Today we’d like to introduce you to Bill Kavanagh.
Bill, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I have been married to Maria Kavanagh for 44 years. We have a 35 year-old daughter, a 30 year-old son and three granddaughters, who are 9, 7 and 5. I grew up at Cicero and Jackson on the West Side and have lived in Oak Park since 1967. I have been clean and sober since 1983. I’ve been a musician since fourth grade (trumpet), adding guitar in seventh and bass guitar and singing at the end of eighth. In my late teens and early 20s I was a musician who did stained glass to pay the bills and then, in my late 20s and 30s, a musician who fixed houses, and then a carpenter who also played music. At 39 I went back to school and went from a GED through a Certificate in Addictions Counseling at Triton College, a BA in Organizational Management at Concordia and finally, an MSW at Loyola in six & a half years, emerging the other end as a psychotherapist and addictions counselor who played music on the side. I worked at the local community mental health center, with part-time work as a crisis counselor at the local high school, and ran a weekly family group at a local halfway house for women, as well as having a private practice using Internal Family Systems Therapy. In 2002 I opened BobDog Studios, a digital audio recording studio in Oak Park Il, and by August 2010 was able to let go of psychotherapy and become a full-time studio owner, engineer and producer who also plays bass guitar and sings with two regular rock bands (The Hurtin Kind & The Cubes), eight irregular bands, a number of singer-songwriters, while also occasionally subbing on bass guitar with a few other bands. BDS has supported many causes, especially those relating to teens, donating studio time to the local fundraisers and to the winners of the annual Illinois Battles Of The Bands on the local, regional and state levels, as well as battles at the local high school and in surrounding suburbs. In 2014 I began writing my own songs, so now I also put together the occasional band of ringers and play some gigs as Bill Kavanagh and Friends, where I get to play my original songs and some choice covers with amazing friends and musicians. Over 65 albums, EPs and singles recorded at BobDog have been released in the past 16 years by various artists. A recent album by one of my clients (Rich Krueger’s “Life Ain’t That Long”) was given an ‘A’ by Robert Christgau, the self-titled “American Dean of Music Critics”.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Smooth? No. Worth it? Definitely. I battled myself, authority and depression as a youth, and in a lousy attempt to adapt, became an alcoholic by 21. Since becoming clean and sober at 30 years-old I’ve been learning how to live life on life’s terms, in the present, instead of being off in the past or the future.
BobDog Studios – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
BobDog Studios is a digital audio recording studio in Oak Park. I record, edit, mix and master audio using top-of-the-line analog gear into Cubase a German based digital audio workstation. I pride myself on my editing skills and my ability to listen to and relate to my clients, who are mostly musicians like me. My psychotherapy skills come in handy here.
What’s your favorite memory from childhood?
I was a smart fat kid, with lousy social skills, as you might expect from a smart fat kid. I grew up in Austin and as I was hitting my teens, the realtor-inflamed block-busting white flight took place, turning our neighborhood and what friendships I had upside down. My father’s clientele all moved to the burbs and we went from being solidly middle class to poor in a very short time. Music was my first love — my passion — and I clung to it to get me through. It only took me until I was in my mid-50s to figure out how to pay the mortgage with music on a regular basis.
Pricing:
- $50 per hour for Recording, Editing and Mixing.
- $75 per hour for Mastering
- Lower rates apply for blocks of 8 or more hours booked in a day.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bobdogstudios.com
- Phone: 708-386-0051
- Email: vc@bobdogstudios.com
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/BobDogStudios/
Image Credit:
Jose Uribe, Lizz Sisson, Mark Ballogg Photography, King Cormack
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
