Good morning excitable people! Another week and another spotlight has arrived! This week we meet one of the members of the Unity Allstars – Mr. Kevin Joseph LaBella! Kevin’s story takes us back to 1995 when he was in the sixth grade. He heard “Down” on the radio, then saw the video on MTV, and was blown away by the music. It was when “All Mixed Up” was released that he became hooked. “Still probably the song that will always put me in that place that only certain songs can. Definitely love all the double guitar riffs and the harmonies. Plus the two distinct vocal styles between Nick and SA is a perfect combo.” Fifty to sixty is the rough estimate of shows that Kevin believes he’s attended. Those shows include the cruise shows and he sees them now at least 3-4 times a summer. His favorite? He’d have to say 311 Day 2014. “We got to play an amazing show 2 nights before, then throw in Ballyhoo and Full Service the night before, playing on the Brigade Brunch cruise, helping out Bruice3 and TJ as well as J Randy….jamming on the street w/ Windex Pete and his washboard. Finally getting to play Saints Go Marching in on my horn on the street in NOLA…..plus we had a 200 year old house we rented right on Bourbon street. Everything was incredible and having my crew there with me took it to another level. Then seeing 311 play w/ the Unity Orchestra literally brought me to tears. That was the most intense thing I have ever seen at a concert. I can’t wait for that live album!” “Trouble” is the song Kevin says he really related to immediately when he heard it. “I really feel like I’m always tiptoeing the line of going too hard sometimes, but then I remember that I need to chill out a little bit and keep my shit together. It’s always a good reminder for me.” One of his favorite quotes though comes from the song that hooked him for life – “You’ve got to trust your instincts, and let go of regrets.” As he said, no explanation needed. Kevin grew up in Port Chester, New York, which is about a half hour north of Manhattan. He loved sports and music and excelled at both, becoming a jazz trumpet player and baseball pitcher. “I learned trumpet in the 4th grade, bass guitar in the 5th grade, and taught myself guitar in the 8th grade. Our band program in Port Chester was top notch. We did the Macy’s Parade my freshman year, won multiple championships at Giant’s Stadium, and our band is in the remake of Miracle on 34th Street and Spiderman 3.” He then went on to college at SUNY Albany where he met some friends that he still plays music with today – Brian Sweeney and Aaron Zuckerman, who are also members of the Unity Allstars. After college, Kevin was hired to work in a stats position for MLB.com and has been with them for 10 years now. “My job with them now is running the pitch trax system from the stadium for the Colorado Rockies(used to do it for the Yankees and Mets….did some Red Sox and Phillies, then a season with the Texas Rangers). I basically get paid to watch baseball from the stadium. I get to meet players, go on the field and know when every pitch is or isn’t a strike. It’s pretty fn sweet!” Kevin currently works for Comcast in Denver, Colorado, running master control for the NHL network. This year his job sent him to the Stanley Cup Finals where he ran into the one and only Nick Hexum! Kevin told his boss he should thank Nick for Kevin working for him. Here’s why – after the first cruise, Kevin joined the Familia and met a bunch of awesome people he became friends with. Then on the second cruise he befriended Brandon, Eileen, Mike and Melanie – otherwise known as “The Big Heads” (the people with the cardboard cutouts of the heads of 311). Then after the third cruise he was looking to move from New York and his plan was to head to Denver, since he had family there and knew it had the awesome Rocky Mountain Excitable crew. He ended up getting a better job offer from Eileen in Dallas so he headed there. It was short lived though because after getting there, Eileen’s office shut down. Kevin scrambled to find something and that’s when he found the job in Denver with Comcast. He packed up his stuff, crashed on an air mattress at Kyle Knox’s place for a month before he got his own place (right across the street from John Dawkins) and then his girlfriend Jamie moved out as well. “Now I am in an excellent situation, with 2 amazing jobs (watching baseball and hockey), have an amazing crew, and everything is awesome. In a strange twist, that was all a year ago, now Kyle sleeps on my couch! Oh sweet irony! So when Nick came back in for the 3rd period, My boss said “Hey Nick, Thanks” Nick looked dumbfounded as he had no idea what my boss was thanking him for and he just looked at me in my Rangers jersey and said “Hey good luck in the 3rd period guy!” Kevin can play trumpet and bass at the same time! “Did it in jazz band back in high school. Can’t be anything ridiculously hard but I can do it. Left hand on the bass, right hand on my trumpet.” He also says he has an impeccable memory. “I can remember everything as long as it is tied to a sporting event or music event. Anything that happened on a day the Yankees did anything special I can always remember. Now if I could just remember the things that went on during cruise 3…” Guilty pleasures? “I own every Def Leppard album on vinyl from back in the day. One of my faves growing up, love all that hair metal – Skid Row, Motley Crue, Ratt…then onto GnR, then Nirvana changed the world!” His favorite band of all time though is Sublime. He even got to meet Bradley Nowell’s sister, who showed Kevin the grave site. “My guitarist Brian Sweeney and I played a little acoustic sesh @ his grave which is some all time, bucket list shit for me. It was absolutely amazing playing for the man that has influenced me so much.” The first time Kevin played in a band he was just 10 years old and they were called Negative Upbringing (which later became Gov’t Cheese). He played bass while his brother sang and played guitar. “We were mostly a Nirvana tribute band but did all the good 90’s stuff like Silverchair, Spacehog, Toadies, etc…” As I mentioned above, Kevin now plays with the Unity Allstars. You may have seen them in New Orleans this past March or at other various venues. They even made a theme song for the upcoming cruise! (See the video here… http://youtu.be/1ctLvni8QUo) Are you headed out to sea with us on the next cruise? You may just get lucky and get to see their song live on the ship! 😉 The band is also playing a pre-party before the cruise – check out the event page! https://www.facebook.com/events/393071107517325/ 
It’s obvious that 311 has had a major impact on Kevin’s life. He’d like to express his gratitude to the guys: “Play “Too Much Too Fast” more!!!!! (This is what I always tell them, and they played it as an encore on cruise 2) But seriously I would just like to thank them for being so dedicated to their fans and having all these cool events. Cruise 1 and the events following changed the direction of my life. Thanks for all of it!” Now his message to all the awesome people that make up the 311 fan universe: “I want everybody to come out and see their Unity Allstars play the night before the cruise in Miami. We will be playing like 55 songs, we will have a full horn section and plenty of surprises for the crew. If anyone saw our show in NOLA you know how we throw down. That was the best show we ever played and seeing all the excitables singing along to every song we played was an absolutely amazing experience. CJ’s Crab Shack Feb 24th, 10pm till whenever!!!! Let’s kick this Cruise off right!” ——- As Kevin said to me, that’s his story and he’s sticking to it! Glad you could join us for another edition of the fan spotlight my friends. Until we meet again…rock on! Much love – The Runt
