Patrick Kearney’s Rock & Roll Dream

Has Pulled Into The Station

By John Voket

After making a name for himself locally as a frontman and vocalist for a now defunct heavy metal band, Newtowner Patrick Kearney headed to New York and quickly established a songwriting partnership and the core of what he hopes will be the next big arena rock band.

In just a little more than a year, that ensemble — dubbed Station — has drawn enthusiastic audiences to clubs and small theaters throughout the tri-state area, and was tapped to open a recent show for former Poison lead singer and reality show star Bret Michaels at The Ridgefield Playhouse.

Station will be returning to the area on Saturday, January 21, for a headline set at The Room in Brookfield, with opening support from Connecticut alternative rockers Do Not Engage.

 While the core of Station includes Kearney, guitarist and primary songwriter Chris Lane, and bassist Mike Anderson, the full band experience is a five-piece with drums and a second guitar.

Kearney told The Newtown Bee this week that he cannot remember a time when he wasn’t vocalizing.

“I think I was always singing around the house, and I used to do a lot of theater,” he said. “But in high school I started discovering how much I loved singing rock music. I was listening to acts like Van Halen and Iron Maiden, which influenced the way I was singing. And as I continued my career I’ve only really wanted to sing hard rock music.”

That doesn’t mean Kearney just took off pursuing his career aspiration without paying some dues. He completed studies in classical voice training at Syracuse University, as well as working with a private vocal coach in Connecticut.

But his first taste of the spotlight came during his sophomore year in high school when he started singing in a cover band doing material from the likes of Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and ZZ Top.

“But when I started taking voice lessons, I really discovered I liked the heavy style of music – not heavy metal per se, but hard rock,” he recalled. “I always found that sound kind of fascinating.”

He left his first band, which was made up of all Newtowners, after four years, because he wanted “to find a group that was more suited to my musical influences.”

After he met his current bandmates, who shared Kearney’s passion for a big arena rock sound, he started pitching in with songwriting ideas and was able to begin working the New York music scene. And although he says Station’s hard rocking style is “suitable for venues as big as the Garden, our music translates well for clubs.

“We love playing clubs, but it’s such a big sound, I think we are destined for bigger venues,” he said.

According to Kearney, Lane brings in the bulk of the creative material.

“Some songs he has lyrics and music ready to go — other times we get together and we start from scratch,” Kearney said. “What’s really great is we can either start from a musical lick on piano or guitar, or a vocal idea.”

Kearney has no qualms about the fact that his own influence hasn’t been too prevalent in Station’s original material, “but that’s OK because the collaborative effort represents more of what the band is as a whole.”

“I don’t need my own solo material to make the band better,” he added. But at the same time, the ideas and fine tuning Kearney brings to the table are often gladly accepted by his band mates.

“We fight and argue sometimes, but it always seems that in the end, the best songs are the result of that collaboration.”

Kearney and Lane met in 2010 and started writing music right away. Then one night, Anderson appeared at a Station show, got introduced and hit it off right away.

“We had Mike in for one session and we said ‘This is the guy.’ He’s a great asset to the band,” Kearney said.

While the opening set for Bret Michaels was probably the most high profile show Station has played to date, Kearney said a recent show at Studio Square in Astoria, Queens, brought out an audience of between 800 and 1,000 to see his band headline.

And they don’t even have a demo yet.

Instead they are depending on their website (www.stationband.com) and streaming content on YouTube and the band’s FaceBook page to attract new fans, and to keep it’s growing list of followers up to date on new material and gigs.

“We’re getting new followers every day,” Kearney said. “But when we pitch ourselves to any industry people or fans, we direct them to the website.”

Another big break came when, through music industry connections he made as a student at NYU, Lane was able to entice one of his friends to a show. That friend happened to be a writer for LA Weekly, which the band hopes will reveal Station to a West Coast audience.

“I think a lot of people from the West Coast will embrace our music,” he said.

So where does this hard rock act from New York City plan to go from here?

“Let’s just say that in the next five years we plan on headlining the moon,” Kearney said laughing.

The Room, a new all-ages venue for live music and other events, is at 3 Production Drive (Unit 3) in Brookfield; 845-222-5117 or www.TheRoomCT.com. Check out Station news, music and show listings at www.stationband.com.