Kenna Is The Coolest
Kenna Reiss is that person you meet who is so unbelievably cool, you want to become their best friend right away. Kenna is creative, edgy, strong, fashion wise; a total trendsetter, and all without even trying, simply by being themselves. Their light shines bright in every room and one finds themselves in awe, wanting to know the secret, how they stay ahead of the curve, how to rope that confidence in such an effortless way, it can only be described as, well, cool.
I’ve interviewed bands and artists for years. And honestly, sometimes it becomes quite tedious. Like, oh really, Bob Dylan is your inspiration. Duh, he’s an icon, he’s inspired everyone. But I couldn’t wait to sit down with Kenna, because I want to know the secret of cool. The interview did not disappoint. Right out of the gate, Kenna told me a story of traveling out west to do a solo mini tour. They spoke of hand-crafting all their own merch, including CD sleeves and waiting for producer Sam Payne to finalize the album mere hours before the first show of the tour, so they could burn CDs to sell that night. Driving back to the Midwest, Kenna ran straight into the Polar Vortex of 2019, hitting a white out in Kansas. I’ve done some awesome stuff in my life, but I’ve never done anything ‘driving through record setting blizzards to share and perform my art’ awesome. That takes guts and glory I may never know.
Kenna was born a musician. Their father is drummer Kenny Reiss, currently of The K-Tels, previously of Jam Nation, Nix 86, George Faber and The Strongholds. Kenna said at a young age, they were intrigued by their dad’s instruments, the guitar especially. They showed so much interest that around the age of 12, Kenny sat down and started showing Kenna some chords. When I asked if this was the first inkling that they might become a musician, Kenna laughed. “No. I came out of the womb, annoying everybody, making noise all the time.”
The apple didn't fall far from the tree and now Kenna has their own impressive music resume, performing solo under the name Kenna Mae and fronting bands like The Flower Jax and Relevator. They have toured nationally and shared the stage with quite a few CU legends. (There’s a short but sweet video from the Wilke/Pennell/Nelson show on the bowl_of_roses instagram of Kenna and Dawna ‘Queen of the fucking Rose Bowl’ Nelson covering Todd Rundgren’s “I Saw the Light.” Just the look of joy on both of their faces alone makes me smile. I wish I would have filmed the whole song but alas, there were drinks to be made.)
Kenna’s music throughout the years has varied from folk, to rock, to country and more. Their current project is Sweetmelk. Sweetmelk definitely falls on the rock side. The songs are powerful, dark and honest. Kenna describes their songwriting style as “straight out of my diary.”
At the Rose Bowl, Kenna is in charge of stage production. As our venue grows, Bossman Charlie (wink, wink. Hi Mama Harris!) realized he needed more help on the music side and brought in Kenna. They are the perfect fit in our ragtag team of bartenders and musicians. Kenna can do it all. On any given night, they wear multiple hats ranging from sound engineer, hospitality liaison, box office manager and still stop by and check in with the bartenders. “Y’all good? You need ice?”
As our production lead, Kenna works closely with Carrie Chandler, who is in charge of our booking and also a musician. They both volunteer with Girls Rock! CU and cite the same musicians as friends and influences. They make a phenomenal team and I had to ask about the RB rumor, that they might take the stage together and perform. I was elated when Kenna dropped the names Sass and Dawna ‘Queen of the fucking Rose Bowl’ Nelson (sorry for the language but Dawna has earned that prestigoius role, so much so that a good swear word is needed for empahsis in her title. Plus, it’s Dawna, so… ) making it a total powerhouse of a local supergroup that has me ten kinds of excited.
Sweetmelk performs at the Rose Bowl on Saturday, July 9th opening for Modern Drugs and again on Sunday, July 24th for Pricklefest.
As for the powerhouse supergroup, no shows are set. But don’t worry, I’ll be the first to tell ya when those dates drop.
Kenna’s music can be found on bandcamp listed under the names and titles referenced in this article.
And the secret to cool… well Barney Joyce told me years ago it was “to not be cool at all.” He was undoubtedly right, but I’m still going to watch Kenna, bask in their awesomeness and take notes.
Enjoy the show!
