Today we’d like to introduce you to Kevin OQuinn.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My name is Kevin O’Quinn — “Kevo” — and I am the co-founder of the smoothest rock band in South Carolina, The Yacht Club. Our story has a lot of moving parts. I will narrate and start this journey off with myself.
I am a long-time musician in Charleston South Carolina. I had minor fame in the 90s very close to being signed to Virgin Records, in a very popular local/regional band called “Wretched Excess.” I’ve been playing in the Charleston area since. I currently play guitar and serve at Northwood Church. In 2002, my wife Holly and I started a legal videography/court reporting company that we still own today.
Early on, I became the band director at a church in the Charleston area, playing and serving for many years. In 2016/2017 we were needing musicians at the church, and I wanted to go in a direction to search for professional musicians to join. I put an ad in a local social media group. Enter Lane Doss, who is now the co-founder and Captain of The Yacht Club. Lane answered the ad almost immediately. He came in and we clicked very well at Church. While there, we discussed playing together in a band outside of Church in hopes of one day creating a Smooth ’70s and ’80s band, this band can also be coined as a Yacht Rock Band. Lane and I eventually left the Church but continued to talk about our direction.
Lane, a devoted Christian like myself, a teacher in a prominent Music School in Charleston is from Atlanta playing in “That 80s Band” a very popular band there and another band called, “Like Totally 80s” later in Philadelphia. Lane had lots of his own success in different bands before moving here to Charleston.
Lane and I really got serious, about finding a name for our project. I started all the back-end marketing and social media production as I have a background in that area. I know a lot of people in Charleston and started using resources to find the right people for this band. This project was solely about finding respectful, Christian people while making musicianship second. Usually, bands are formed with the sole attention on musicianship. This was about finding people who didn’t need to play for money and did not want to play every weekend but had high visions of playing high-end shows and high-end establishments and events to push this band to a high level.
The first thing I did was reach out to one of my high school bandmates that were in my very first band, and one of my best friends, Dr. Bernie Miller, “The Doc of Rock.” A Christian fellow, and a chiropractor locally. Bernie has played in bands since our high school days. He actually was on the USA powerlifting team and medical director of the IPF and performed chiropractic on the rock group kiss. The Doc of Rock also was a bronze medalist in powerlifting creating records yet to beat here in South Carolina. He had recently left another band in Charleston. He was immediately on board and the timing was right for him.
I then found another high school friend Mark Blewer, “Bird”, who was one of the best drummers in the area with tons of experience. A strong Christian himself, Mark had played in many bands, almost signing a music contract himself.
The Doc of Rock and I then sought long-time bass player Marvin Amerson, who is a member of the Lowcountry Music Hall of Fame, and another good Christian fellow. He had his Fame in a band in the ’80s called “The Charleston Express” here locally with a hit on the radio.
We then needed a soulful tone-driven keyboard player to fill this band out and make it complete. I reached out to a long-time musician friend of mine Chris Glenn, the finance director at Roper St Francis Healthcare, who put us in touch with Andy Lyons, “The Speaker of the Yacht.” Andy, a journalist for 17 years and now the spokesman for Roper St Francis Healthcare, the largest private employer in the area, was a hidden gem in the community, playing in jam bands in the Charleston area himself, and we got him. On top of that, another good Christian man.
We started practicing and realized that we needed more vocal presence. Marvin put us on a long time, locally famed singer Tammy “Tunes” Rentz. Her life is filled with beauty pageants, guest appearances on the Johnny Cash show, becoming Miss Charleston, having her own studio, among other accolades, and again, another good Christian presence in the band. She kicked this band into high gear.
We practiced and practiced to learn 40 songs. The Captain and I came up with the name “Yacht Rock-it,” but decided to change it after we had purchased the domain name and all the social media. Playing only one show under that name.
The band was brainstorming one night, and very quickly came up with “The Yacht Club.” I immediately started grabbing all the social media I could under our catchphrase, “Smooth Sailing Rock.” Everything that we have on social media is @smoothsailingrock! Our website is www.smoothsailingrock.com. After getting our social media and songs in order, we used our fashion sense of Andy to change the direction of our wardrobe to where it is at today, more of the late ‘70s, Yacht Rock vibe away from the ’80s prep fashion that we started with.
As we practiced, I decided to call my Uncle Bubba Taylor at Fat Cat Productions to be our booking agent. Years of experience in this field since the late 70s along with being my family, made it easy to pick him. Most members of the band knew of him and his reputation. After practicing, we were picked to open up for a national artist at the opening of the Roper St. Francis Berkeley Hospital. We did very well and got a lot of attention. We had a few shows at the Windjammer and continue to play there with all the great people there today.
After the smoke cleared getting to a place, we were comfortable, I had to make a change at bass. We were very sorry to see Marvin go, his wisdom and knowledge really helped get the band running. Captain Doss is also in an Eagles tribute band here locally called “Last Resort.” He suggested bringing in their bassist, John Rhodes also known as “JR”, to hold down the low end. Yet another Christian and knowledgeable presence in the band who is a network manager at a prominent bank locally and has been playing bass in bands over multiple States for years. At the same time, it turned out that our drummer Mark had to relocate due to his wife’s work. We hated to see him go. We had shown coming up and had to find a new drummer quick. This was not going to be easy. I then reached out again, to my friend Chris Glenn, asking him first as he is an accomplished drummer himself, but he was unable to fulfill this obligation. Chris connected me with Jim Ratcliffe, “Ratt”, a drummer that has been playing here for as long as I have, sharing the stage with “Better than Ezra” and “Cowboy Mouth” and members of “Kool and the Gang.” Jim is our only military presence in the band as he was in the Navy. After leaving the Navy, he continues to work as a contractor for the government and at this current time very close to graduating to become an electrical engineer. We reached out and he was on board. Another Christian presence in the band with great vocals. It turns out that after Ratt and I started playing together, we realized, we were actually in a band together after my famed band broke up in the early years. Fate had brought us back together; we had just gotten older and didn’t recognize each other. We now had our band complete again. We also learned that we had major reinforcements on vocals as JR and Ratt could sing very well. This was a huge plus. We then started practicing and the band kicked into a higher gear.
The captain and I are so thankful and amazed by all these good Christian people who happened to be amazing musicians brought together as one. Praying before each show, this band is full of good-hearted, like-minded, unselfish people who share one goal and put their heart and soul into practicing these great songs in order to make them sound as close to the original as possible, but importantly putting their own flare on them. Everyone in the band has a professional job and considers the band as their second full-time job. Even though I am considered the leader, we have a very democratic system, and we do almost everything as a band.
Currently in April 2022 after living through covid and other struggles, progress has brought us to popularity playing at corporate events, weddings, and public shows. Social media is building every day and there is a bright future for us here locally and in neighboring states. Looks like smooth sailing heading our way!
The Yacht Club is South Carolina’s smoothest band and is here to serve up some smooth sailing rock for you!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Some of the Yacht Club’s early on struggles were dealing with the band name, losing two members, and having to replace them in the middle of learning 40 songs, while getting prepared to play our first few shows. Of course, covid put a huge dent into things. We have come out many times betting after all these struggles. They made us work harder and make better decisions.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I personally run and operate my own legal video/court reporting business. My wife and I started the business in 2002. We assist the legal community with recording the record at depositions. I also work on media such as network administration, computer issues, and music on hold.
Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
My only major risk in life was to end my job at AOL/Time Warner, to pursue my current business. I took a second mortgage out on my home to live for 3 months and pay for training and equipment for my current business. It was a tough decision at the time, but I was at the point where I had to make that decision. It paid off for me and my wife.
Contact Info:
- Email: ahoy@smoothsailingrock.com
- Website: www.smoothsailingrock.com
- Instagram: @smoothsailingrock
- Facebook: @smoothsailingrock
- Twitter: @smoothsailingrock
- Youtube: @smoothsailingrock
Image Credits
Renee Lyons
