Do you have a story behind your artist name?
Jason McGorty: The name came out of a late night brainstorm session in Kier’s kitchen in 2023. We wanted a better name than “Kier Byrnes & Friends” which we had been using up until that point. The first requirement was that the name of the band had the initials of K.B. so we could use the acronym KB&KB. The term “Kettle Burners” just sounded good and we all instantly took to it, even if we weren’t quite sure what it meant at the time.
Dan DiBacco: Yeah, I think I suggested it as a literal example of what a good, alliterative band name incorporating Kier’s full name could be, and a week or so later… well, that was our name! It definitely fits our unique blend of Americana rock, which draws influence from traditional folk genres such as Celtic, Romani, Polka, etc.
Tell us a bit about your music journey. How has it shaped you?
Kier Byrnes: When working on Lollapalooza back in the day, I wrote and recorded demos for five songs and shared them with some musicians I had been jamming with back east. I was very much into the punk scene, but was also listening to Bob Dylan’s Nashville Skyline a lot as the cassette tape was pretty much fused into the car stereo off our van. So I wrote a country song along with the four other punk rock songs. When I got back, it was the country song that consistently went over best with crowds, so I thought, “I better make more like that one” and hence went down the road of writing country music and haven’t looked back. But like any genre there are different subgenres and influences. The Celtic influence we have is representative of both my heritage and the close ties musically Country has with Irish folk music. I got to share a bill with Zac Brown back before Zac Brown was super big. His fusion of country and Caribbean music caught my ear, as it did most of the country). I thought country music could fuse with Bavarian style folk music, much like it does with Celtic and brought this idea to this band. Hence, we got songs like “Train’s Off the Rails,” “When the Money’s All Gone” and the single off Before the Fall EP, our guitarist Dan DiBacco’s upbeat, slavic tune “White Russian.”
How would you describe your sound to someone unfamiliar with it?
Brian Lilienthal: One thing I say is we sound like The Pogues if they were a country band.
Byrnes: A high-octane cocktail of chicken pickin’ electric guitar & face melting accordion.
Monica Sager: I always describe it as a mix of pop and country / folk with maybe a touch of rock
DiBacco: Put Johnny Cash, Gogol Bordello and the Dropkick Murphys into a blender… shake it all up… and then sprinkle some sexy accordion-playing on top. That’s essentially us.
What drew you to the genre /instruments you’re playing right now?
Byrnes: Growing up, I’d beg my parents for two things each year for Christmas and my birthday. It was simple, all I wanted was an electric guitar and a dirt bike. My parents never got me either. They were pretty against it in fact. But, one summer during high school, I got my first job, so I went out and bought myself an electric guitar with my own money and hid it from my parents. At the end of the summer, my parents sat me down and asked me curiously “now that you’ve been working all summer, how much have you saved up?” Well, I had no idea there was an expectation that I was supposed to have savings. Aside from the guitar, I had been spending my paycheck on gas, alcohol, and weed.,. And as I couldn’t really tell them that, I lied and said the guitar was a lot more expensive than what I actually paid for it, as I had to account for the missing money somehow. They confiscated the guitar, but I stole it back and haven’t stopped playing since.
Sager: I have actually only started playing washboard with the band, so it’s been about six months now. I have a music background since I was little, playing guitar and bass, so going into a new instrument wasn’t too daunting. You just have to get the hang of it.
DiBacco: I used to actually hate country music… but then one night, Kier and Joe picked me up at a bar in Cambridge, and totally changed my perspective on the genre. The rest is history, as they say.
What inspires you to write music?
Byrnes: I used to say bad luck, but now I kinda attribute it to the fact that I think I just have a knack for finding really odd situations while sharing late night beverages with some eccentric characters and then finding a song in the experience.
DiBacco: Yeah, you can write music about anything – any experience, or any thing that’s on your mind. I think the most important thing is keeping it true to yourself… cuz people can tell when something sounds fake.
Would you tell us about your current project, album/EP, or song you’re promoting?
Byrnes: The Kettle Burners and I were at Q Division in Cambridge, MA recording these songs last summer, but that August, things took a dark twist. I tripped and fell headfirst down a flight of stairs while carrying a stack of chairs. When the dust cleared, I lay there at the bottom of the stairs and couldn’t move my legs. I was carted off in an ambulance and taken away. Fortunately, one of the legs came back on its own, but the other required surgery, leaving me handicapped and a slightly worse dancer (to say the least). It goes without saying that I had to take a break from working on these songs. But as I healed up a bit, we began work again. This batch of songs ended up making it on Before The Fall – hence the EP title. In a time where nothing in my life was certain, I am very grateful that the band and I had the opportunity to refocus and finish them. We appreciate that you’re helping get the word out about the tunes.
What do you want listeners to take away from listening to your music?
Byrnes: To quote the great Irish poet, Chumbawamba, “I get knocked down, but I get up again You’re never gonna keep me down.”
DiBacco: See, I thought that was Joyce…alas, I’m a mere greasy Italian. But I sincerely hope our music makes listeners feel something genuine, feel something earnest… good music makes you feel something.
Who are your top three artists right now? If that’s not a fair question, what’s your favorite song right now?
Byrnes: Here are three songs that I drew energy from to help drag me out of bed this morning: “Start Wearing Purple” by Gogol Bordello; “Hell” by Squirrel Nut Zippers; and “S.O.B.” by Nathaniel Rateliff.
Sager: Lawrence, Benson Boone, Teddy Swims.
DiBacco: Tyler Childers, Chappell Roan, and Kendrick Lamar.
What’s the easiest way for fans to connect with you?
Lilienthal: kierbyrnes.com links to our music on Spotify, Apple Music, and Bandcamp. Insta: @kettleburners; Facebook: kettleburners.
Homepage: https://www.kierbyrnes.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kettleburners/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kettleburners
Bandcamp: https://kierbyrnes.bandcamp.com/
What’s next for you?
Byrnes: We have our EP release party at The Plough and Stars in Cambridge on April 11, and we are headlining the New England Americana Fest in June. Then after that, we head over to Europe this summer for a short tour.
Anything else you’d like to add or let us know about?
Byrnes: The band’s official gas station snack when we are driving to gigs is purple Doritos. If someone knows how we could get Doritos to sponsor us, so we could get free purple Doritos, that would be sick.
Bio:
Kier Byrnes & The Kettle Burners are a high-octane blend of face-melting accordion and chicken pickin’ electric guitar. Winners of a New England Music Award for “Americana Act of the Year”, the Kettle Burners have performed at multiple festivals and even shared some bills with a few national acts (Willie Nelson, Old Crow Medicine Show, Hank Williams Jr., John Mellencamp, The Mavericks and Fastball).
Kier Byrnes, frontman of the group, has been all over the globe thanks to music; touring in over 17 countries. He has performed in the Middle East for the troops, at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, and a Johnny Cash-style gig at a Belgian prison. At a private show for Jim Beam Whiskeys in Clermont, Kentucky, Byrnes and his band were rewarded with a personal tour of the distillery by none other than the great grandson (and Master Distiller) of Jim Beam.
Kier Byrnes is joined by The Kettle Burners (Jason McGorty, Monica Sager, Joe Miller, Dan DiBacco & Brian Lilienthal); a spirited country band that effortlessly merges the rootsy sounds of traditional country music with the enchanting melodies of Irish folk. Their heartfelt performances weave stories of love, loss, and life’s trials with an irresistible blend of twangy guitars, lively bass, driving drums and the soulful warmth of accordion. With their infectious energy and undeniable chemistry on stage, these musicians create an immersive musical experience of whiskey-soaked ballads and foot-stomping jigs.
