The Kim Berly Group, aka the KBG, is a new Kelowna based band featuring Kim Berly, renowned drummer and lead vocalist for legendary Juno award-winning Canadian rock band The Stampeders.
Berly has created this new musical group to have a vehicle the many songs he has written in recent years. He released a solo album in 2011, but felt that not having a band to realize the songs in performance was a limiting factor when it came to exposing and promoting his new music.
“I love my old friends and partners in the Stampeders but I can’t run just on past glory,” he said. “Maybe I’m a late bloomer but I feel like I’m at a place I haven’t been before… and I want people to hear what I’m writing now; so I’m really compelled to try to reach out to an audience.
“Surely it’s unusual to be making a new career move when most my age are going the other way, but it’s so very exciting and who wants to retire from making music anyway?”
The KBG is comprised of Berly on drums and lead vocals, David Knight on guitar and vocals, Bob Silversides on keyboards and vocals and Murray Holmes on bass and vocals.
The project began three years ago when Berly was introduced to Knight by Ronnie King of the Stampeders. Knight had played in King’s band in the 1980s.
Initially, Knight and Berly teamed up to write and record songs and perhaps form a duo to perform locally. They took a pass on the duo but did set up a studio and began working on becoming music producers.
Over the past two years they have written and recorded a dozen songs. All of the songs have full band arrangements so it became apparent that, to reproduce the songs live, a band would be essential. And so it fell to Knight, as a longtime Kelowna resident, to approach his favourite players with the idea.
It was settled after one rehearsal.
When speaking of his new songs, Kim says they are a look at life, love and the human condition from his current perspective, which is that of a man who’s seen a lot of the world. He still sings old Stampeder hits because “that’s what I’m known for and besides, we all love the songs of our youth; they are warm and cherished reflections of who we were and so deserve to be well and joyfully served up by great musicians,” he said.
The KBG will be releasing it’s first album this autumn and is currently booking a tour of B.C. theatres to kick it all off.