Singled Out: Kelakos' Livin On The Planet Love

Keavin Wiggins | 11-07-2023

Album promo

Kelakos just returned with their first new music in 45 years, "Livin On The Planet Love", and to celebrate we asked Bassist and mixer-producer Linc Bloomfield to tell us about the track. The track comes from their forhtcoming album, "Hurtling Towards Extinction". Here is the story:

Band leader George Kelakos Haberstroh and I stayed connected through the years. I was in government in DC and he stayed very private, writing, singing and making personal recordings. Focusing on his songwriting and mine probably kept me at least from being influenced by all the later trends. Our songwriting is rooted in late 60s and 70s guitar music with a strong bottom end and production built around the vocal.

Livin' on the Planet Love was the first song where George and I really connected on a way to build a good record working far apart. I have a Pro Tools studio and created a basic track with computer drums, rhythm guitar, bass, and piano. George sent me vocal and lead guitar tracks and then had me fine-tune rhythm parts to match his exact concept. We debated blending background harmonies with lead solo licks -- some producers would say no, keep it simple -- but we decided that was part of our musical brand. Mark Sisson came up with a repeat harmonic sound and part that matches the space theme. Carl Canedy ripped an amazing drum track to round out the production.

Carl has extensive recording experience, drumming on about 47 albums, and he brought in a great video team which pulled some interesting visual ideas together behind the song and lyrics. I could immediately see that videos are a whole new way to reach people, just like the music itself, and we put our personal stamp on this one. It captures the vibe of Kelakos performing in the 70s and shows some of our roots while also putting some pretty strong images behind the lyrics about the world of today. The reaction from Kelakos fans has been an explosion of enthusiasm. They waited a long time.

People might ask, what is George telling us with the lyrics? "I'm Livin' on the planet love, I'm dealing with no respect." Is he talking about the world? Is he talking about himself? The band? Some things are better left for the listener to decide.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more about the band here