Brass Mash Member Deep Dive: Kevin Wilde
How does he even find those notes???
We in Brass Mash are so happy to welcome Kevin Wilde into the mix! Kevin brings an incredible wealth of experience and trumpet skill to the group. His improvisation game is on point and his range on the horn is out of this world! As the other trumpet player, I have been greatly relieved to have Kevin’s support throughout the long gigs - the endurance demands for a trumpeter in Brass Mash are no joke! Enjoy getting to know a little more about one of our newest players.
Year joined Brass Mash: 2023
Current favorite mashup: I like the Chicago, 25 or 6 to 4 one. [“While My 25 or 6 to 4 Gently Dreams on”] Just because I like Chicago quite a bit, and that’s one of my favorite upbeat Chicago tunes. And to combine that with a not-so-upbeat Eric Clapton tune is pretty cool. The other one is “Sweet Sitta” with the Tears for Fears song. It has some good moments in it - I like to do the guitar solos on my trumpet. It has some songs I never really knew about, but I like them.
How did you come to join Brass Mash?
I got to know Sam Franklin. He had said he was performing with this group that was all brass, so I came out to hear you guys one night back in 2022, at Liquid Gravity. I thought, “This is a cool concept!” We have friends from my wife going to school here in junior high and high school in the 1960s up through 1977. Some of these friends had mentioned that “One of our favorite groups is Brass Mash. They play all these classic tunes and mash them up, and it’s really fun!” So then here’s folks my age who really like this local band.
I thought I should get to know who’s doing that, and Sam recommended me to Colin. I came for a couple of sub rehearsals, and when Bree finally moved out of the area, there was an open and I finally got my “big break!”
Tell us about your first Brass Mash gig.
It was at the Pour House, last summer [2023]. I remember doing the warm-up on “Conga Lights” and that was my first time sight-reading it. It was really a fun night, but I messed up some of the Conga song. I thought, “I’d better go make sure I’ve read through these tunes before I go up on stage next time.” I never did that, but it still worked out.
My two boys - my oldest son was here, visiting from Seattle. He and his brother came to see me play up in Paso. So they were out in the audience, drinking beers, and listening to their dad get down on his first gig with Brass Mash. They said, “Boy, it’s kind of fun to watch the sax players look when you play a solo!”
Share one core Brass Mash experience.
It has been exciting to get gigs coming in. One of the craziest moments was the crowd surfing at Liquid Gravity - watching youngsters 1/3rd my age having fun, listening to our music, and going crazy. That was a core experience that I won’t forget for awhile.
Otherwise, just being able to have my friends come out and hear the band and experience it, and really enjoy the music that they wouldn’t have gone out to see without me being in the band.
