BEST KNOWN as beat keeper for Whiskey Avengers, who with their populist and thoroughly boozed-soaked folk-punk are San Jose’s answer to the Pogues, Kevin Higuchi’s style doesn’t scream “highbrow.”
But the 31-year-old Japanese-American drummer’s long dreads, goofy faked mug shots online and nickname “The Guch” may mislead anyone who doesn’t know him as one of the most versatile percussionists in the South Bay scene. His technique varies from the reggae-rock of local fixture Insolence to the punk rock of his newest band, Trash Kannon. He played behind Gilroy’s hip-hop fusion group Salmon and in Neosoreskin, as well as the Bad Brains cover band Regulator.
“I like to be a chameleon,” says Higuchi.
And his first love? Jazz. Having taken up the drums at age 6, he discovered Chick Corea, John Coltrane and Miles Davis thanks to tapes made for him by St. Brunel Junior High School band director Randy Tyler.
By 19, he had entered and won the regional level of a drum competition, where he met Dinah Gretsch of Gretsch Drums. From there, he attended NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) shows and started rubbing elbows with some of the greats.
“There were all these drummers walking around at this thing,” he says. “People like Dennis Chambers; these ’90s fusion-jazz professional drummers that were just the cats back then. Dinah had endorsed this drummer named Vinnie Colaiuta, and he’s amazing. Dinah introduced me to Vinnie at the drum competition, and I said to myself, ‘This is one of the types of cats I want to be.’ But chasing a dream as a jazz drummer is ridiculous. Especially out here in San Jose; there’s no jazz scene.”
While still in high school, Higuchi noticed that most of his friends were putting garage bands together. While at San Jose State University, he was gigging with bands on the side. “I still wanted to be a drummer, but my parents said, ‘You still need to get a degree. We don’t care what you get your degree in, just get the piece of paper.’ What could I correlate to my approach in music? Music is about creating something. What could I do? Performance art? I started reading a little bit more; I had to, in college. I realized you could actually do that in writing. You can be artistic and create things; make it awkward, then make it cool. So, I went into journalism.”
During his second year of college, Higuchi was playing with Salmon, which did some shows with Insolence. It turned out to be a turning point in his career.
“When Salmon broke up, I was willing to take a break and thought that I would just focus on school and get the shit done,” he remembers. “On the third day of spring semester, Insolence called me and asked me to audition. They had fired their drummer, and it was the drummer’s practice space. So I auditioned at Billy Rosenthal’s, a.k.a. Mecha 1’s mom’s house, on his brother’s drumset.”
Insolence was signed to Maverick Records at the time and had just gotten back from a tour in Japan. They liked what they heard and asked Higuchi to join the band. The only catch?
“I had to tell my parents I was dropping out of school. I lived with them at the time, and I remember driving home from Billy’s house and thinking, ‘How the hell am I going to tell my parents I’m dropping out of school to play music?’ My parents’ reaction was, ‘What do you think?’ I said, ‘Give me five years.'”
Despite leaving Maverick Records and troubles with Warner Bros. Japan, Insolence is working on a new album. But that’s not enough for Higuchi. He got hooked up with Whiskey Avengers after meeting Clint Slick through Language Arts Crew.
“We started getting more people involved, and it took on a life of its own,” he says. “People started to really react to it in a local sense. The amazing thing about this band is we just crank out music. Besides that, I’m involved in a punk band called Trash Kannon and a jazz trio. It’s what I’ve decided: I have to try to do everything. I try to be as versatile as possible, and hopefully it’ll pay off.”
For Higuchi, what it really comes down to is playing so other people can enjoy it. “I don’t make music for myself; I don’t do it to get my rocks off. I already know I can play my instrument. I like playing it for people who can appreciate the technicality and the artistry of it. I feel I could play drums till the day I die. This is the path that was chosen for me. If I fought it, it’d be pointless.”
KEVIN HIGUCHI plays with TRASH KANNON Thursday (April 1) at 8:30pm at the VooDoo Lounge, 14 S. Second St., San Jose. Tickets are $8. (408.286.8636). WHISKEY AVENGERS play April 16 at 9pm at the VooDoo Lounge; $5.
