Return of the Spirit Boy
an Exclusive Spotlight on Christian Kane

Continued from previous page...


SKY'S GONNA OPEN...

Although his character left for pastures anew, Christian didn't go without leaving a little piece of his amazing talent ingrained in the memories of every Angel fan on earth. His incredible acting ability goes without question but in "Dead End", we also had the privilege to finally hear Christian sing. "David Greenwalt wrote the song and Steve Carlson played it and so it was a pre-recording," Christian says of the song L.A. which Lindsey performs on the Caritas stage, "Steve played all the good stuff, he went in..." At this point, Christian's fellow band-member Steve Carlson interrupts, "We did it together," he corrects before allowing Christian to resume his story. "We really liked the song." Christian continues, "And it was natural. We went in there and in two takes it was done. What was nice about that was that David Greenwalt was actually in the studio when we did it so David would tell us, 'Well I had this in mind', but it was only two takes, so we were all on the same page. David Greenwalt is actually a good piano player and a music fan. He is very much music oriented and it's what he used to do actually, play music, so he already had a taste for it. I sat down in David's office and we came up with a little riff and then David called me back and said I've got the song and he wrote it."

Christian w/ David O'Hara & Tom Selleck

Since leaving Angel, Christian has made his fair share of film appearances accumulating a healthy resume of co-stars as well as reuniting with some old friends along the way. In 2001, Christian got to strap on the spurs and hit the trail for TNT with western veteran Tom Selleck in Louis L'Amour's Crossfire Trail. Following with, Summer Catch, as he plays alongside the man that beat him to the role of Initiative guinea-pig Riley Finn in BtVS, Marc Blucas as well as the man that was to eventually 'marry' Buffy, Sarah Michelle Gellar's, husband Freddie Prinze Jr.. In Life or Something Like It he plays the role of Cal Cooper opposite Tomb Raider's Lara Croft, Angelina Jolie and he could draw on his own personal experiences of living in Texas and Oklahoma when he took the lead role in Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth about Enron based on a booked by Brian Cruver. The role Christian actually admits to being "his favourite role to date" is that of Young Hub in the 2003 film Secondhand Lions. Although his speaking part is restricted to just one line at the very end of the film, Christian gets to play a younger version of one of his screen idols, Robert Duvall and he describes that experience as a "defining moment." He also realised another ambition when he got the opportunity to work with Luc Besson in a remake of a French film Taxi alongside Queen Latifah, to date that film is currently in post-production.


PASADENA, MEET OKLAHOMA

Music is the other passion that encapsulates Christian and his band, formed in 1998, KANE is the brainchild of two extremely talented musicians, Christian and Steve Carlson who met when Steve took over Christian's job! "I got a job when I first got to L.A.," Steve tells us, "And I went to work for a production company and they were like, 'Oh the guy who worked this job before has just got a job on a show called Fame L.A.' and so I went in and he [Christian] ended up coming back and we met through that." Born in Pasadena, Steve has honed his love for music from a very early age confessing to writing songs and playing guitar from as early an age as 10 years old. This dedication and passion is reflected in the way he plays and in his partnership and friendship with Christian. KANE has created their own style and niche of what they call 'outlaw country'. Currently residing high in the hills of Hollywood, Steve recalls the first time the KANE song writing partnership struck gold, "I threw a party one night and invited him and at midnight we were all upstairs playing music and he started singing with us. He like pulled me aside and said, 'How do you know all these country songs?' because we were playing stuff like The Eagles and Hank Williams and David Allen Coe and all sorts of stuff. I told him my parents kind of raised me on country music. He said, 'Well we should write some time' and we got together and we wrote "The Chase" and then we wrote "Spirit Boy". Then we had friends who were like, 'It's my birthday next week, will you guys come and play those two songs?' so we'd play like two songs and we'd throw in a couple of cover songs and then it was like we had a whole set."

Steve & Christian sing country for England fans

The talents of a fiddle player by the name of Craig Eastman caught the attention of both Steve and Christian, "We are both big fans of our fiddle player," Christian enthuses, "He was just amazing and we were like, 'How do we get him?' and luckily he started playing with us. A lot of our sound comes through Craig Eastman." Both fans and critics alike pay testimony to that comment as Craig's collaboration along with Christian and Steve (and additional guitarist Michael Eaton for a time) has seen KANE produce an incredible 'live' set, which has been performed, enjoyed and critically acclaimed in venues all across the coast of California including Johnny Depp's Viper Room, King King, Ivar and the Warner Bros Sizzlin' Country fundraiser, as well as taking their music into the heart of Country itself, Nashville. A recent acoustic set played at an event in London in November 2003 won the band a whole new set of fans in a country that is not exactly renowned for its mainstream love of country music. Enjoying what they do is paramount to Christian and Steve and their love of performing and being on stage is something they inevitably pass to their audience. That's just how they like it and how they want it to continue for some time to come, "We want longevity," explains Christian, "We want people to listen to our music and sing along. We want it to be something you sing in the shower. We want to have fun with it and I want to quote Garth Brooks real quick because it's the same thing that happens for me.
"No matter how drunk you are or whatever you're doing, the people who are having the most fun at the show are me and Steve!" ~ Christian on playing music

No matter who's at the show, no matter how drunk you are or whatever you're doing, the people who are having the most fun at the show are me and Steve, it really is. We're having the most fun you can possibly have. I think what we'd like to do is just keep the fun going. It's very much exhilarating and, like I said earlier, it's almost a drug and I think we'd just like longevity. We'd like people to listen to our stuff and move, you know, and if you're cooking dinner and it comes on the radio we'd like you to shake your ass a little bit or if you're in the car maybe you drive a little faster, stuff like that. We really want people to have a good time with our music and I think that's what it is. We're not out to be Kid Rock, just as long as people are having a good time."

Loving KANE's music and their songs is one thing but getting access to it is another and has proven to be one of the frustrating matters for both the band and its followers alike. Voted by industry magazine Music Connection as "One of L.A.'s 100 Hottest Unsigned Bands", KANE's first album was self-produced and as a result meant that it could only be accessed by downloading or purchasing from their official website: KANEmusic.com, an obstruction that the band plans to remove when their potential second album is up for release. "We're kind of in negotiations right now to move forward on a bigger level with our music," Steve says with enthusiasm although he is very quick not to divulge too much info on exactly what negotiations are taking place. "A couple of people have asked us while we have been here, 'When are you going to put out a second album?' and we have enough material to put out a second album and we loved producing the first one ourselves but we kind of want to do it now on a level where we have big distribution and it can get out." Christian adds, "Because it can get to more people. You don't have to go on-line; we'd like to see it at stores so everyone can have access to it. Whenever you have a successful album then you get to travel to where your fans are and we have fans in London, we have fans in Egypt, Vietnam and we have fans all over the world that buy our stuff." Christian then shouts over to the bands manager, Eric Griffin and asks,"Where is the weirdest place that someone has bought our album from?" Eric thinks for a second, "The Solomon Islands," comes the reply, "although I have no idea where that is!" he jokes.


THE NASHVILLE/L.A. TWO-STEP

The future for the band is looking good with plans to return to Nashville to write, record, and hopefully release a second album into mainstream circulation. Although, when given the chance, Christian will slip a little of KANE's music into his acting pieces. A song the band wrote in Nashville appears in Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth about Enron and in the film Life or Something Like It, Christian's character Cal can be heard singing "Sweet Carolina Rain" to himself whilst walking down a corridor. The only soundtrack appearance KANE is actually credited for however is in one of Christian's most recent roles, Just Married, where the first song they ever wrote, "The Chase" can be heard playing in an Italian bar!

As a tattooed Lindsey McDonald on Angel

By the time of writing this feature, the secret will be out that during Season 5 Christian's character Lindsey McDonald has actually returned to the Angel fold to wreak havoc on his old foe once more. Angel makeup artist Dayne Johnson created the extensively tattooed look of Eve's (Sarah Thompson) new conspirator. Christian confessed during a recent Q&A session with Stephanie Romanov at the Senior Partners Convention, that he believes the reason Lindsey has returned is largely due to the fans and their constant requests and pleas to Joss Whedon to bring him back. After two years away from show Christian admits he feels like he never really left, "It always feels like coming home. I'm working with David, with James and I've known them for a while. I've known David for over seven years; we've been friends for a long, long time. So with him being there it was like slipping into an old suit. It was nice. It was very comforting." Unfortunately the recent news of Angel's cancellation means that his return is all too brief and fleeting but there can be no doubt whatsoever that whatever fate life has in store for both Christian and Steve, these "spirit boys" will soar and be ever successful in whatever they choose to do. Christian's latest film, Keep Your Distance, where he plays Sean Voight in a romantic thriller with Jennifer Westfeldt of Kissing Jessica Stein is currently in post-production. But fans can watch for him in an upcoming episode of Las Vegas, as Bob in "The Strange Life of Bob" airing April 19th and there's more evil fun as Lindsey when Angel returns from hiatus, April 14th in "Underneath".

Written by CoA UK Staff Writer, Sue Grimshaw





CityofAngel.com would like to extend our Gracious Thanks to both Christian Kane and Steve Carlson for sparing the precious time within a busy schedule to talk to us in London.

Special Thanks go also to KANE's manager Eric Griffin and Starfury's Sean Harry for granting permission and access for the interview to take place.

Continued Appreciation to Dayne Johnson for use of the 'tattoo' photo; Used by Permission.

To download some of KANE's music, please visit their Official website at: KANEmusic.com

Additional credit to Laura Diehl from ChristianKane-Maverick.com for use of the photos on page 1.


If you have any comments for CityofAngel.com regarding this 'Spotlight' feature, we would love to hear from you. Just email us at: comments@CityofAngel.com


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