B, rap, techno jazz or whatever fits
the story best it's the making of the song that rules his kingdom. He has a huge catalog of songs that grows
faster than the speed of recording them.
What his audience lives for is his showmanship. To see Killian live is to see his sparkling charisma, incredible
stage-presence and quirky, vibrant personality up close. Whether belting out vocals or wailing on the guitar,
he commands attention and the crowd gives it to him. Killian comes from a long line of Irish performers bent
on entertaining and attributes his success to their persistence. The youngest of a family of five, he is also
comfortable with the role of protagonist, jokester and professional hell raiser – attributes which he also brings
on stage with him.
Filmmaker Michael W. Dean is selling DVDs of his 2002 documentary for only eight bucks apiece, but given what it's about — do-it-yourself artists making a go of it outside the corporate/institutional sphere — it's fitting that he's giving the entire thing away on YouTube. In D.I.Y or DIE: How To Survive as an Independent Artist an array of artists across disciplines, includingFugazi's Ian MacKaye, J. Mascis from Dinosaur, Jr., writer Lydia Lunch, Craig Newmark of Craigslist, and Minutemen co-founder Mike Watt, discuss everything from self-publishing and independent record labels to spirituality and scrapping to put food on the table. Killian MacGeraghty, who uses his van as a furniture mover by day and a gear-hauler for his Bay Area band The Gun & Doll Show by night, sums up the gist of the film. Asked why he's a DIY artist, he answers, "Well the main reason is to make sure it gets done. And then later on, I guess you fall in love with it."
Click here to see What Killian's working on now
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KILLER SHORT FILMS :
KILLER LINKS:
50 guitar orchestra . www.50guitars.com
Best Local Band Captured By Robots http://www.capturedbyrobots.com/
Favorite Local Band Arnocorps http://www.arnocorps.com/
D.I.Y. or die |
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