Today's blog is special. It's cross-posted on my personal blog, Pilot's World. If you want to read the exact same thing but with a different page design, head on over there!
I'm dropping a few fun things today to celebrate including a kazoo instrumental on my social media channels and officially launching my website!
One of my goals with this website and blog is to talk a bit more about my journey as a musician, share some of the things I'm learning about kazoo and just generally be a bit funny and connected. In time, I'd genuinely like the website to become a community hub.
So to that end, today I'd like to talk about my motivation to include the kazoo as a feature instrument in this project and maybe some of my early impressions of playing the instrument.
Jeremy and his Kazoo had its inception in mid-July 2024. I was mid-vacation, finally getting some distance from a stressful workplace and pondering what I'd like to start doing with all the spare time I had now that I was done with school, radio and several other "side hustles." I'd already identified that I wanted to play guitar and sing with people a lot more last year but playing covers of old John Denver songs just wasn't giving me quite what I wanted. I needed a creative outlet.
I quickly realized that I could connect comedy and music and start performing funny stuff for people. Music and laughter are amazing ways to connect and I knew I was up to that challenge. Maybe the biggest impediment for me was my abilities as a guitar player -especially in the solo space. I can play reasonable rhythm guitar but my talents aren't deep and trying to play leads and rhythm was going to be hard. But I found just acoustic and vocal to be a bit two-dimensional.
I considered a few instruments that could fit the bill. Harmonica is nice and something I've played in the past. But it's not that funny and it starts becoming very Bob Dylan. That's a problem for me.
I looked at other, funnier instruments like slide whistle or kids toys. But those required the use of my hands.
It's when I landed on kazoo. It's really perfect when you think about it. It's ridiculous, it sounds ridiculous, I can play it hands-free (with the help of my old harmonica holder) and it fills the hole of being a lead instrument, a texture and cheap and available. Plus, I clearly remember having a tin kazoo as a kid and playing it on occasion. This wasn't new, it was rediscovery.
FUN FACT: I had an early theory that I may have invented using a kazoo with a harmonica harness. Nope, Jim Croce beat me by at least a few decades. And who knows if even he was the first?!
I made buying a kazoo one of my souvenir goals on my trip to Toronto in September. I came home with two Schylling tin kazoos that are my favourites to this day (despite a pretty deep dive into the options out there). I immediately started integrating little lead lines into my songs using the kazoo.
I was admittedly hesitant to share it publicly at first. It is a pretty derided instrument in some circles and some even argue that it's not an instrument. I can see that and in fact, I conceptualize the kazoo more as an effect than as an instrument since it's your voice making the sound. The kazoo just changes it. It's like a distortion pedal. And that kinda played into the use case I'd made for the instrument. I wanted to capture a bit of a Neil Young feel.
My first performance assuaged all my fears. I played the song Beef Dylan at The Cure and the feedback was immediate and positive. And it has been ever since. I think I've found the right balance of using kazoo in my music that adds to both the humour and musicality of the choice.
Not only that but it's something that's going to help me separate from the pack. There are lots of musicians around here. Lots of comedians. There might be a handful of us on the prairies doing music/comedy. But I think I stand alone in the arena of music/comedy/kazoo players.
That's when I decided to lean in and update the project from just "Jeremy" to "Jeremy and his Kazoo". It has a flow, it's interesting and eye-catching. It's good PR and frankly silly as hell.
And leaning into learning kazoo has been rewarding too. I'm having fun playing and trying lots of different types of kazoo - they cost a few bucks each. So even my seeming obsession with new kazoos is still only around a $50 investment to date. And if everyone thinks I'm crazy for it, it's succeeded as an attention-getter!
I've figured out a few new techniques and styles that I equate to more effects in my arsenal. I'm totally aware of the electric kazoos out there but my act is acoustic and I think I've got a lot of territory to explore before I start dropping big money on electric pipes and plugging them into my pedals. Although I admit to being curious about wah-kazoo. Maybe after my second album.
I'm excited to start sharing tips, tricks, effects and other discoveries I've made in the kazooinverse. I want to do some reviews of different types of kazoos so that others getting into it have somewhere to gather information. And I want to have fun connecting with other funny, musical people who want to engage in this crazy fun little project of mine.
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