A QUICK CHAT WITH KEYAN

Adelaide-based shred-lord, YouTube sensation and Fender/Jackson endorsed artist KEYAN, has joined forces with the formidable Marcus Vik of Texan matalcore leaders Invent Animate on blistering new single “Arrest”. 

The final chapter of a cardiac themed trilogy of singles, “Arrest” finalises the notion that even the darkest sides of one’s being still share the same heart. “Arrest” conveys this lyrically portraying a person battling an internal conflict, struggling to come to terms with the worst version of themselves. Marcus Vik lends his vocal prowess to the track, bringing the narrative to life with scorching delivery and haunted melodic moments.

KEYAN is a modern guitarist who has made a name for himself in the guitar community through his YouTube, Instagram and TikTok videos, amassing over 150 thousand social media followers, collecting over 50 million views and collaborating on content with notable acts including Spiritbox, Northlane, Plini, Fit For A King, Alpha Wolf and so many more. “Arrest” releases off the back of a milestone moment for KEYAN, following his recent appearances across Australia with Monolith Festival, where he not only hosted his own guitar workshop, but facilitated a workshop for prog legends, Periphery, who KEYAN cites as major influences to his journey.

KEYAN's dedication and passion has seen him become a leader in his field, earning him the tick of approval from masters of their craft and seeing him play shows across Australia with monumental progressive metal acts like Animals As Leaders, Intervals, Leprous, Caligula’s Horse, I Built The Sky, The Omnific and more. His gradual transition from content creator to touring artist progressed in leaps and bounds in recent years as he joined the Destroy All Lines roster, showcased at BIGSOUND 2022, was recognised by The Advertiser newspaper as one of South Australia's 'Top 30 under 30', and is endorsed as a Fender/Jackson Guitars Artist. We caught up with KEYAN to learn more about latest single “Arrest” and what’s next for the up and comer. 

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Your upcoming single "Arrest" features Marcus Vik from Invent Animate. How did this collaboration come about, and what was it like working with Marcus?

I had this song simmering for a little while and I initially reached out to Marcus online after he was advertising availability for vocal features. The timing ended up being perfect because I already had Marcus in mind for this track due to his range and very distinct vocal character. After initially agreeing to work on it together, some time had passed, life got busy and we both put it on the backburner. However, after Invent Animate toured Australia earlier in the year, we were able to catch up over breakfast (and some shoe shopping) with the rest of the band. Through that, the spark for this project was able to be rekindled and then once he got home, we then got to work over Discord calls to map out melodies and ideas for the final song. I’m a massive fan of Invent Animate personally so being able to formally work on something serious with Marcus was an absolute pleasure. Along with being an amazing vocalist, he is also a fantastic producer who is able to produce himself extremely well. This was a major factor in the song having such a short turnaround, as we were able to take more creative liberties with his vocal takes in a language that we both immediately understood. 

Much of the music you’ve released so far has been instrumental with the guitar as the focal point. What inspired you to incorporate vocals into "Arrest", and do you see this as a new direction for your music?

I knew one day I wanted to release a song with vocals, and I knew that I wanted to get a high profile vocalist to feature. Marcus was the perfect answer to this equation. I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a new direction altogether, but rather another direction that I am able to take whenever I feel like it. Despite the fact that up until this point I have only written instrumental music, the majority of the music that I listen to does include vocals and I wanted to challenge myself to write something in that style. It forced me to make space, it made me reconsider song structures and whether putting in a flashy riff or lick on the guitar was really serving the song. I wasn’t thinking about the fact that I’m a guitar-centric artist that needs to write a ‘guitar-y’ song, which was a nice change of pace for a track like this.

You’ve toured with incredible acts like Animals As Leaders, Intervals, Caligula’s Horse and more. What’s the most memorable part of a live experience for you?

Being able to tour with lots of my favourite bands over the past couple years has been something out of a dream to be completely honest. My favourite moments from these runs honestly have little to do with the shows themselves, but more so to do with the candid moments in between every show. Going on walks in each city, grabbing a bite to eat together, showing each other our guitars after we both soundcheck. Those are the most memorable parts of the live experience for me personally, as those are the moments where these bands transcend from not only being my heroes, but also to being my friends.

How has performing live influenced your perspective as a musician, in comparison to having an online platform?

Performing live is definitely a different beast altogether. In some ways, playing in front of a crowd is actually much less daunting than sitting in front of a camera and putting a video out to the world. With live shows, everyone is present and experiencing the same thing at that moment in time. You need to be there to see it, and that does take some of the edge off in regards to nerves. With content creation, it’s there forever, and people can go back and watch things at any time they want. I definitely do enjoy playing live and it’s something that I want to continue to work on for not only my playing, but for the live experience of whoever is watching us.

For a solo guitarist it’s expected nowadays to possess a very high level of skill and technique, how do you approach having a balance of technical complexity without sacrificing the emotional expression in your music?

Being an instrumental guitarist, there is often an expectation to do a million things at once within the music. I try my best to say what I can without relying purely on technical complexity, instead shifting the focus onto other instrumentation, production elements or an elevated style of songwriting. A lot of my influence has come from guitar players who are phenomenal instrumental guitarists and can definitely play a million notes in one song. However, it’s the restraint that they show within their songwriting to NOT play a million notes that really speaks to me. For that reason, I instead try to let the emotion carry the music with little hints and bursts of technicality placed within context, as I feel that will leave a more lasting impact, just like it did to me.

Your YouTube channel is a hub for guitarists, littered with gear reviews, tutorials, and tour vlogs. How do you manage your content while balancing a career as a musician, and what has been the most rewarding aspect engaging with your audience online?

The balance between being a content creation musician and legitimate musician is something that I’m still trying my hardest to navigate. The most rewarding aspect for me at this point of my content creation venture is now being able to reach out to my viewers via private online lessons, where we are then able to transcend that parasocial relationship into a legitimate one and work on things together. Seeing a student’s progress as weeks go by and watching them be excited to learn more and apply that to their own musical endeavors, is very rewarding to me.

As someone known to review and share the latest pieces of guitar tech, what’s the one piece of gear you can’t live without, and did it shape the sound of your latest single "Arrest"?

One piece of gear that I can’t live without currently is the Evertune bridge system that I use on pretty much all of my guitars right now. The fact that it literally keeps the guitar in tune no matter what is something that I still haven’t wrapped my head around and definitely have not taken for granted. It’s gotten to the point where if someone is playing a perfectly tuned non-Evertune guitar, I can still immediately hear the tuning discrepancies, as can my other band members Steven and Kynan who both don’t even play guitar. The Evertune definitely played a part in the recording of Arrest as that song is in a ridiculously low Double Drop D tuning and there were some sections where I was picking so hard, and tuning so low that I basically had no choice but to record it on an Evertune guitar.

Having toured and played alongside so many influential bands in the genre, how has your own music evolved from these experiences? Are there any specific lessons or inspirations you’ve taken away from those you’ve played with?

’m certain that touring and playing alongside so many awesome bands within the world of progressive metal has rubbed off on me creatively, regardless of how invested I was in their music prior to touring together. The biggest lessons I’ve learned from touring are watching other bands live and seeing how they are able to translate their studio songs and performances into a captivating live show. After watching a lot of different bands do it, I think that part of that wisdom only can come with time, but I will still be trying my hardest to speed through that as much as I can to get to the point that they are at!

With "Arrest" released today and the momentum from your Monolith workshops, what’s next for you? Are there any new musical directions, projects, or collaborations that you can share with us?

I’ll be heading to LA in January for NAMM and a masterclass at Musician’s Institute in Hollywood which I’m super excited to do! Straight from LA I’ll be heading to London to film some playthroughs for an upcoming split record between Connor Kaminski and I. There’s a couple other individuals that will be joining us on that playthrough as well. Not much more that I can say about that, other than I can’t wait for people to hear it. Once it’s out early next year, it will DEFINITELY make sense as to why it took a little longer than usual to release more music this year. 

KEYAN will launch the new single live at Crown & Anchor in Adelaide on December 29, presented by Destroy All Lines. Tickets on sale now!