After joining the Japanese taiko ensemble Ondekoza at age 19, he returned to the United States four years later to pursue a career as a professional drummer.
Throughout high school, Underwood was entirely self-taught, learning drumming techniques from watching videos and listening to music without any private instruction.
The founder and director of Ondekoza, Tagayasu Den, was impressed by Underwood's playing and invited him to join the group in the International Folk Festival in downtown Fayetteville.
He graduated high school and attended North Carolina A&T in Greensboro, NC, but after one year in the music program, he found himself dissatisfied and accepted Den's offer to move to Japan and join Ondekoza.
[citation needed] With the full support of his parents and family, Underwood met up with Ondekoza at the end of their marathon tour in New York City.
Underwood had no formal teacher or training, and instead learned how to play taiko in performance, primarily through observing and listening to the other players, aided by small amounts of broken English and Japanese.
[citation needed] Underwood originally joined the group looking for a sort of apprenticeship, wanting to learn what he could about the art of taiko over roughly six months and never intending to spend years in Japan.
[citation needed] Underwood never got the formal training he had been looking for when he first joined Ondekoza, and after four years with the group, he wanted to find a way to become a better percussionist, to retain his dormant skills with the drum set, and grow as an artist.
[citation needed] After leaving Ondekoza, Underwood picked up his education where he left off, fulfilling his dream of attending Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA.[when?]
[citation needed] In early 2004, Underwood saw a performance by the Los Angeles-based taiko quartet on Ensemble and was struck by the group's innovation and originality.
He finds it challenging to remain involved with on Ensemble over such a distance, but he travels a lot between Ashland and Los Angeles for rehearsals and joins the group for tours throughout the US.
In addition to these collaborations, Kelvin spends time developing his own musical project "Meidoko" using taiko and other instruments and influences he has encountered over the years.