Millionaire musician inspired by Tolkien

By CATHRIN SCHAER

This is a strange tale of a mobile-catering millionaire, The Lord of the Rings and real estate in Queenstown.

It began with a young musician called Kevin Carlin - aka "Carlin" - who grew up in Fresno, California, listening to classical music.

"My father is a composer and arranger," explains Carlin, who composed, produced and played on the New Zealand-made light orchestral CD The Quest, which also features the NZ Symphony Orchestra and the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra.

Carlin's father started him on the cello at age 6, followed by the piano and flute. By the time he was 10 Carlin could play eight instruments. Throughout his youth he often rehearsed three hours a day - at which stage he rebelled and joined a rock band.

"But two decades later, here I am, involved with exactly what my father was," he says. "I mean, it's not often you get to your 40s to find yourself being appreciated as a musician."

It's been a haul. After living broke in a tent during his rebel rock years, Carlin figured he was never going to make a good living playing in a covers band five nights a week. So he worked in catering before opening a restaurant. He also prepared meals on the road for musicians such as Van Halen, Tom Petty and Olivia Newton John.

In 1980, he built his first mobile kitchen to prepare food on location. This was the beginnings of a company, Carlin Manufacturing Inc, which now produces mobile kitchens and specialty vehicles for clients in more than 30 countries, including Burger King, McDonalds, the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army. The company made Carlin's fortune.

Carlin first visited New Zealand in the early 90s and several holidays later bought land in Queenstown, then moved here. "I thought it would be a good place for my children to live. I didn't like the attitude of people in the US and even back then, it was a pretty violent place. So I've never looked back and I'll never live there again. I'm proud to be a New Zealander now, and my children have Kiwi accents."

where he's had more time for himself, nteIn Queenstown, he's in charge of four companies, most of which deal with property on the edge of Lake Wakatipu.

"I didn't even own a piano for 15 years," he says.

But in 1998 he read Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. "And the words were just so vivid, they really called to me."

Those words called him all the way to his newly acquired piano. Within one afternoon, he had written the first three pieces of music that would feature on The Quest.

Carlin was inspired by the South Island mountain scenery. He submitted the music to the producers of the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy but it was rejected. This did not stop the man who gave the world hot dogs on wheels. Carlin paid for his own recording of The Quest with the NZSO in 1999. "After all," he says, "as a musician you want people to hear your work. If they didn't, then it would be like a painter hanging his art in a closet."

Is The Quest a vanity project? Says Carlin, "A record company isn't about to discover some guy playing his piano at home. I never thought I would be getting a recording contract at the age of 47 and this was really an artistic pursuit, a labour of love."

However, one record company did spot the CD's appeal. Zomba, the label of Britney Spears and N-Sync, has released the record here and plans to release it in Australia. Already that faith looks justified. The Quest is doing well in terms of sales, there have been hundreds of hits on its website and the CD has already gone gold (retailers have ordered enough, 7500, to get Carlin a gold record in New Zealand). An outdoor concert is being considered and Carlin has been approached by makers of another movie interested in using some of his compositions on their soundtrack.

Cynics might ask if The Quest is riding piggyback on the interest in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. After all, the CD artwork and TV advertisements feature cloaked horse-riders and glowing swords. .

"You'll see there's no mention of Tolkien on the CD," says Carlin. "It's just that as a composer you can't deny your source of inspiration."