Kind Villain’s current single ‘I’m A Little Off’ is forging a powerful personal connection with an audience of fans who connect with its first-person reflection of dealing with neuro divergency. Now Kind Villain – a project led by the 21-year-old Tampa Bay musician Ev Frederick – launches the track’s accompanying video for the song as he introduces himself to UK audiences.
Gritty melody, defiant attitude and full-force feelings power the emo / pop-punk anthem ‘I’m A Little Off’. Ev’s lyrics not only accept but celebrate being different from the pack (“When God made me, he coloured outside the lines/ a beautiful mess, a puzzle by design”). But just as important is the realisation that our differences are what make us who we are, a rich tapestry of different characters who all contribute our own perspectives to the world. He wrote the song with its multi-Platinum producer Paul Trust (Morgan Wallen, STARSET, Say Anything).
The Kind Villain back story also breaks the mould. Ev was just 13-years-old when he started sneaking into a local rock bar, and it wasn’t long before the local bands would encourage him to step up on stage to perform everything from Green Day to Linkin Park via Lynyrd Skynyrd. That unorthodox grounding gave him the foundations for the full-throttle shows he now delivers, which have resulted in three Best Concert nominations at Creative Loafing’s Best of the Bay awards and have seen him support Daughtry.
The Kind Villain project got started in 2021, with songs such as ‘This Is Not A Love Song, It’s A Cry For Help’ and ‘Dancing As The World Burns’ informed by alt-rock, pop-punk and emo but also touching upon hip-hop, alt-pop and post-hardcore. His diverse influences have also seen him put his take on songs as eclectic as Khalid’s ‘8teen’ and ‘Certain Doom’ by early 2000s Miami emo scene favourites Sunday Driver. His song ‘Bulletproof’ was his first track to land airplay across North America, while further Best of the Bay award acclaim saw him win Best Vocalist and Best Song.
Aside from his rock ‘n’ roll heart, Ev Frederick is also passionate about theatre. He performed as Audrey II in a rock opera take on ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ when he was younger, and will feature in an upcoming musical adaptation of Green Day’s ‘American Idiot’ at Tampa’s Jaeb Theater – a natural progression from singing in a Green Day tribute band when he was a teenager. He is also hyped to be planning his debut UK tour this summer.
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