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1. Hi Keith, welcome to VENTS! How have you been?
Hello! Thanks so much for having me.
I’m thoroughly engaged at the moment. I’m preparing to go on a European tour playing drums for both We Are Scientists and Sean McVerry, prepping my own album release and saying goodbye to my lovely wife for a few weeks because she’s headed to Paris for an artist residency. Lots happening but all of it is so good and inspiring!
2. After more than a decade behind the kit with We Are Scientists, you’re now stepping into the spotlight with your debut solo single “Look For The Moon.” What inspired you to finally make the leap as a solo artist?
I’ve always thought about making and producing my own music. I actually wrote a lot of music and played guitar and sang in my first ever band when I was in middle and high school (called The Venice — thankfully you won’t be able to find recordings online haha). I sort of fell away from that though the more work I got as a drummer, and that work started coming early and quickly (I started playing my first for-hire gigs as a drummer at 16).
When I’m writing material with the bands I work with, I often have thoughts about the melodies and harmonies in the material. Creating my own music was just a matter of creating (not finding) the time to do it. Living in NYC means working enough to be able to afford it — so long as you’re not independently wealthy. It was a huge time investment not only to write and record everything but to slow the pace of life down to make room for aesthetic decisions that have nothing to do with your bottom line. Also since drums — a non-harmonic, non-melodic instrument — are my primary instrument it takes a bit more time for me to translate my melodic and harmonic ideas than if I were primarily a keyboard player, for example.
A few years ago my wife had a psychedelic vision of magenta light pouring from my face one afternoon after we’d eaten some mushrooms and the beauty and intensity of her vision made me realize that it was finally time.
3. “Look For The Moon” is a deeply personal song written for your wife, artist Hayley Youngs. How did that long-distance touring experience shape both the lyrics and the emotional tone of the track?
I love melancholic pop, just even speaking as a music fan. Music that communicates pain and joy simultaneously — something that “hurts so good.” I realized that Hayley is one of my keys to unlocking that feeling, and being apart from her when I’m on tour is when I feel it most deeply. I love my bandmates so much and the music we make together, and I realize how lucky I am to be able to do what I’m doing professionally (touring and making music for people around the world with people I love)… but it is difficult to upend your domestic existence multiple times a year. “Moon” is areflection of that: the sweetness that thinking about her makes me feel, but also the sadness that being physically apart from her makes me feel.
4. The song has been described as the feeling of love stretched across miles, time zones, and airplane cabins. Was there a particular moment while traveling that sparked the initial idea for the song?
It’s funny — the spark for the song actually came while I was here in New York. It blossomed from the drum groove really which just popped into my head one day as I was walking around midtown. I could hear this sort of Madchester meets 90s adult contemporary groove and that conjured a whole world visually for me — curtains blowing in the wind, a sax player silhouetted in a window (think Sade music video) — and along with it came this sultry-sounding, staccato phrase “I think about you ev-er-y night.” So that led to me to ask “What do I think about every night?”. That was easy: Hayley. “When do I think about her most acutely?” Definitely on tour. The rest just became a puzzle of how to reflect those feelings of longing, and connecting them to a relatable symbol (the moon) that puts the listener in my shoes for 3 and a half minutes.
5. Sonically, the track blends shimmering synth textures with a steady groove reminiscent of the Madchester era. What drew you to that specific sonic palette for your solo work?
My whole life has been a diverse musical journey. My favorite band as a kid was Stone Temple Pilots yet I relished car rides with my mom where we’d listen to Seal and Chaka Kahn. In college I studied jazz music but played in a DIY band that was influenced more by Sunny Day Real Estate, American Football and Aloha. Today I listen to classical music and deep, pulsing, drumless ambient music yet I teach drums. Really I’m always just trying to blend these disparate influences into something that sounds coherent. When I hear these different textures and sounds, I hear me.
6. Your upcoming album Magenta Light draws inspiration from both Pharoah Sanders and Fred Again. How did those seemingly different influences come together in your songwriting?
Again, I just love so many different kinds of music. I think that’s a natural thing with the advent of music streaming and the internet — most of my musician friends have wildly diverse and even seemingly conflicting music preferences. All of these different genres of music are so accessible and I think many of us that keep our ears open are influenced by music that we’d never expect to be. Our work is just a reflection of that.
7. You recorded most of the album yourself in your Midtown Manhattan studio. How did the experience of being the primary songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist differ from your role as a drummer in a band?
It was slower. It involved more punctuated periods of practice and contemplation — I had to come up with processes and production ideas, whereas with drums, I can already access the tools I need for expression because I’ve spent so many years practicing that instrument. On drums I already have avoice and identity and I needed to spend time with the other instruments to find that perspective and voice.
8. The album title Magenta Light comes from a psychedelic vision your wife had. How did that moment shape the creative concept behind the record?
I’ve always connected deeply with that color and it’s always communicated a feeling to me — where sweetness meets yearning. That’s also typically the music I connect most deeply with. So when Hayley shared that vision with me, it gave me a concept — something I should use to check in with, and something that could unify the disparate musical ideas I had knocking around my head. Almost like a unifying color field that could emanate in the background.
9. Many of the songs explore themes of connection, travel, and the transient spaces between people. Was that thematic thread something you discovered during the writing process or something you intentionally pursued?
It sort of announced itself to me during the writing process. But anyone who has taken psychedelics before can identify with that feeling. I remember during a trip one time thinking “It’s insane that we need Netflix when this tree that’s right in front of me is the most beautiful and engaging thing I’ve ever seen.” Of course, these two things — Netflix and trees — are not mutually exclusive entities. And we need distraction in our life — some work days are hard and it’s good to watch a show or movie. I’m also an avid cinephile, so that realization meant a lot to me. But the idea stuck with me — that we’re all just streaming — from one place to the next, from one album or film to the next — and that it’s rare to park yourself down and be fully present. Living in New York City smashes you up against so many different kinds of people leading so many different lifestyles and it’s fascinating to watch everyone go about this business. I should say, I am guilty of this streaming and not being fully present all the time too — not at all trying to be judgmental of how people spend their time. But writing it out in song like this is a helpful reminder.
10. Having spent years studying song structure from behind the drum kit, how did that perspective influence the way you approached building melodies and arrangements for this project?
A number of these songs began with the groove — as I mentioned earlier with “Look for the Moon.” The drone that begins “Totally Liminal” is something that I created to practice drums over — so that I had some musical accompaniment to play alongside. Texture is a huge element in drumming. It’s not an accident for example that in most songs the drummer plays the hi-hats on the verses and the ride cymbal in the chorus; most songs’ lyrical content reflect this: the verses build tension and the choruses provide a release. These contrasting drum textures, hi-hats and ride cymbal do the same thing — the hi hats sound staccato and tight, whereas the ride is resonant and washy. I tried to take that lesson and roll with it as I considered how to utilize and arrange each song’s instrumentation. To consider what was happening emotionally in the music and how I could reflect that with the texture or tone of each instrument.11. With Magenta Light arriving April 20, what do you hope listeners take away from this new chapter of your musical journey as you move from the back of the stage to center stage?
I just hope that people connect with the music. I put this out to try to introduce my aesthetic perspective to the world — I get opportunities to exercise it in other music, but it’s often (understandably) run through the filter of someone else’s songs. To know that someone else might find beauty, catharsis or expression in these songs… well I don’t know that there’s anything I could be anything more rewarding to me.
Check out “Look For The Moon” – DSP / Lyric Video
