Rock solid success for Kissing the Flint
Kissing the Flint is a Gladstone-based musical outfit featuring Leah Chynoweth-Tidy, in collaboration with other artists including husband Ken on bass.
Leah Chynoweth-Tidy and husband Ken in action as Kissing The Flint. Photo by Photopia Studios, Gladstone.
An eclectic cross-genre act, Kissing the Flint's originals and covers span roots, folk, reggae, soul, funk, rock and pop, driven by guitar, bass, drum loops and Leah's versatile vocals.
"Kissing the Flint initially came into my mind as a simple visual image,” Leah says.
"To 'kiss the flint’ also means to cause a spark or to light a fire - which is what music has done from the very beginning.
"Music sparks emotion, communication, passion, joy, the urge to move and vocalise. What a fantastic buzz to create sparks, to be able to share and affect others positively through what I absolutely love to do."
Obsessed with singing from a very young age, Leah started writing songs and performing professionally in 2012 after learning to play guitar and ukulele to accompany her powerful voice.
Over the next few years she fronted cover bands ded@27, Cosmic String Theory and Dr Trouble at various venues and events around the Gladstone region, including a four-year run at the Agnes Water Blues Roots & Rock Festival.
Leah began performing solo as Kissing The Flint, and was then joined by husband Ken on bass. They also collaborate with other artists when they're looking for a particular sound.
Leah's adventures as Kissing The Flint include performing at Beach Art Music, Crow Street Creative, and local Commonwealth Games Baton Relay festivities.
Last year she was one of 12 finalists in the Queensland Music Festival's Songs That Made Me, a mentorship program supporting emerging female singer-songwriters in regional areas and addressing the under-representation of women in the Australian music industry. Songs That Made Me gave Leah the opportunity to be mentored by Katie Noonan, Leigh Carriage, Deborah Conway, Clare Bowditch, Hannah Macklin and Hayley Marsten, and to be part of various workshops building up to a live gig on the Gladstone Marina stage with an all-female rhythm section.
Kissing the Flint is recording some originals at the moment with Dave Beacon at Calliope's High Lion Studios, and have plenty of live gigs in the works from the next Crow Street Creative Food and Music Fest on August 25 to returning to Bundaberg's Heart and Soul Festival as a featured artist in February 2019.
"Very few “jobs” allow the opportunity to dress up and get up on stage in front of a live audience," Leah says.
"What’s not to love about that?”