‘A Night for Phil’ honors the late Arson Class drummer Phil Kinsley with recordBar blowout May 15

Arson Class. // photo by Sid Sowder

Right at the start of this year, Arson Class drummer Phil Kinsley passed after a battle with cancer.

On Friday, May 15, Danny Phillips of Dr. 47 Presents will put on a benefit concert at RecordBar to raise money for Kinsley’s sons. Entitled “A Night for Phil,” the show will feature The Uncouth, Red Kate, Sirens in the Suburbs, Deco Auto, White Line Nightmares, Phase Distorter, and F!ASCO.

Organizer Phillips describes the show as more “a good old Irish wake than a funeral,” and notes that “I’m not planning for speeches or anything like that. I think Phil probably would just want the music playing,” but acknowledges the sadness which will likely accompany the revelry.

“The ball started rolling on this before Phil passed away,” Phillips says. “The hope was he would actually get to be there. Phil gave me his blessing to do it. He knew it was happening.”

All the bands on the bill have either played a show with Phil Kinsley or knew him through Arson Class, and Phillips says that the show came together in record time because of the love and desire to help.

“Once I decided on what bands I wanted, I probably had this lineup solidified within three or four hours,” Phillips says. “To everybody’s credit, everybody said ‘yes’ immediately.”

Jason Meier, drummer of White Line Nightmares, agrees, saying that the he and the rest of the band agreed to do it for numerous reasons, calling it a “no-brainer” decision. While White Line Nightmares’ members hate the reason they’re doing it, they’re happy to lend their name and time to the cause.

“We were happy to do it for all the obvious reasons,” Meier explains. “That, and because cancer has directly affected our band. Paul [Krowas, guitar and vocals] is a two-time survivor of it now, and it’s also what took out my mom.”

The last band on the bill, F!ASCO, features members of Red Kate and the Eradicats, and will see Arson Class’ frontman Chris Kinsley, Phil’s brother, performing the songs of their band for the last time. It will not be without a little bit of emotion when that happens, says Andy Whelan, drummer of Red Kate and F!ASCO.

“I knew Phil from when he moved up to Kansas City to start playing with his brother, Chris,” Whelan explains. “Chris and I go back a long time and he’d occasionally mention his brother played drums and was pretty good. Usually, when someone vouches for their sibling, you take it with a grain of salt, but the first time I saw him with Arson Class, I immediately knew I was wrong to doubt.”

Phil Kinsley was a great player who really pushed the band, continues Whelan, saying that what was even better was that he was not only a great guy, but a dedicated father and a friend to those who got to know him.

“He was very quiet and reserved, which I really respected, but if you brought up baseball, he’d open up,” recollects Whelan. “I got the bittersweet honor to fill in for him when he started to get really sick and really got an appreciation for some of the subtleties of his playing. Stuff that only drummers would pay any attention to, and make them jealous. I’m again honored to borrow the seat for this last run through the Arson Class set.”

Dr. 47 Presents “A Night for Phil” with The Uncouth, Red Kate, Sirens in the Suburbs, Deco Auto, White Line Nightmares, Phase Distorter, and F!ASCO at RecordBar on Friday, May 15. Details on that show here.

For those who can’t make the show, but still want to help out the Kinsley family, donations can be sent via PayPal to Bobbiej2@hotmail.com.