Connor Kaminski
“As soon as you remove the vocals you’ve lost most people. In the end I honestly resorted to saying, ‘I make weird music!’”
When Connor Kaminski was a kid his dad would drive him across Preston for his weekly guitar lesson, and always supplied the mood music. “He’d blast The Verve, U2, Pink Floyd,” the shredder recalls. “Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Wish You Were Here. It’s funny listening to that and then Dream Theater – stuff like 'Octavarium' – because that’s so inspired by Floyd. It’s like it’s being passed down.”
The 28-year-old is partial to Rush, Tesseract, Haken, but for him and many others his age Dream Theater are the OGs, and John Petrucci’s the GOAT. He recently befriended Jordan Rudess on his home-base platform, Instagram, and after the keyboardist cadged a guitar lesson Kaminski took a punt: “I said, ‘Look, I’m getting this album together – would you be open to doing some piano? I’ll give you the key, just give me 30 seconds of you doing your thing.’ The next day he sent me 95 seconds of music, and it was incredible.”
The ensuing piece, 'On The Fringes', is one of the cornerstones of Kaminski’s full-length debut, 'Tapestry'. Released independently, this intensely metallic and melodically lyrical instrumental work ventures further down the trail blazed by Animals As Leaders, Intervals, Polyphia.
It’s a genre that Kaminski has struggled to describe to civilians. “For a long time I’d say, ‘Imagine Pink Floyd, make it really heavy, then have no vocals, with the guitar as the focus.’ But as soon as you remove the vocals you’ve lost most people. In the end I honestly resorted to saying, ‘I make weird music!’”
Whatever you call it, 'Tapestry' is further evidence of a generational shift in technical prowess, a post-Petrucci sea-change among prog metal’s new breed. Kaminski’s living proof that the bar’s been raised. He made this colossal-sounding record on a laptop, playing guitar and bass while programming the drums and orchestral parts, which are all but indiscernible from the real thing.
Other guests include ex-Monuments guitarist Olly Steele and Australian champ Plini, with Serbian singer Aleksandra Djelmash elevating the sole vocal track, 'Bloodline'. No agents or managers were involved – all were contacted via direct message on Instagram. Kaminski has over 82,000 followers on the platform, and earns his main crust by streaming masterclasses and demoing gear on there.
The live circuit currently holds little appeal. He has gigged his ‘weird music’ precisely once, at 2022’s Radar Festival. A friend of similar standing recently spent a fortune touring Australia. He sold out the venues, shifted all his meet-and-greets and merch, and still barely broke even. This perturbed Kaminski: “I just thought there has to be a better way to do this in this day and age. It’s hard to get on that touring ladder, and it’s a hectic, stop-start lifestyle – you’re away from home, and I don't know how much all that interests me at the moment. I guess I'll see what opportunities come my way.
“I'm just very much enjoying making music, and if there's an audience online – if that's how a lot of people are enjoying their music – then I'm happy.”
- Grant Moon
Prog File:
Line-Up: Connor Kaminski (guitar, bass, programming), with guests
Sounds like: The new normal in the tech/prog metal pioneered by Dream Theater, brought to fruition by Polyphia et al.
Current Release: Debut LP 'Tapestry' is out on September 5
Website: connorkaminski.com/Instagram: @connor.kaminksi