About Kepa Kruse



KEPA KRUSE MUSIC

Aloha...My name is Kepa Kruse. Im 27 years old and I was born and raised on the island of Kauai. I am a singer/songwriter and I currently live in Los Angeles, CA.

Growing up on Kauai was a blessing. I was always in the ocean. most times it was a short walk from my front door in Hanalei. When I was twelve, I was accepted to the Kamehameha Schools as a seventh grader. I lived on Oahu, away from my family as a boarding student in the dormitory and I no longer had the option to go surf whenever I wanted... I used to wear old surf shorts and walk around barefoot all day and suddenly I had to wear collared shirts and shoes to follow the dress code of a private school. Life was very different, but eventually I settled into my niche... My grandmother gave me a little Kamaka ukulele to play so I could pass the time.. Over the next six years in the dorms at Kamehameha, I found my passion for playing music. I would take my uke to school and play in between class.. and then I would go back to the dorm and play until dinner...I studied all the "Ka'au Crater Boys" albums... dissected them piece by piece and learned all the ukulele picking solos. I began to learn from other talented musicians around me. I was very fortunate to be the apprentice of the best musician in the school (KBF)...as I watched and listened, I began to learn at an exponential rate. It was almost innate, I was using the old Hawaiian style of learning, by watching the masters do their thing and then go home later and try to emulate it until you get it down... with that learning model, I was able to pick up little musical nuances from those that I watched and collectively, that formed my own playing style.


I graduated from Kamehameha in 2000 with a fine education in both academics and music. And it was senior year that I started playing guitar as a means to "back up" my friends playing ukulele. I kept with that for a few years and in 2003 started playing weekly gigs at bars and restaurants with fellow Kamehameha graduate Sonny Kapu... son of legendary Hawaiian musician and radio host Sam Kapu. It was surreal, I was playing cocktail music for tourists and locals on the Waikiki strip. I was honing my musicianship as listeners sipped their tropical drinks with little umbrellas in them.. I was having the time of my life and I was getting paid to do something I love..... I am forever grateful for that experience.

In 2006. I moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career as an actor. In a short few months time. I booked my first part in a rugby themed feature film called "Forever Strong". It was a good sized, supporting role and it gave me an incredible opportunity to learn and be a part of a great film.. I played the part of "Tumo" , a Maori captain for a high school rugby team in Utah called Highland. The film opened in theaters in September of 2008 and I now had my foot in the door. After the film was released, I started getting back into music and I was just having fun messing with Garageband on my laptop. I didn't realize it immediately, but I was going back into that same model of learning by watching how the masters do it and then trying to emulate it... so I started studying song structure and successful chord progressions.. common traits of number one songs.. I listened to songs that were on the charts and then dissected them carefully in order to understand what made them so effective.... it was just like being in the dorms again.

I decided to record and produce myself.. I wrote all the music and lyrics for the songs, sang, played all the instruments, mixed and mastered it and started sharing a few songs with close friends... with their encouragement and support, I wrote more songs and created a myspace music page to share it with others.. (www.myspace.com/kepakrusemusic)

My goal was to make island music thats relatable and filled with humor and irony. It's really cool to see the positive response I have been getting. After a few thousand Myspace hits and a bunch of new songs, many have asked me about getting my music played on local radio. With the support of the island of kauai, "Coconut Wireless" is now playing daily on the radio.

I AM SO STOKED

I hope you will give me a chance and take a listen....

My music is Kauai inspired... Island vibe, with sometimes comedic lyrics, reflecting our unique culture and way of life in Hawaii. I may live in Los Angeles now, but I use my time at home on Kauai to write down observations and melodies and thats where these songs come from ... from the TRD inspired truck song "Headers and Webbers" to the gossip filled tune "Coconut Wireless" its all about the place that I long to get back to one day........KAUAI.

Thank you for your time.

Aloha,
-Kepa Kruse


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