John Kenny: Cool head by day, cool hair by night
The three and a half years John Kenny toured and made records with his Dallas-based band, The Spin, were some of the most amazing – though poorest (from a dollar perspective) – days of his life. He wasn’t happy when The Spin disbanded, because he thought they still had some good things left to accomplish.
But Kenny, who is vice president of sales for physician office corporate accounts for Medline Industries, doesn’t waste time on nostalgia. He’s too busy playing guitar and singing regularly with two new groups – the Graceland Ninjaz and Epic Unplugged.
“Many of my peers hunt, play golf, or watch movies or television,” he says. “I choose to play music with my free time instead.”
He ran into Brian Setzer [of Stray Cats fame] in an airport after Graceland Ninjaz played a show at the House of Blues in Las Vegas. “He asked me, ‘Do you tour?’ I said, ‘No, just these power weekends. We all have careers.’ He ooked at me and said, ‘You have the perfect setup – you’ve got your career, you’re stable, you don’t rely on music for your income.’” Kenny knew Setzer was right. But that wasn’t what made the biggest impact on him that day. It was when Setzer told him he had cool hair.
Kenny was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and raised in Houston. Today, he lives with his wife, Cristina, and their five children, in Dallas.
His father was an engineer and entrepreneur, who owned several small businesses. “My father would just get things done,” he recalls. “He would calmly face issues and look for solutions.”
When Kenny and his siblings were young, his mother was a homemaker. But after her husband’s death in 1992, she took over his commercial real estate business.
Exposure
Although his family was not particularly musical, he was lucky to have friends with older siblings who liked groups such as the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Who, and The Rolling Stones, and newer, lesser-known artists at the time, like U2, REM, Elvis Costello and The Police.
In high school, he began to pick up drums, singing and guitar, learning by ear. His first band was called SCSC, a new wave/punk group.
“We ended up headlining our school talent show my senior year, which to this day is still one of the favorite moments in my life,” he recalls. “The crowd was crazy, and during our first song, they were quickly getting out of hand. The principal pulled me aside and asked me to calm them down. I said I would … if they let us play an extra song. And he did. Everything changed for me after that night.”
He had learned how much he loved being on stage.
“When the spotlight is on, you have to find a way to calm your nerves and perform,” he says. “That experience also taught me that I was limited only by my own fear and insecurity. I learned to set lofty goals that almost seem impossible.
“If you are passionate about achieving those goals and put in the hard work needed, you can accomplish almost anything.”
At Baylor University, he and some friends – bandmates – built a following. After graduation, they started playing in Dallas and Houston, put out a record, played the South by Southwest music festival, and signed a deal for three more records.
“A ton of musicians would kill to play music full time.
At the time, I probably took it for granted. But looking back, it was a special opportunity.”
It was also challenging.
“The lifestyle of touring the country and making records – it’s incredibly difficult. The fun part is playing the shows. But it is an exhausting life.”
The Spin had a bright future. They were in serious talks with a major record label, and were offered an opportunity to tour Eastern Europe and Japan. Then, one of the members decided he had had enough.
“We had made a pact that if one of us ever wanted to leave, we would disband,” says Kenny. So they did.
“I wasn’t happy. I thought we had great things ahead of us. But in retrospect, it was probably a good time to start pursuing a career.”
His older cousin, Patrick Kenny, had joined Medline in 2002, and thought John would do well there. He applied for an acute-care sales role in the Dallas area, and got the job.
“Medline has been a great company to work for, and they have provided me opportunities to grow and learn in a variety of roles,” he says. After working for the company for nine years, he was offered a corporate sales opportunity in Medline’s relatively new physician office division. “I was intrigued by the potential for growth and the challenge of helping build out a new division,” he says.
He is still intrigued today.
The King of Party Bands
Music remains a key part of Kenny’s life. In 2010, he became a founding member and guitarist for a group called Graceland Ninjaz.
“It is difficult to describe the band, and I often ask people who have just seen us how they would describe us the next day to a friend. The most common response is that we are ‘really entertaining.’ We describe ourselves as the King of Party Bands, and our audience is a wide mix of ages. We play many mash-ups with rock, hip hop, and just about anything. The goal is to put on a unique concert experience that all ages can enjoy.”
Indeed, their playlist includes AC/DC, Michael Jackson, Dr. Dre and Tupac Shakur, Jimi Hendrix, Beck, Devo, Eminem and, of course, Elvis.
This past April, Kenny co-founded a second group with a much different approach to music – Epic Unplugged. He describes it as “an MTV Unplugged experience with vocals, a full band and a string quartet,” playing epic rock by such groups as Pink Floyd, Foo Fighters, Led Zeppelin, Oasis, Jack White and Queen.
“It is very unique because we have the featured string quartet, having written unique parts for all of these songs. There does not appear to be a band like it anywhere. The feedback has been positive so far, and we have ten shows lined up for the fall already.”
The members of Graceland Ninjaz and Epic Unplugged manage to keep their rehearsals to a minimum, says Kenny. “The players are all seasoned musicians. Everyone simply learns what they need to on their own, as it is difficult with everyone’s schedules, family and work, to arrange rehearsals. However, I pick up my guitar every day when I’m not on the road.
“I have an amazing wife, Cristina, and five children – Emma, Harper, Vivian, Ewan and Theo,” he says. “Without such an incredible wife, I would not be able to take the time to pursue these music projects, so I am thankful for her every day.”
The kids are all into music to some degree, he says, “and I hope they enjoy those skills in their future as I have.” And who knows, they might pick up some selling skills too. His oldest daughter, Emma, who is studying international business and Chinese, recently completed an internship at Medline.