72 Commercial St
Portland, ME 04101
USA
Live music with Ben Kilcollins
Born in 1985 among the potato fields of Fort Fairfield, Maine, Ben Kilcollins quickly became conversant with music through church choir and eventually after enough plunking around, piano lessons. He soon blossomed an allure for guitar and a hatred for the black and white keys he had previously attempted. Kilcollins started taking guitar lessons from local rock god of chaos; Jay McKenney. After learning and rocking out God Of Thunder by KISS, focus was turned to Kilcollins first attempts at original songs. Feeling the groove of uninterrupted musical communication and realizing the potential, McKenney encouraged and supported his songwriting and soon it became the heart of the lessons. Not long after, the band EUPHONY was formed that included Doug Ayoob on lead guitar and Tyler Bernaiche on drums, both under the instruction of McKenney. Headlining the Potato Blossom Festival Street Dance and playing consistently at Wizards Ballroom (yeah.. remember Wizards?) EUPHONY was widely recognized as “an awesome high school band!”
In 2003 Kilcollins attended his first year at Berklee College of Music in Boston.
In 2006 Kilcollins left Berklee School of Music to stop spending so much money.
In 2006 he moved to Portland, Me to get out of the big(ger) city. Through friends at University of New England, this Sweet Potato Boy began playing open mics at the college and soon found himself opening for Jason Spooner at a college event. In the following year he soon began headlining his own shows at UNE and on April 19th 2007 he recorded his one hour performance. He had developed a bigger taste for stage and dropped off his live CD at a few bars around Portland. Gaining great exposure and playfully connecting with audiences, Kilcollins was soon entertaining fans across southern Maine.