Nishant Kanavathy Brings his Engineering Magic to The Doohickey's Debut Album

The Acclaimed Sound Engineer Brings Out the Country Band’s Unique Sound to a Modern Audience!

LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, August 27, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Growing up in Malaysia, Nishant “kNish” Kanavathy didn’t know much about country music as he gravitated toward rap and rock music.

“I was a late bloomer. I got my first guitar when I was 16,” said the music veteran who is known in the industry as kNish. “It was kind just sitting ther til I went to my first concert—Slash live in Kuala Lumpur in 2010. It was a liberating moment and I walked out saying that’s what I want to do. What attracted me most was that there was a moment there where I didn’t just see the self expression of a mega star, but I felt it with every fiber of my being.”

kNish’s passion for music is evident today in his sound engineer work in the debut album of The Doohickeys, a country band made up of its founders, Jack Hackett and Haley Brown, along with Adam Arcos on bass, Jordan Bush on pedal steel guitar, banjo and harmonica, and Kevin Brown on drums.
The band is known for its raw energy and down-home approach to music that echoes traditional country music with a comical humor and blends it with today’s unique country and western sound.

“The band is a new and young band with a modern sound rooted in tradition that encapsulates their brand and identity,” kNish said. “An engineer like myself provides a more modern and outside-the-box approach to the project.”

By bringing out the unique sounds of mandolins, banjos and steel guitars, kNish helped shape the band’s crisp and melodic sound into what he called a “captivating experience.”

“My personal favorite song was “Can’t Beat My Ol’ Beater.” The song “Rein It In Cowboy” needed the most work, it had a lot of elements in terms of instruments, but also had an old school rock ‘n’ roll energy to a country-themed song which is not the main sound of the album.

Having engineered for many big names over the years, kNish has been a man in demand for his unique talents that showcase an artist’s unique sound. “My personal favorite and best engineering experience were Billy Idol, Steven Adler and Gilby Clarke, both of Guns N’ Roses, guitarist Jennifer Batten, who worked with Michael Jackson and Jeff Beck, Stephen Perkins of Jane’s Addiction, and Phil X of Bon Jovi.”

For kNish, his career trajectory has been something he couldn’t have imagined growing up in his native Malaysia where he first took up the guitar as a boy and began taking lessons from acclaimed veteran guitarist Farique Nadzir.

“On top of being a top-class guitarist/musician he was also an audio engineer. He was really proud of it and encouraged me to explore that. I did and here I am being an established engineer in the entertainment capital of the world.”

Having moved to Los Angeles in 2020, kNish attended the Musicians Institute where he learned the ins and outs of musicianship and the overall music industry, where he made many connections that would lead him to grow his career as an engineer and budding musician.

Today, he’s preparing to work with the up-and-coming bluesy rock band Chambers DesLauriers, led by rock and blues veterans Paul DesLauriers and Annika Chambers while also preparing to release a single later this year that is especially close to his heart.

“My new single is named ‘Stormy Nights’. It was inspired by a friend’s breakup,” he said. “I had a piece of music sitting somewhere. I couldn’t quite find the words for it from my perspective. As I learned of what happened, the words just came to me one night.”

Carlos Martinez
Scribe Services Public Relations
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