Kubla: Musician, Close to the Sun

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I first met Kubla in January at the Flora Lounge in Toronto… he probably doesn’t remember this. He was playing there and I’d been invited by a mutual friend of ours Shaiyan to go watch him perform. The Flora Lounge is the kind of swanky hotel bar where everyone is dressed to impress but you can’t really tell because the lights are so dim. My partner Halle and I went to the bar and timidly crept around the bar until we found our friends. In the middle of the room stood Kubla with nothing but a guitar, microphone and amp. This wasn’t a concert per se, everyone wasn’t gathered around listening to him perform but it was easy to tell that he was a pro. During one of his breaks he popped over to our group and said a quick hello before heading back to the mic.

A few months later I ended up at an all you can eat buffet with Kubla, Shaiyan, and our friend Danny. This was the first time I met Kiaran, the man behind Kubla. The four of us had some great chats that night about life, love, art, and more. You really get to know someone a lot when you’re eating as much meat as humanly possible in a two hour time-span.

Shortly after that, Kiaran asked me to attend his show for Canadian Music Week and a group of us ended up going to see his show at Longboat Hall and it was fantastic. Kubla had put together an eight piece band for the night and they absolutely killed it. After his show, I knew I had to get him on my show.

We recorded the interview on Wednesday, July 5… a swelteringly hot day in Toronto. I trekked out to Kiaran’s place from my apartment, lugging all of my gear onto the Toronto City Bus. On my way, Kiaran texted me asking which type of light I thought would be best for the interview… If I’m being honest, I’m the opposite of a gear head. I know it’s a gap in my knowledge as a podcaster, especially running it as a solo operation but it’s just something that does not excite me in any way, shape, or form. I’ve cobbled together a set up that (sort of) works and I stick to it. I ended up just Google the light options and picking randomly.

By the time I sat down to do the interview, I’d spent hours prepping and had six pages worth of questions. Over the course of the two and a half hour interview, I opened it only once to get a specific definition I’d written down. But other than that, I did the entire interview off the top. This was a really good test of my abilities as an interview because I normally rely on my notes heavily during my interviews because I spend so much time prepping. Now, I think that part of the reason I was able to do this is I had rapport with Kiaran already and the interview was in person. There’s something about doing the interview in person that you don’t quite get when doing it remotely. This doesn’t mean that I’m going to only do in person interviews moving forward. I’ll still continue to do them remotely, in fact, remote will probably be the primary interview method on here, I’m willing to lose a little bit of chemistry for the convenience and reach a remote interview offers.

This interview was a ton of fun for me to record, and I think you’re going to like it. I know that Kiaran is a more contemporary guest than some of the previous guests I’ve had on the show but I don’t want this podcast to just be reminiscent of the past of art, creativity, and culture. I also want it to be celebration of the present and look towards the future of those things so when I find a modern artist who I like and think is talented I’m going to invite them on the show. Kiaran is an incredibly deep thinker who I knew would make a great guest and I wasn’t wrong. Enjoy.