Kyle Ward is a multi-instrumentalist, writer, producer, teacher, gear freak and more. He has recently graduated from Berklee College of Music with a degree in Contemporary Writing and Production and has accomplished a lot for his twenty-three years of age. He started playing guitar at eight and taught himself to play drums shortly thereafter. Kyle was the founder and lead guitarist of Ardvark Smile (an award-winning Jersey Shore band). The band won the "Rock-to-the-Top" Contest at the legendary Stone Pony in Asbury Park after beating out 100 other groups and selling out their headlining show at the venue. Kyle is now an up and coming writer and producer and the lead guitarist for several groups including Guilty Pleasure, Rachel Ana Dobken, The Sam Sims Band, and Elk/Ward Duo, and is a member of the WimBash-All Stars, a group of “A” list musicians put together by Doug Wimbish, the bassist of funk-rock band Living Colour. Corey Glover, Jeff Levine, Mark Rivera, Paul Pesco, Rocky Bryant, Marc Ribler, Daru Jones, Taz Niederauer, Raghav Mehrotra and many other cool guests play with the All Stars. Kyle also plays with Rachel Ana Dobken and Pam McCoy and Familiar Faces, among others.
Kyle graduated from Rumson-Fair Haven High School where he received the Performing Arts Society Award as well as the John Philip Sousa Award for Musical Excellence. In the summer of 2014, Kyle was an honoree at the Rockin’ Music Academy of Middletown and was recognized as one of the best guitarists in the history of the Academy. He was welcomed into the Holiday Express family of musicians in November 2014, and was their youngest instrumentalist. He logged close to twenty shows with some of New Jersey’s best musicians before starting at Berklee.
In High School, Kyle participated in many prestigious music programs including Summer programs at the Berklee College of Music, the Grammy Foundation’s Grammy Camp, University of the Arts Summer Jazz Performance Program, NYU Future Music Moguls at the Clive Davis School of Music, The Jazz Arts Program and Rockit at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, NJ, School of Rock All Stars, Rockin' Music Academy Band and Summer Programs, Musicians Studio and the RFHRHS Jazz and Percussion Ensembles. He was also a finalist for best under twenty-one instrumentalist at the Asbury Park JAM Awards.
Kyle has taught private guitar lessons for many years and currently works as an instructor at the Lake House Music and Recording Studio with students of all ages and ability levels including master classes. Additionally, he worked in production for Two River Picture and at Eventide Audio, a company that makes pedals and plugins for a wide variety of instruments. Kyle tested and debugged pedal software and plugins and contributed to social media by posting pictures and videos on Instagram and Facebook promoting or demonstrating different products, appearing/performing in some.
Kyle has produced podcasts (most notably for "Food Lies", commercials, videos and other picture-based medium including videos for young star Angelina Bella. He played several instruments in, as well as produced her recent video "What's Up" which tells the story of a young dancer battling cancer.
Kyle has been fortunate to perform with many extraordinary musicians, including Bobby Bandiera and Matt O’Ree (Bon Jovi), Brian Kirk and the Jirks, Corey Glover and Doug Wimbish (Living Colour), Daru Jones (Jack White Band), Heather Joseph and John McCarthy (Chemical Z), the Holiday Express musicians, Mark Rivera (Billy Joel), Rocky Bryant (Average White Band), Paul Pesco (Madonna; Hall & Oates), Quincy Mumford, Dramarama, Sam Sims, Scott Elk and so many others. Kyle has opened for Quincy Mumford and The Reason Why, Steve Forbert, The Haven, The Wailers and Willie Nile Band.
Kyle has had the privilege of performing at many amazing venues, including twice at NAMM at the Anaheim Convention Center, The Zihuatenejo International Guitar Festival, Asbury Hotel, Berkeley Hotel, Ocean Place Resort, Commodore Grill in Nashville, Count Basie Center for the Arts, Six Flags Great Adventure, McLoone’s Supper Club, PNC Bank Arts Center, Stone Pony, Strand Theatre, The Bitter End in Greenwich Village, The Saint and Wonder Bar among many others.
Kyle will be performing at many galas, fundraisers, and special events in the near future including The Monmouth Park Charity Fund, Monmouth Conservation Foundation, Lunch Break, Horizons of the Jersey Shore, The Brookdale Community College Foundation, The Women's Heart Fund of Hackensack Meridian Health, The Purr'N Pooch Foundation, The Monmouth County SPCA, The Parker Family Health Center and more.