Rocking The Shores of Lake Erie

by TAYLOR ROSEN | REPORTER Published: June 29, 2016

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Aurora -- Music isn't just a combination of instruments, lyrics, rhythm and melody blended together for a few minutes on a soundtrack.

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It is much more than that for Aurora native David Regelbrugge, who recently composed an album with the help of a few friends and his 13-year-old son, Brendan.

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The 49-year-old has even found the time outside of his financial services career to play guitar in a rock cover band. The Don Kennis Band has played small shows around Northeast Ohio since 2011.

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"Producing an album is something I've wanted to do for a really long time," said Regelbrugge. "But for the longest time, I had envisioned if I was ever able to record a solo instrumental guitar based record, that I'd want to do it with my friends."

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Regelbrugge never let go of that vision. He fell in love with playing the guitar at age 16. In fact, he fell so deeply in love with it, and music in general, that he spent all of his waking hours outside of school perfecting his craft.

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All of this makes it easier to believe that a financial services professional could compose an album that has rock, jazz, funk and blues combined.

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"I told the guys in the band that I want this record to be something that can't be placed in a specific category," he said.

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"The world doesn't need another jazz record, especially from a guy like me. There are plenty of other artists for people to feast their ears upon. I wanted to take all of those styles, and take a melting-pot approach."

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Some of Regelbrugge's heroes include Bill Frisell, Pat Metheny, Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, Joe Satriani, Daniel Lanois and Mike Slamer.

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"We were trying to move all of the great influences that have inspired us over time into a completely unique setting," he said. "That's an ambitious pursuit, but that's what drove us."

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Regelbrugge never let go of the dream of producing a diverse album that pays homage to all of his musical heroes. He stuck to his initial gut feeling in the producing stages of the record.

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"This was a really big goal of ours. I tried to list every single possible influence on my website," he said. "The 'about' section of my website doesn't talk about me, but shows respect to all of those great resources."

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He did end up reaching out to his friends -- Mark Summers, a multi-talented instrumentalist, and Rich Bowler, an expert on the drums -- to assist in composing the album.

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Regelbrugge and Summers have worked together for quite some time. The two started writing music together well over 20 years ago.

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"We wrote songs on the side way back when we were in college," Regelbrugge said. "We were just trying to make it into the music business."

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They were two college kids who shared the same dream at the time. Now, with the help of another one of Regelbrugge's friends -- Rich Bowler -- and his son Brendan, the group of four have made a splash into the music industry.

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About nine years ago, when Brendan wasn't even 5 years old, Regelbrugge had no alternative but to notice the natural talent his son possessed.

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At the time, Regelbrugge was performing with a rock cover band. Brendan decided to hop on the drum set. But it wasn't just a child beating away relentlessly on a set of drums; there was rhythm behind his pounding.

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Brendan managed to utilize every element of a drum kit before he learned to tie his shoes. It was then that Regelbrugge's idea to collaborate with his son was born.

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"He thinks it's really cool," he said. "He's very interested in doing a full length project."

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With the recent launch of the group's debut album "Far Out" on iTunes, the quartet isn't considering slowing down.

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"Mark was able to get the record on iTunes," Regelbrugge said. "He's a record producer. Because he's been in plenty of bands, he knows the entire process from start to finish."

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Regelbrugge admitted the quartet has already started working on its next record, but as of this moment there's no exact release date in mind.

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"I think we're all really interested in producing another record because I'd like to take a bit of a different path on the next project," he said.

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"It will feature someone like Brendan playing the drums the way he does as a musical instrument and not just a beat box, which is one of the things that really distinguishes him.

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"I'm working with a couple of musicians right now and we have plans for another project, but I want to give this some time to germinate," Regelbrugge said. "A vision is already starting to take shape."