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Colchester songwriter Kevin Pearce will headline Colchester Arts Centre on Thursday 24th September, performing as Sun Cutter alongside Matt Coy and Jerry Elvin, with support from If Not Now.
The show follows the release of Sun Cutter 2, an album featuring contributions from Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell, Turin Brakes guitarist Gale Paridjanian, Cecilia Fage and Michael J Sheehy. It also continues a relationship with Colchester Arts Centre that began in Kevin’s early years as a musician.
Ahead of the show, I spoke to Kevin about where it all started, the setbacks and unexpected opportunities along the way, and why enjoying the process still matters.
Learning to play
Music first entered Kevin’s life through his father’s record collection. Eddie Cochran and Duane Eddy led to The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan, although it was the more psychedelic Beatles records which made the strongest early impression.
His mother bought him a guitar when he was young. He learned from books, took a few lessons at primary school and became obsessed with playing, but had no ambition to be a singer.
That changed after he joined Guru 7, when he was 16. The band spent two years playing around Colchester, including gigs at The Twist and the Arts Centre. When the group ended, Kevin started singing because no one else could perform the songs he was writing.
Open mic nights, folk clubs and floor spots gave him somewhere to practise. He gradually worked out how to perform and began securing better gigs. One of those opportunities took him to America after his drummer’s girlfriend passed a demo to her university’s student union.
The resulting invitation placed the band on a festival bill alongside The Sugarhill Gang, Saul Williams, and Andrew W.K. Flights were paid for, and the band received several thousand dollars for their appearance. It was an unlikely break for a young group from Colchester, but it helped Kevin’s music reach new people.
Recordings were passed around, and Kevin began working with Slowdive’s manager. An album for a major label followed, but after months of encouraging messages and suggestions of big support tours, communication slowed. Around a year later, Kevin was told the finished record would not be released.
He stepped away for a while before another route opened. Kevin was invited to play guitar with I Monster for a BBC Radio 2 session and later worked with members of the group on Skywatchers. That project led to a performance with Damo Suzuki of Can.
Four solo albums followed under his own name, alongside tours with artists including Turin Brakes, Ian McCulloch and Roddy Frame.
Becoming Sun Cutter
Sun Cutter gave Kevin a separate home for music which mixed folk guitar with soul, pop and electronic influences. It wasn’t a character or a complete break with what had come before, but it let him approach his work differently and take some of the pressure off releasing everything under his own name.
Bronzerat Records picked up the first album after Kevin contacted the label without expecting a response. It was released on vinyl in Germany, named Album of the Week by the Berlin station Radio Eins, and entered the Top 10 in two Apple Music album categories. Don’t Fail Me Now continued to receive airplay long after its release.
What made the response particularly surprising was that much of it came from outside the UK.
Kevin has experienced how difficult it can be to carry the attention generated by a tour or radio appearance into whatever happens next. A London show can sell out after a run of support dates, only for the same artist to return later and find a much smaller audience waiting.
The industry has changed considerably since he started. Musicians can now make good recordings without the studio costs once involved, but easier access also means far more music is competing for attention.
“Play live and make it as fun as possible,” Kevin said. “It is important to keep the love in it. You have to ask yourself why you are doing it and make sure you still enjoy the process, still enjoy learning and still enjoy being a student.”
Making Sun Cutter 2
The new album looks at the turbulent times it was made in, but Kevin didn’t want it to be overwhelmed by negativity. Its songs reflect the fear and anger found online and the habit of doomscrolling, while trying to find a way out of that cycle.
That outlook also shows up in a small nightly ritual. Kevin turns off the lights, looks through the back door at the stars and spends a minute taking in the sky before going to bed. It is a simple way to step back from everything and end the day on a positive note.
Sun Cutter 2 also brought more people into the recording process. Kevin produced it himself but invited friends and musicians to contribute, rather than making the record largely on his own.
Rachel Goswell appears on Mud Leaf, a collaboration that grew out of Kevin’s earlier connection with Slowdive. Michael J Sheehy sings on The Spectacle, inspired by Guy Debord’s The Society of the Spectacle, while Gale Paridjanian, Cecilia Fage and the Stagecoach Children’s Choir also feature.
The opening track, Union, includes backing vocals from Kevin’s close friend Simon Holliday, the live sound engineer for Stereolab who also worked with Mercury Rev and The Flaming Lips.
Simon died after going into hospital for heart surgery last summer. His voice is part of a larger choir assembled from recordings friends sent Kevin. Although listeners may not pick it out, Kevin can hear Simon above the other voices whenever the song plays, which gives him some comfort.
The Colchester Arts Centre show
Kevin describes Colchester Arts Centre as a pillar in his life. Its support dates back to Guru 7, when Stafford Glover at the venue helped the band find opportunities elsewhere, and it has remained part of his story ever since.
He now headlines the venue roughly every other year and tries to make each appearance different. A previous show included a ten-piece choir. This time, René Laloux’s animated science-fiction film Fantastic Planet will be projected behind the band, with the performance almost acting as a new score.
Kevin will be joined by Matt and Jerry, and the three musicians will swap instruments during a set featuring songs from the latest album. Kevin put forward If Not Now as support after hearing their music, giving the relatively new Colchester band an opportunity to open the evening.
Colchester Arts Centre offers the space to make those ideas work, but its importance goes beyond the stage. Kevin sees independent venues as places where musicians can try something different, and audiences can become a small community for the evening.
For those already familiar with Kevin Pearce’s music, the show offers another step in a story which began in Colchester more than two decades ago. For everyone else, it is a chance to hear where that story has taken him.
Sun Cutter, aka Kevin Pearce, and If Not Now play Colchester Arts Centre on Thursday 24 September. Doors open at 7.30pm and the show starts at 8pm. Tickets are £10, or £8 for concessions.
