chris kuklis

my name is chris.

i'm a musician.

i went to the new school for jazz&contemporarymusic. some people really like to play jazz. i was there for the contemporary music.

during my time at the school, i studied with amazing musicians. some whose impact was the greatest: gerry hemingway, william parker, amir ziv, & mary halvorson.

my primary instrument is the electric guitar, though i often use it more as a sound tool than a conventional instrument. textures & timbres fascinate me, & i use a lot of effects to broaden the possibilities. other sound sources include: casio keyboards (vl-tone & casiotone), ipod, & whatever else happens to be nearby

i've played at: the stone, birdland, goodbye blue monday, dizzy's club, unnameable books, southpaw, death by audio, asterisk, a communist bookstore, cake shop, a masonic temple, basements in new jersey, the khyber in philly, & others. all of these venues are wonderful & interesting in their own distinct ways, although it is important to remember that the sounds made matter much more than the place.

i grew up in central new york, in small towns surrounded by woods. though i'm now in this city of cement & energy, part of me is still walking in a creek barefoot in the hot summer sun, trudging through deep snow & hearing the satisfying icy crunch under heavy boots, in the mud & the scent of earth & vivid leaves in fall, mossy roots & ferns & cornfields, mazes of japanese knotweed, strong rivers, broad lakes, & tranquil ponds, dragonflies & songbirds, the stillness in deepest night, that dark november when the leonids lit up the sky, & that sound the leaves make just before a storm. if you've never known these things (which are only a glimpse), you have yet to truly live.