All it took for me to feel comfortable enough to reach out to Kevin Alexander at On Repeat was reading his writing. His bio started with the phrase, “playlists are my love language”. How was I not going to get along with a dude who identified himself that way to the outside world?
Even after seeing just a couple of his pieces, I was intrigued. Here was a dude my age, from my beloved midwest, following the siren song of rock and roll and writing about it nearly every day of the week.
The first thing I saw was a primer on how to get someone into Guided By Voices from scratch. You’ll get my attention with almost anything written about GBV, but trying to welcome a newbie into that world is a Herculean task. From there, in each and every piece that he published, I saw Kevin’s unabashed love for music and how that enthusiasm has struck a chord with so many readers.
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Like much of what I talk about here, this conversation is based around the amazing things that occur when we put our work and ourselves into the world on a regular basis. These shared experiences, and connections are the basis of almost all of the remarkable things that have happened to Kevin as he has built a large and loyal base of readers.
In exploring his genuine passions and curiosities, Kevin has found his people. As he found those folks through the things that mattered to him, he also found himself again after walking away from his own creative output for more than 20 years.
His renewed dedication and consistent good work has led him to a place he never imagined, including ending up on this pod. Perhaps the most remarkable part of this whole story is that he started writing again in a moment of lazy solidarity with his children during the pandemic.
If you have ever wondered if you should pick that creative endeavor up again, this is the conversation that will provide a resounding “YES” to that question. If you have ever thought about starting up a new hobby or endeavor, that “YES” is waiting for you here as well.
Come along and get to know Kevin Alexander of ‘On Repeat’ with me. He’s a great dude and we only got to know each other by doing work that matters. As always that work pays dividends in ways I can never predict. I’ll say yes to that for damned sure. Enjoy!
Cheers,Matty C
