Greetings from Metalheads Forever Magazine Keaton, how are you today?
Pretty damn good, thank you for asking!
You have scheduled to release your new album “Loud” via Hopeless Records on June 25th, can you tell me the production and songwriting behind the album?
Yeah so, this record is mainly a nice array of different rock styles that I kinda love and wanted to always dive into more but never felt I had a way or direction of truly getting it out to fans. I come from a background of listening to everything from Pop/Punk, Metalcore, Rap/Rock, Hardcore, etc. and loving anything from Linkin Park, to Metallica, to Slaughter, to Prevail, to Billy Joel, to AC/DC, and that list goes on. I really wanted to bring in a lot of the shining elements that a lot of those kinds of bands had from the riffs to anthemic lyrics and choruses to the weird and ear tingling electronic/EDM synths and sounds. It just felt like that was the easy layout and foundation to start a record like this, which was going, “well, what was I always jamming when I was younger” or “damn something about this ‘Bullet For My Valentine’ song is so cool, I wonder what it would be like if it had more of a dubstep influence” and so on. So that was really the basis for the record, and it came out better than I imagined honestly.
Earlier you released the single “Loud” featuring Jason Aalon of Fever 333, can you tell me a bit about working with Jason?
I’ve always been an incredible fan of Jason’s and I had written LOUD, which happened to actually be the last song made for the record, and I felt like he would really fit the role of complimenting the existing vocal in the track. He was super down to rock it with me and was actually in New Zealand at the time so we didn’t get in the same room, but there’s still such magic in the record and a real synonymous tone to our voices so it feels so harmonious.
The album is an amazing piece of work, great vocals, amazing musicianship, how do you feel about the accomplishment and what do you feel about the outcome of the album?
Like I kinda said earlier, it’s a real amalgamation of all the parts I love about Rock and Metal and Dubstep/EDM. At first I really didn’t know how the album was going to come out, but after each song got written it just made more and more sense and I was way more able to get inspired to fill in the gaps of what it kind of missed while I was writing. Hopeless was also so incredible, specifically Eric Tobin over there who really gave some incredible advice on some of the songs to help them come together. It’s amazing when you have a label that gets you as well, ya know?
Your music is heavy and with a mix of electronic music, how did you come up with the idea of making this sound of music?
I can’t really say I “made” the sound of music because there were a lot of people that experimented with it in the past. I think there is sort of an idea that Electronic music is a new thing, but it’s obviously been around since the Kraftwerk days on, and even artists/groups like Linkin Park, Pendulum, The Crystal Method, etc. have blended the genres. But as far as the Dubstep scene, it’s definitely still a new space, and so I think that makes it feel really new and avant-garde. It definitely was a style that I looked for and thought, “I wonder if there are any artists that sing and play guitar and do a really Metal/Dubstep crossover project,” and that wasn’t really present, so that was the inspiration—just that if I was looking for it, well maybe other people were too, and maybe of those people they’d be into what I came up with. Now about 5 years later here we are!
Earlier last year around this time, something went viral on twitter, where you irritate your wife imitating the voice of GPS, how did it go, did you go through some kicking at home hahah just joking, also you came up with an idea to text to you to get your GPS voice on Waze for free, how did it worked out?
It was wild hahaha. It was obviously just a joke, and we love to pick on each other – the texting kinda just seemed like an easy way for people to get it, plus it’s actually a way for me to text my fans which is really cool! I love being in touch with everyone and getting to hear stories and things they love about the music and shows and what not… pretty sure we got like 8,000 texts that day hahaha.
Another thing that went viral was you and Kenny Beats and few others help Ray3rd set up his own studio an amazing support from you and others had made this young mans dream to reality, how does it feel, and how is he doing now?
I actually haven’t heard about what he’s been up to! I have known Kenny for like 6 or so years and he’s such a genuine dude that when he posted about it, I definitely knew he was gonna follow through with something awesome, and I just love supporting artists and seeing what we can do to keep music and art alive.
What would be some of the great moments that has happened over the years?
Just getting to tour for one and getting to go out and see the entire world. It’s been so insane to look back and be like “holy shit, I’ve been to China 3 times, Australia, Europe, almost the entire U.S., New Zealand, Thailand and I’m only 26” – that was seriously my biggest dream was just getting to see the world. Being able to write the music with some of my best friends and watch each other really grow into our own selves and musical lanes. Like it’s way less important for me to accomplish things than it is to help see my friends get their achievements. One of my best friends, Grabbitz, just got his first gold record and hearing that took me back to when all we could talk about was one day getting to play more than 10 shows a year and maybe break a million streams on Spotify. That kinda shit is what makes me the happiest.
What would be your next plans?
Tour as fucking much as I can and get back out to the world!!
Finally any word of message for the fans across the world?
LOVE YOU GUYS AND MAKE SURE TO BLAST THE HELL OUTTA LOUD ON JUNE 25TH!!!!!
