Meet James Kim of Well Versed & Rounded in North Denver

Today we’d like to introduce you to James Kim.

Thanks for sharing your story with us, James. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I always loved music growing up. It captivated me at a very young age. I’m a Korean American who was adopted as an infant. My parents were very big into Motown music, so the earliest artists I can remember were Aretha Franklin, The Temptations, Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. Both of my parents played music. My mother played the flute, and my father still plays trombone in the community band. The first time I saw a trumpet, I wanted one. When I was in 6th grade, I started a band. I played trumpet and would eventually move onto French horn. I loved playing lead parts and loved concert band. I begged my dad for my first guitar at age 12. Once it was in my possession, I immediately lost interest. I wouldn’t pick it up again until high school.

But I didn’t have many people to jam with or teach me. This was before the internet and tabs. I could play ten intros to popular songs and that’s about it, other than the all to clique Wonderwall and Good Riddance. It wouldn’t be until I turned 21 years old that I would pick it back up. I started to want to play again and wanted a hobby I could invest in and keep doing for years. I started playing again mostly acoustic music. Mainly I stuck to covers and easy covers at that. I started jamming with Chris and Rob Malden, two brothers who I went to college with. Chris was a great drummer and Rob introduced me to the beauty of Lead Guitar. He idolizes Phish and is one of my biggest inspirations to becoming a guitarist. When I moved to Colorado in 2015, I didn’t have many friends so I put a lot of effort into playing.

I would practice for sometimes upwards of 9 hours a day. I met most of the people in all the projects that I am in through Village Tavern. I met Houston Hanna, Chenay McConnell, and Josh Warner. All of these people would become my idols for the next few years. My playing progressed and I found my style and sound. Once that happened people started to notice. I took a page from Jimi Hendrix and tried to jam with as many people as possible, whenever possible, for as long as possible. In 2018 Houston Hanna, Adam Marshall, and Nina Garcia invited me to try out for Well Versed & Rounded. I officially joined in April of 2018. In 2019 Chenay asked me to join her as a lead guitarist and pending 2020 Josh Warner and I have plans to start a folk/blues project.

Has it been a smooth road?
It hasn’t been a smooth road but a road worth taking. One of the biggest struggles I personally faced was self-doubt. Believing that you will never be that good is a hard concept to get over. Also finding your personal style isn’t as easy as it would seem. Learning about the chemistry, it takes to create great music with other musicians was another struggle. The biggest struggle I would say, is finding balance. There are months where all I want to do is play guitar. Then there are months where I would rather do just about anything else other than play guitar. Finding that balance of enjoying it while not becoming obsessive over it and burning yourself out is sometimes difficult. I call it a musical plateau. Sometimes you need to relax and recharge to be able to grow as an artist.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Well Versed & Rounded story. Tell us more about your band.
Well Versed & Rounded is an alternative rock band that was found in Gainesville, FL by Jake Parker and Houston Hanna. It was originally an acoustic duo. Houston moved to Colorado and always still dreamed of pursuing music. Houston met our drummer, Adam Marshall around 2017 and they created the foundation for the band, Nina Garcia joined as their bassist, I wasn’t invited to audition for about a year after and was invited in the same night. It was really awesome because this was a dream come true.

In 2018 Nina moved to Boston and we were in search of a new bassist. One of our friends Tomas Lopez, an extremely talented guitarist, offered to pick up a bass and fill in with us. I offered Tomas to take some songs on bass so he could play lead so he didn’t get bored. The first time I heard him play over our music I realized that not only was he a better guitarist but his style matched our music much better in a lot of ways. I knew immediately that playing lead was not my strongest suit for rock, and switched to bass.

The biggest thing that sets us apart from most other bands is that we can play any kind of music. Our originals stick to the punk-inspired alternative rock genre but we do covers from all eras and most genres. The thing that makes me the most proud of our group is that we’ve been through ups and downs like any band. We’ve had some real rough patches but as a group, we have found a way to look past the drama and realize the chemistry we’ve created. Music comes first.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The biggest changes I see in the industry now are the amount of places to play. The brewery industry has opened up way more options for live music and they typically pay more than venues.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/well_versed_and_rounded/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WellVersedAndRounded/

Image Credit:
David Iwane
Poshtography

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