Kevin Cole
In-Depth-Probe
Originally published in CAKE magazine circa 1993.
Suddenly deciding to speak to the person he has been screening on his answering machine, Kevin Cole picks up the receiver and interrupts the caller in mid-sentence. “Hey what’s up?” he says, sliding into a few minutes of deep conversation. “So I’ll spin two hours of wild shit and then we’ll have cake at the end…perfect!” he says while scribbling a note, adding to the already hectic looking schedule on his calendar hanging on the kitchen door. Brief distractions such as this were frequent but understandable for a man as busy as Kevin Cole is these days, yet he makes a point to apologize after each interruption. Many adjectives come to mind in describing Kevin’s general character. Unconventional, mysterious and positive are words that help illuminate the personality of the guy most people simply know as the long haired Disco Jockey at First Avenue nightclub and former local radio voice on the now defunct Modern Rock station, KJ104. In person, Kevin comes across as a genuinely friendly and likable guy.
But perhaps the people who like Kevin the most are the local hearing aid manufacturers that are undoubtedly reaping the benefits from the business of former patrons of Kevin’s legendary House Nation Under a Groove Show held every Thursday night in the 7th Street Entry from 1987 through 1989. Kevin notes, “We had a good two year run in the Entry and also a lot of great late night shows.” For those unfamiliar or still dazed and confused from the experience, House Nation basically involved constructing a couple of fifteen foot walls of concert show quality speakers and then pumping out the freshest, cutting edge House and Techno dance jams at an ear-splitting volume. Absolute nirvana for local club-heads jonesing for a world-class caliber house music production. “There was something really cool about it being in that small of a space, and there was a nice kind of sensory deprivation because all you got was the sound. The lights were minimal, it was pitch black, it was small, you couldn’t talk to people, you couldn't really socialize, so you just got engulfed in this overwhelming barrage of sound that was warm and yet hard as hell!” The House Nation concept meets the general criteria set forth by New York City techno shamen Frankie Bones for rocking rave parties. Frankie says lock a group of party people in a dark room and boom the bass on a crazy dope sound system. As to be expected, opinions of such a radical and overwhelming audio experience may vary among hard core ravers and casual party-goers. Kevin smiles and drops some DJ science, “All music is definitely a bio-chemical thing in how you react to it. When you’re playing music that loud with the big of a P.A. system, with that wide a range of frequencies, you’re going to have more intense reactions than just listening to music on a boombox in your house.”
Kevin stresses that House Nation was actually the work of two people. Kevin himself (under the DJ alias Acid Ant), and Tom Spiegel (DJ Man-X). A self proclaimed House and Techno junkie, I would usually bump into one of the two guys shopping for house records at Tatters clothing store off Lyndale and Lake Street. That’s also where I would hear about their amazing shows at the Cricket Theater just south of downtown and each one made a Van Halen concert seem like a Catholic funeral. “If you look at what we were doing with House Nation, a lot of people are doing something similar now.” Kevin modestly attributes much of the success of House Nation to his friend and former business partner, Tom Spiegel, “Thomas really had a vision and he wanted to push it. It was an interesting situation because we were making a lot of changes that were volatile and it was hard.” According to Kevin, taking the Twin Cities underground music scene by storm was bold and upsetting to the status quo. “Whenever you do something new you always feel some fiction, but it was very exciting as a result too because I believe that unless you’re creating some sort of friction, you’re not really doing anything.” Regarding the end of House Nation, Kevin spoke rather vaguely. “It was ahead of its time and it just kind of ran its course. Essentially it broke ground for a lot of things going on now like Sexorama and Depth Probe.”
Sexorama currently fills First Avenue’s Wednesday night slot. “It’s kind of like the weekends without the rock. Its club music with a little bit of house, a little bit of disco and some funk and techno. So, its more of a pure dance music night than any of the other nights that First Avenue is doing.” Sexorama is actually not Kevin’s show. The D.J.’s on Sexorama nights are Roy Freedom and Paul Spangrud. Kevin and Roy currently share the weekend Danceteria shows, alternating every hour so each guy can stay fresh. The weekend nights also offer more creative freedom. “On Fridays and Saturdays I can go from the hardest hip hop track into heavy metal and then slide right into some techno and make it all work.” Kevin believes that the weekend crowds at First Avenue are sophisticated enough to enjoy the variety and thinks its a sign of the times. “It seems that before, people wanted music to be in a convenient little box, they wanted a familiar name or label on it. Now the music has changed so fast that as a DJ, I can pretty much get away with anything right now and people are willing to groove on it. The audience trusts me and that makes the artistic aspect of my work much more fulfilling.” The fact that the weekend crowds are more open minded allows Kevin to expose them to more experimental and cutting edge music than most other clubs in the Twin Cities. “One thing I personally enjoy doing and feel is my mission as a DJ is to play and get away with as much new music as possible. To try and present new music to people in a way that doesn’t alienate them.” The “trick” says Kevin, “is to challenge the individual listener and yet make the largest amount of people as happy as possible.”
While the weekends at First Ave are always fun and interesting, Kevin’s intensity as a DJ and promoter are taken to a higher level when he organizes the now infamous Depth Probe show once every month. “With Depth Probe, I can go even a step further and I think we do that. Depth Probe has never followed any trend or has looked at any charts to see what to do,” he says refilling my cup of green tea. Kevin takes a sip of his own and reflects for a moment. “This might sound kind of weird, but a few days before every Depth Probe show, I’ll go through my records and pull out and pack up a couple of boxes and take them down to the club. Before the show, I’ll physically touch each record to reacquaint myself with the music and get some sort of energy connection going,” he says looking slightly ill at ease. He chuckles at my raised eyebrows and continues, “It’s important so I know exactly where the record is and I’m refreshing my mind. It’s a weird ritual that gets me fired up.” His ritual doesn’t seem odd to me because I know from experience the frustration of forgetting that one fantastic new record I couldn’t wait to play for a show or worse yet, locating it in the crate only to realize I’ve slipped the wrong disc into the record sleeve. D’oh!
After taking another call and booking an upcoming gig, Kevin hangs up and resumes. “Depth Probe to me is a night of no compromise. The concept is ever changing, I mean, it can be anything. It’s not a techno night necessarily, it’s not a hardcore night. It’s a non-conforming new dance music showcase.” I ask him if he sees Depth Probe as sort of a micro rave party. He agrees and mentions that what Depth Probe lacks in spontaneity is made up for in sound quality, safety and no bullshit. In a more serious tone he says, “ I think a lot of rave shows now are just promoters exploiting a situation where they can make a bunch of money and they aren’t concerned about the quality or originality.” I bring up the problem of underage drinking and drugs and mention the fiasco that went down in Milwaukee last Halloween at Masquerave when police raided the party, busted hundreds of ravers and collected thousands of dollars in ticket fines. “That seems to be happening a lot. I guess I wanted to stay away from the drug connotations and instead create an environment that was safe and where the high comes from the music.”
Kevin admits that even he was surprised by the strong support in terms of attendance to Depth Probe shows. “At the end of last summer we were getting like fifteen hundred people at the last two shows. I had kind of anticipated that in January, February and March attendance would drop down to like six hundred because of winter but all three did over a thousand in attendance. That tells me that there’s something strong going on.” So what makes Depth Probe so popular? He explains,” I think there a lot of people who can relate to music and to having a culture of their own, and I think that is really important. I feel that’s what you’re seeing with Depth Probe. I’ve been trying to make an effort to get more of an adult crowd to come down so we can have more of a mixed event so its not exclusively all-age.” Kevin believes that along with Sexorama and the weekend Dancetria shows, Depth probe should do well in the upcoming months. “I think Depth Probe will really be strong this summer. I get tremendous help from all kinds of people in terms of promotion, flyers, graphics and everything but I want to specifically mention Woody McBride ( DJ ESP) and Tony Larson (Mr. E. Tones). They have really worked hard and helped me out a lot.”
Concerning Kevin’s background, even those who know him well would be surprised by his outstanding athletic career at Blooming Jefferson High School when he was an eight time letterman in track, cross country and ski jumping…wait…ski jumping?!!! Kevin just laughs. “ Yeah, that was a rush!” When Kevin wasn’t leaping over track hurdles or flying off ski jumps he was playing in one of several high school garage bands or just chilling, checking out new grooves on the stereo. “I was always into music and I bought a lot of records,” he recalls. A few years later, he graduated from Gustavus College with a degree in sociology and radio broadcasting. He then did an internship at Georgetown University in D.C. and worked for the college radio station, WGTB doing a weekly slot. Unfortunately, the creative freedom that WGTB allowed was not commonplace in commercial radio. “I was hanging out trying to make money with my degree. But because of the creative limitations, radio didn’t interest me.”
Throughout college Kevin had been circling back to the infamous Longhorn Bar formerly located in downtown Minneapolis. “The Longhorn was incredible. There were amazing bands like NNB, the Suburbs, the Suicide Commandos and Peter Jesperson was a great DJ.” These were the golden days of the local punk rock scene in Minneapolis and I can sense Kevin’s energy jump as he begins to reminisce (or maybe it was the fourth cup of tea). “Basically it was original bands playing original music. Tons of great bands from the coasts plus all the locals. A lot of bands that played there were influenced by groups like the Ramones. I loved it!” I vaguely remember the ‘horn and ask him what made it special for him. “The Longhorn seemed really intense and sort of of dangerous. I felt normal there.” Around the same time, Uncle Sam’s put out a want ad for a DJ. “I went to do an audition and Steve McClellan hired me pretty much on the spot.” Of course back then, before Uncle Sam’s would morph into First Avenue and 7th Street Entry, and before Prince and the Purple Rain movie made the Ave a local landmark, things were different.
“Uncle Sam’s was a stale disco, locked into the whole ‘Saturday Night Fever’ thing.” I jokingly ask if he ever refereed any of the the mud wrestling matches. He frowns and says, “ There was the early days when we did male dancers and had air guitar contests that outdrew actual concerts.” We both laugh when he mentions the infamous indoor swimming pool parties. “Then of course there was having people call me an asshole for playing something they never heard before. There were years of that but it was still fun.” Yet an aspiring DJ can only take so much. In an effort not to become stagnated, Kevin decided to spin records in Europe. “I moved to London in 1983 for about a year and a half and did some DJ’ng there. I spun at a few clubs in town and checked out the famous clubs in Paris, Berlin and everywhere else. But Kevin didn’t just get hammered and forget where he left his passport and Let’s Go Europe book, he studied the sound systems and light shows of each place he visited. More importantly he focused on what the other DJ’s were playing. “It was cool but every club made me feel that First Avenue was better. Like I’d go to the Hippodrome in London and I’d say ‘wow, they’ve got a great P.A. system, incredible lights, lasers and so on, but musically it was not as cool. I mean, I’ve always liked the fact that First Avenue has always tried to be as unpretentious as possible. They try and welcome anybody.”
Kevin only has light criticism of First Avenue. “I kind of feel like I was saying for years, you’ve got to get a better P.A. system, then I start doing Depth Probe and I bring in my own system and they hear it and then finally go out and get a new one.” I interject that I think the sound quality is good and they seem to have a well organized DJ booth. His eyes suddenly grow wide as he smirks and says, “You’d be surprised that the booth at First Avenue is held together by rubber bands and duct tape. We let things hang in there a long time before change them.” Perhaps I struck a nerve as he suddenly adds,” Sometimes its frustrating too though, I mean here is an internationally recognized nightclub with an incredible reputation and we can’t even buy a new stylus needle.” His momentary annoyance fades as he remembers a Depth Probe task and quickly jots down another note on the calendar.
Kevin admits he always a desire to return to radio at some point and he got the opportunity when he was asked to do a two hour show with a dance/club music format for Twin Cities based, Modern Rock KJ104. “That was a great opportunity for me. I started out just doing one show called Radio Depth Probe.” Yet he also saw the potential problems of creative limitations. “When I was asked to do that I was a little reluctant because I didn’t want to to be pigeonholed into just dance music.” Fortunately, his technical expertise combined with a genuine love for all forms of alternative music led to more responsibility and in turn, creative freedom at the station. “I wanted to get on radio to do more.” More eventually came to be in the form of producing two other programs besides Radio Depth Probe which completed an arcane trifecta of Kevin’s different musical tastes. He fondly reflects, “Ultimately at 104, I was in the situation where I thought I was really creatively satisfied because I had three shows and each one of them was like a different side of a triangle. It really covered a lot of what I wanted to do musically. On the one hand, there was Radio Depth Probe which was more than just dance music, it was a mindfuck. I tried to make it as unique and interesting as possible. One way to describe it was club music mixed to the point of ecstasy.” He adds that the other two shows complemented Radio Depth Probe. “ A kind of more traditional show was Duty Free Imports which was an opportunity to play a lot of new indie music. And then I got my third show called Rock and Roll Wingding. That was the ‘I do whatever I want’ show. A lot of great local records and some of the seminal but more obscure songs that were really instrumental in the development of the Modern Rock radio format.”
Kevin’s dedication, hard work and commitment to the development of KJ104 eventually landed him the position of Music Director. But like Frank Sinatra says, “you’re riding high in April, shot down in May.” Things wouldn’t last as ownership made the controversial decision to switch over to a Country music format. On the subject, Kevin becomes more distant and reflective, “ It was a weird, complicated thing. The easiest way to put it was that KJ104, when it was Modern Rock was making money. Unfortunately, station management saw the opportunity to make a lot more money by switching to Country and felt no obligation or commitment to the alternative music format and listeners. So basically, they didn’t care. But…..that’s just business.” As one of thousands of avid fans of the station when it was Modern Rock, I was crushed when they made the changeover. Oh boy, another progressive music station squashed to make room for another tired-ass Country station playing another tired-ass Garth Brooks single. I detected Kevin shared this sentiment but this of course is only a guess. In an upbeat tone, he goes on to say, “But there’s definitely enough people out there to make it happen again and even more successful.” Then in a moment of potentially unintentional disclosure he mentions, “And something big might happen sooner than people think!”
Kevin seems content with his personal musical projects and notes, “It’s nice that people groove on what I do because it involved a lot of work getting there.”
Originally published in CAKE magazine circa 1993.
Author Notes: Kevin was indeed hinting at something big as not long after the article was published, REV105 radio station went live and eventually became one of the most beloved radio stations in Minnesota music history.
Sadly, Thomas Spiegel (DJ Man-X) passed away in 2012
Kevin is now Chief Content Officer at KEXP in Seattle and still one of the top jocks in the independent and alternative music scene.
Kevin’s written tribute to Prince after his passing.
