Next Wave #1191: Keyside
Merseyside has done it again.
Stretching back even before The Beatles, the region has consistently been churning out great music, specifically great guitar bands. From Gerry & the Pacemakers to The Farm, Echo & The Bunnymen to The Coral, there’s also been something in that royal blue Mersey water.
Next in line is Keyside. While only two of the four-piece are actually from Liverpool (guitarist Ben Cassidy and singer/songwriter Dan Parker), their sound is quintessentially North-Western. More seriously, Parker’s lyrics cover matters which are horrifyingly prominent in the city but also across working-class areas in the UK.
The quartet – also made up of Max Gibson on bass and Oisin McAvoy on drums – release a new single today (September 6th). ‘Runaway’ is their most accomplished track yet, with an EP to follow in 2025. Recently they sat down with CLASH to give a bit of background on where they are now, and where they are going.
—
—
How did the band get together?
Ben and Oisin met at uni, so they knew each other, and I met Ben at a party five years ago. We met and then we didn’t speak for two years, but all got together in the end as I knew he played guitar. I just rang them up and asked if they wanted a jam, and it went from there.
And does the band dynamic work?
I write all of the songs, so I’ve been writing since I was 16 with a guitar, and 12 with a pen and paper. I used to write rap lyrics, like Eminem! I wanted to be a rapper when I was 12 but it didn’t turn out that way.
When did you start playing together?
It was just after lockdown, April 2021. We were all just coming out of that and were just happy to be out of the house, but it was about three months after that we played live. Lockdown was just a bad time for everyone, being locked in a house for months is not good for your mental health, so it was joyous to get out with a new band. Start something new for a new era.
You’re 24, meaning you were 19/20 during lockdown. That must have been tough.
Yeah. At that age you want to be out enjoying life. It was a terrible time for a lot of people, not just me. To come out was good with a new outlook on my musical life.
What are your songs about?
I do it myself, in terms of story. As a band, we come from Liverpool, and a lot of the songwriting I do touches a lot on the travesty of drug abuse. (Previous singles) ‘Angeline’ and ‘Nikita’ are two quite important songs to me. It’s the same with a lot of working-class areas, in this day and ag; if you go and use your eyes, you can work out what is probably the biggest problem at the minute: Drug abuse and alcohol-related issues.
The word abuse is quite important because people go out and have a drink (and) socialise, but there comes a time when it starts to destroy you and your family. All my life I’ve been brought up around drugs, really. My family has had a lot of issues with drug abuse. All these songs are a manifestation of what I’ve seen.
‘Angeline’ was about a drug user and ‘Nikita’ is the daughter of that drug user, and what it’s like from her perspective. That’s the concept of that EP (‘Nikita’, released earlier this year). When you grow up around drug abuse, you feel lost and misunderstood at times. For my generation, Liverpool in the 1980s is where our parents grew up and – like a lot of working-class areas – we had a crack and heroin epidemic. Our generation have got a lot of parents who came from that, through no fault of their own. I feel like a lot of our generation feel lost at the minute, so I hope someone out there can see those songs and feel like they’re not alone.
Explain what new single ‘Runaway’ is about.
It all touches on what I see and have grown up seeing. It’s about children who grow up in difficult household with challenging parents. Similar themes, about kids feeling sad at home. The concept is: I want to run away. Growing up in a household like that can be challenging for a lot of kids. When I write, I try to picture other people’s situations as well as my own. I use my eyes and listen to people to see what their experiences are.
We haven’t been going (as a band) for long but we’ve got people reaching out to us who can relate to these songs. They end up sharing a bit of their life with me, and that’s why I write songs. I’ve never met that particular person but they’ll be hearing that personal message. That’s why I do it.
I fell in love with the Lumineers, and there’s a song called ‘Stubborn Love’. As I said, I was quite a scally growing up but I listened to that song and just loved it. When I heard the first line, I fell in love with songwriting. That just spoke to me. As a writer, that’s what I want to do. I’d love for someone to say, ‘I get that’.
‘Runaway’ is the first single from the next EP. Have you noticed a progression in the band’s sound?
Definitely. When we came from lockdown – as with most bands – it was just trying to find what’s unique to you. We’re still finding that, but there’s been a big improvement. It’s more of a realisation of who we are and the synergy we create as a collective. When all four of you are in the room, you create a certain energy and once you get that flow of chemistry, you discover who you are as a collective. You get a system and it’s all effortlessly flowing. It’s interesting.
—
—
You consistenly seem to be being compared to The Smiths and The La’s….
I love The La’s. The La’s have been an inspiration to us as a band, that’s how me and Ben first started. Music-wise, I feel we’ve gone off from that now. I’ve heard people say – because we’ve grown up around that music – that obviously we might take some elements from that. But where we are now, or in two EPs’ time, we’ll be in a different phase. I don’t get offended by it, but people want to make sense of what they’re looking at or hearing. I do that sometimes, it’s just human nature.
You’ve had a good summer, supporting Michael Head among others, and you’ve got support slots with Blossoms coming up. What did you learn from that experience?
We’re still students at the minute, still learning, so to play with people like Michael Head, who’s the master and we’re the apprentice, do you know what I mean? It’s great to check out the soundcheck and just pick up on his character, absorbing him. We’re so observant sometimes, we’re just trying to absorb everything. We’re so grateful to support a Liverpool legend like Mick Head, just to pick up on his greatness.
Same with Blossoms; as a band they’re one of our top 3 artists. Fontaines D.C. as well, although we haven’t supported them, hopefully we will! It’s just great to meet these people and it’s all a good experience. These support slots make us a band, to feel the size of the crowd.
What about your own shows?
We’re playing some outside-of-Liverpool shows. We’ll probably do Glasgow, London and Manchester, but we do a lot of stuff on Tik-Tok. We do live streams and they’re great because you get to speak with people in that moment. I’m surprised how many people from Scotland – particularly Glasgow – join those, it’s mad. We’ve supported Jamie Webster in Glasgow so we want to go again. I can’t explain it, but it’s got a similar spirit to Liverpool. A similar charm to the people.
Making long journeys like that must be tricky for you, financially?
Yeah. Say if we get a show in Glasgow, unless the fee is really good, you’d end up losing money on travel and stuff. It’s worth it for the experience, because you want to play live and have a chance to connect, but it can be difficult. A tour bus costs a lot, and then the fee has to be split between four people. You’ve got to pay for food and accommodation as well. It’s just that risk you’ve got to take to do what you want to do.
It’s hard to go full-time with it. It takes a long time and a lot of commitment to make it to that stage, but it all stems from that passion. As long as it’s strong and true enough, you’ll persevere through that. It’s like a test; you’ve got to work out a way to get through it, but I don’t think there’s any tricks, just persevere. Staying focussed on why you started doing it in the first place.
—
—
Words: Richard Bowes
—
