New Music Video
Hot off the release of their sophomore album, “Honky Tonk in Heaven,” Texas based country group Kin Faux recently released the highly anticipated visuals for their hit-single, “Plainview.” The group is comprised of Rico Gonzalez (vocals & guitar), Jakey Black (vocals & guitar), Ross Barkey (vocals & bass), and Dan Currier (drums).
Rico stated that music video production was “new to us, we were super excited about being able to create a visual to a song that has such a great story.” Jakey added that “as far as the aesthetic of the video we were trying to recreate a West Texas vibe.” He highlighted that with “the name of the song being ‘Plainview’ and all we obviously had to include shots of Plainview itself.”
One of several singles on “Honky Tonk in Heaven,” the visuals for “Plainview” depict a lovers quarrel as well as the iconic scenery of West Texas. “The song has a very strong story so it was really easy to follow,” said Rico. “The whole video kind of made itself.”
Honky Tonk in Heaven
In addition to “Plainview,” the group’s sophomore album also garnered them their first No. 1 hit single with “Honky Tonk in Heaven.” The track features writing credits from the legendary Bernie Nelson. Rico highlighted Bernie’s importance to the quartet stating, “We love Bernie, he is the guy who wrote ‘Honky Tonk in Heaven,’ which was our very first number one. He actually helped Kin Faux get started.”
A break in direction from their debut self titled EP, released in 2018, “Honky Tonk in Heaven” features a number of outside writing credentials. “We reached out to resources and writers, we had co-writters on it, so it was special. It was our sophomore album.” Said Rico. “The release party was epic, we did it in New Braunfels Texas with our buddy Jim Beavers who is from Nashville.”
Beavers is the mind behind “Red Solo Cup” and many more. Jakey explained that for Kin Faux, “there is no normative idea about collaboration, it seems like every writer has their own process so it is really neat for us to be able to sit back and watch it all unfold.” Jakey noted that creating is “a labor of love and we feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to spend time with these talented people.”
A team effort without a doubt, Dan added that they “would like to thank all of the people who have helped us along the way, our families, the two actors in the ‘Plainview’ video who are special people to us, and of course our fans.”
Creating For Kin Faux During Lockdown
Like many artists around the nation, Kin Faux were faced with the same challenges as the rest of us, loss of income, concerns about health, and feeling stuck in place. Rico emphasized that they, “really had two choices; sit back and let it pass, or use it as an opportunity to grow.”
Grow they did as their sophomore album performed extremely well on streaming services. “We had a great response on streaming, we released the album in April and it was crazy,” said Ross. “In the first 12 hours we got close to 60,000 streams and it just kept going from there.”
Although Kin Faux had to pivot their business model and start performing virtually, they were able to create as usual. “We all live together in the same house,” Ross explained. “It was real easy to sit down and keep being creative unlike most other bands where everyone is nervous to leave their house and be around other people.”
What’s Coming Next For Kin Faux?
Touring, and lots of it. “We are constantly playing shows,” said Ross. “Here in Texas we have been open for awhile now and just touring here in the state is like touring a small country.” With tour dates booked through fall there will be plenty of opportunities to see Kin Faux and hear “Plainview” performed live.
A group with a work ethic and vision, they are already planning their next release as according to Jakey, they have “easily got another album’s worth of songs that we haven’t recorded yet so that will be our next step.” For more information on Kin Faux, visit their website, or follow them on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.