Long Bio
Greg Kester is a passionate musician and producer whose songs help listeners connect the head to the heart. Blending a creative and technical personality, Kester writes lyrics that explore deep human longings and well-crafted chord complexities that take fans on a journey through natural acoustic roots and edgy alternative rock.
Through powerful, entertaining performances, Greg Kester has inspired both local and international audiences to explore themes that point to some of the deeper questions of our humanity. Vulnerable lyrics, memorable melodies, and dynamic songs invite listeners to acknowledge their ambitions, fears, temptations, love, faith, creativity, and humanity. Kester’s unique playing style blends alternate guitar tunings, percussive, and finger-style acoustic with electric lead guitar and a highly energetic band. The result is an eclectic blend that unites soaring melodies with subtle textures. Kester recently completed a new album - "No Faith In Fear" - released in September, 2017.
Kester’s diverse musical influences, tastes, and friendships developed early, but continue to be shaped today. Early in his years as a musician, Kester was a ravenous listener of almost every style of music and supported by a strong creative community. Inspired by everything from early memories of his father's Jean Luc Ponty records, to the organ at church, and the punk rock scene, Kester began to play the guitar and drums around the age of 11. Growing up in Bethlehem, PA, near the Martin Guitar factory, the historic sound, iconic artists, and culture helped develop an early passion for the acoustic guitar. Along the way, the blues and early favorite artists like the Police inspired electric guitar. In combination with friends in the hip hop DJ circuit, this soon led to performances with friends' bands, local coffee houses, and open-mic nights that often blended folk, pop, and rock with hip hop, down-tempo, and jazz. This music culture created a natural step into songwriting and Kester’s audio engineering interest.
While completing his engineering and entrepreneurship degree at Penn State University, Kester wrote, recorded, and performed with various bands throughout the Central Pennsylvania region as well as Philadelphia and New York. Momentum built through the attention of a small Pittsburgh-based label release and local east coast publicity in 2007. Upon graduation, Kester moved into a music home in the small town of Lemont, PA with the band Juno Day. For a full year, most time was focused on songwriting, guitar technique, recording and production, while building the business-foundation for an independent music career. Partnering with members from Acalasia and local engineers, Kester continued to build his knowledge in the art/science of recording with friends from across the country. Journeying through the east coast in 2009, songs were recorded in nostalgic settings, basements, living rooms, as well as high-end recording studios with many of those people that had been part of the music journey since the beginning. This culminated in the self-released Balance EP in 2010 and an unreleased acoustic recording in 2011 with cellist Debi Ou-Yang.
Soon after, Greg moved to San Diego, California and partnered with producer Aaron Hall in the construction of a state of the art recording studio in Oceanside, CA. After a year and a half of construction, the studio was completed and Kester dove further into audio engineering and production while writing sessions again took place with musicians from across the country. The Telios EP was released in 2014. With the new studio, Kester aimed to capture the energy of live takes and build a local music community. He has spent the last 3 years connecting with amazing musicians in San Diego, including his wife Tara, who has greatly contributed to the new recordings. The team has been focused on the songwriting, production, and recording process. The most recent project aims to capture this spirit of great friends and family making music together and is by far the most ambitious project yet. The resulting album, "No Faith In Fear" was released in September 2017.
Kester’s diverse musical influences, tastes, and friendships developed early, but continue to be shaped today. Early in his years as a musician, Kester was a ravenous listener of almost every style of music and supported by a strong creative community. Inspired by everything from early memories of his father's Jean Luc Ponty records, to the organ at church, and the punk rock scene, Kester began to play the guitar and drums around the age of 11. Growing up in Bethlehem, PA, near the Martin Guitar factory, the historic sound, iconic artists, and culture helped develop an early passion for the acoustic guitar. Along the way, the blues and early favorite artists like the Police inspired electric guitar. In combination with friends in the hip hop DJ circuit, this soon led to performances with friends' bands, local coffee houses, and open-mic nights that often blended folk, pop, and rock with hip hop, down-tempo, and jazz. This music culture created a natural step into songwriting and Kester’s audio engineering interest.
While completing his engineering and entrepreneurship degree at Penn State University, Kester wrote, recorded, and performed with various bands throughout the Central Pennsylvania region as well as Philadelphia and New York. Momentum built through the attention of a small Pittsburgh-based label release and local east coast publicity in 2007. Upon graduation, Kester moved into a music home in the small town of Lemont, PA with the band Juno Day. For a full year, most time was focused on songwriting, guitar technique, recording and production, while building the business-foundation for an independent music career. Partnering with members from Acalasia and local engineers, Kester continued to build his knowledge in the art/science of recording with friends from across the country. Journeying through the east coast in 2009, songs were recorded in nostalgic settings, basements, living rooms, as well as high-end recording studios with many of those people that had been part of the music journey since the beginning. This culminated in the self-released Balance EP in 2010 and an unreleased acoustic recording in 2011 with cellist Debi Ou-Yang.
Soon after, Greg moved to San Diego, California and partnered with producer Aaron Hall in the construction of a state of the art recording studio in Oceanside, CA. After a year and a half of construction, the studio was completed and Kester dove further into audio engineering and production while writing sessions again took place with musicians from across the country. The Telios EP was released in 2014. With the new studio, Kester aimed to capture the energy of live takes and build a local music community. He has spent the last 3 years connecting with amazing musicians in San Diego, including his wife Tara, who has greatly contributed to the new recordings. The team has been focused on the songwriting, production, and recording process. The most recent project aims to capture this spirit of great friends and family making music together and is by far the most ambitious project yet. The resulting album, "No Faith In Fear" was released in September 2017.
