LP Review "Conflicted"
This is a well written and produced album, the songs flow seamlessly from the beginning to the end. The songs have a storytelling feel to them, they have laid back melodies and organic, southern bluesy like “Cruelest of them all” and “Wool over your eyes”. “Pitiful Fool” is the most upbeat and heaviest of the LP.
“Old Dog” features Charlie Starr of (BlackBerry Smoke) swapping Leads with Kenny is worth the listen. Kenny definitely added some heavyweight New Jersey guitar players like Zack Wylde (Ozzy and Black Label Society) and Scotti Hill (Skid Row). With Zack killing the soulful lead on “Cruelest of them all” and Scotti playing on my favorite song on the LP “Winter Wind”. As far as the vocals he reminds me of another legendary singer Bon Jovi witch I don’t think he would mind the comparison. After listening to this album and learning about his background I’m looking forward to hearing more from him and hope he goes on a tour to support the album I would for sure like to see him live.
J Rocks,
“Conflicted is really an album of observations of human nature and behavior…every single track is about things that people do, and the impact these things have on both themselves and others in their sphere. Human emotion drives human behavior, which ultimately shapes our worlds, for better or worse. Every single person is conflicted, in one way or another, at some point in their lives.” – KENNY DUBMAN
Kenny was raised in a house where music played all the time, and it was his mom’s Hendrix and Santana records that etched their way into his psyche…he had to know how to make those sounds. By age 9 he had started guitar lessons, and by 12, had begun to unravel the mysteries of real rock guitar playing on his own, courtesy of Ace Frehely on the first Kiss Alive album. Ace was playing the Jimmy Page licks…but he played them slowly and methodically enough for a kid to digest and be able to repeat them, albeit clumsily at first. Over time, the pentatonic scale layout of the neck revealed itself, and he was off to the races, never looking back.
By Kenny’s senior year in high school, he had joined a newly minted band called Prophet with a bunch of Jersey guys several years his senior. They busted their asses learning progressive rock covers by Kansas, Yes, Rush, Genesis, Pink Floyd….as well as hard rock like Scorpions, Van Halen, Sabbath and AC/DC. By 1982, Prophet was one of the kings of the NJ club band circuit, playing 5 nights per week to packed houses all over the tri state area. In 1985, Prophet would release the first of their 3 albums; the self-titled “Prophet” (1985), followed by “Cycle Of The Moon” (1988), and “Recycled” (1991). All records met with critical acclaim, yet Prophet would never rise above cult following status…a following which still remains today.
A few original music projects followed in the early 90’s, but he was growing weary of the music business and all of it’s fickle whims. He lost his passion for creating and trying to forge ahead, and channeled those passions elsewhere.
In 2013, Kenny found himself at an all-time low, having gone through quite a few years of real trauma in his personal life. He had finally shed all his baggage, and was slowly regaining himself and learning to stand again…gradually finding his footing. It was during this period that he stumbled on to an album that would set the course for a whole new musical re-birth for him…”The Whippoorwill” by Blackberry Smoke. Just happened to click on it by chance one day while looking for an album to play while at work. A year later, he was still listening to the whole record every day. A few months after that, song ideas that he thought were worth capturing started to appear for the first time in years. And on July 4th, 2016, Kenny released “Reckless Abandon”, his very first 100% solo record. And THAT…is where this awesome journey started for the second time…and he’ll never look back again.