The Band
Next of Kin began 20 years ago, when the three of us were grad students at the University of Alberta. Though we have all pursued professional careers, music is our first and true love. We now live in different cities in Western Canada, but continue to get together regularly to play and record music at our studio in Canmore Alberta, adjacent to Cougar Creek.
Each of us brings a different musical style to the group, and the combination is magical. Our music is best categorized as folk-rock, with elements of Celtic, blues, pop, and country. Our forte is strong vocal harmonies and rich instrumental arrangements. We write our own material, with an emphasis on ear-catching melodies, lyrics that matter, and an irresistible beat.
Rob Holt
Rob is the band's piano and bass player, and plays a variety of other instruments as well. He received
his Ph.D. from the University of Alberta in medical pharmacology in 1998. He is presently
head of Sequencing at the Genome Sciences Centre in BC and professor of molecular biology at UBC.
Earlier, Rob worked on Craig Venter's team sequencing the human genome and is a coauthor of the famous 2001 Science
paper that announced this feat to the world.
Bruce McGee
Bruce is the band's main guitar player. Bruce received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from
the University of Alberta in 1998. He is the president and CEO of the McMillan-McGee Corporation, based out
of Calgary. Bruce is the inventor of the ET-DSP™ process which his company uses to conduct thermal
remediation for cleaning contaminated sites all over the globe.
Rick Schneider
Rick plays mandolin and guitar for the band, along with a number of other instruments. He is also the lead
mixing engineer for the group. Rick obtained his Ph.D. in wildlife epidemiology from the University of Guelph in
1992. His area of expertise is boreal forest ecology and conservation and is he is currently affiliated with the
Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alberta. Rick has written a book on boreal forest
management and has been an influential figure in the development of conservation policy in Alberta.