Kevin Seconds at the Bowery Electric

Kevin Seconds was born Kevin Marvelli in Sacramento, California, on March 24, 1961. As a teen-ager, he relocated with his family to Reno, Nevada. There he founded and fronted the hardcore punk band 7 Seconds in 1979 with his younger brother, bassist Steve Youth, in 1980. The band released 15 albums through 2005. Seconds, however, relocated back to Sacramento in 1988 and began performing also as a solo acoustic artist starting in 1989. He has recorded five solo albums. Besides his musical endeavors, Seconds is an artist and illustrator and makes his artwork available at his live shows and via his website. He also sporadically hosts an online radio show called Sound Salvation Radio with Kevin Seconds, via Spreaker.com, usually doing it live from his van. It is primarily a music show with Seconds playing tunes from some of his favorite bands but it is also a vehicle for him to discuss politics, social issues and the current state of the music scene, amongst other things.

How does one make the transition from hardcore punk to acoustic, almost alt-country music? I do not know, but Kevin Seconds has done it well. Accompanying himself on acoustic guitar, his wife Allyson Seconds on vocals and harmonica and a drummer, Seconds’ show at the Bowery Electric tonight showed that he found the path and journeyed it well. Seconds has foregone his former shaved face and head in favor of straggly beard and hair, and his new music fits the look. He has replaced his skinhead suspenders for baggy cargo pants that ended below his knees. Most importantly, he has traded his socio-political rants for positive down-home lyrics. Seconds strummed simple chords and, eyes closed or squinted most of the time, passionately belted upbeat lyrics and melodies that seemed to have been cultivated in a log cabin. Having evolved into this metamorphosis, is it possible for him to return to hardcore punk music? Time will tell, but the new Kevin Seconds probably has not completed this life cycle yet.