Daily Discovery: Sean McVerry, “Kerosene”

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Videos by American Songwriter

ARTIST: Sean McVerry

SONG: “Kerosene”

HOMETOWN: Middlebury, Connecticut

CURRENT LOCATION: Brooklyn, New York (Currently in Chicago on tour)

AMBITIONS: Off the top of the head? Travel the world, perform for as many humans as possible, create beautiful music that speaks to the human experience and awakens the higher consciousness of the planet, to create a sense of unity and camaraderie. 

I want to write a ballet also.   

TURN-OFFS: General Ignorance. People that name drop. 

TURN-ONS: Symmetry/Passionate People/Big Spaces/Cheap red wine with pals

DREAM GIG: Later with Jools Holland comes to mind. Also Lincoln Center. Also I would like to do a show at my high school once I reach a level of success.

FAVORITE LYRIC:  “Cause the sweetest kiss I ever got, is the one I’ve never tasted”

SONG I WISH I WROTE: Again, too many to count. Today I’m inclined to say Cause by Rodriguez, just because it’s playing now and perfectly providing a soundtrack as I look out my hotel room in Chicago onto this rather grey day. 

5 PEOPLE I’D MOST LIKE TO HAVE DINNER WITH: Brian Eno/David Byrne/Brian Wilson (although it probably would be a weird time)/Stevie Wonder/Phillip Glass

MY FAVORITE CONCERT EXPERIENCE: When I bottled up every ounce of teenage angst and aggression and unleashed it all at Rock the Bells when Rage Against the Machine reunited. 

I WROTE THIS SONG BECAUSE… It was just there. It had been sitting somewhere in space waiting to be written, I didn’t put any sort of cognitive effort into this, the whole thing was written in about twenty three minutes. Sometimes that just happens, there is something within you that waits for the right situation and right time to be expressed. Kerosene was written on the mandolin, which is an instrument I can barely play. I found that initial little riff, and the whole song manifested itself. That doesn’t happen often, I’m glad I caught this one- it’s direct and feels very true to me

Billy Gibbons: On Record