AN INTRODUCTION TO: THE KEYCHAINS
The Keychains are one of many up and coming bands defining the Burlington music scene as we speak. We spoke to the three members, Lucas, Carney and Tyler, and learned about their lives revolving the band and their other artistic endeavors. The conversations considered the balancing between ones dedication to school and their band and the inspiration that comes from each individuals own experience in life. Their debut album “Ornament” is a result of close friendships and the important value of growing.
hope: How did you guys meet?
Lucas: I met Tyler before I met Carney and I remember walking with Tyler next to some dorms and I said “Oh, those dorms are pretty big over there.” In which Tyler responded with, “Oh no, those dorms suck.” It was just some stupid thing, a pleasant memory for the two of us. But I met Tyler through some of the guys in Grease Face. I met Carney in the dorms through another friend as well.
hope: So, are you guys in school?
Lucas: I’m the only one in school as of now. The other guys are chilin, but Carney is going back in the fall.
hope: So the back and forth of school and band commitments can be hard, how do you guys balance this?
Lucas: I’ve always tried keeping a balance and actually, my major was business, but then I switched to music tech which helped a lot. I kind of believe that if I didn’t switch and stuck with business it would’ve been like living in two different worlds. I definitely learned some good things of course which has helped me navigate the music world in certain situations.
Tyler: Lucas is a major business man though. You’d have to see him action to know what I mean. But yeah, its hard balancing it. I feel like whenever you’re presented with this choice of school or music you want to put in equal effort for both so its definitely hard to make certain decisions when presented with this conflict. I find that I will make my decisions based on what I’m enjoying more in the moment and it’s usually music.
hope: How did the lineup for the band come about?
Lucas: In El Salvador I would look up bands in Burlington and one of the only bands that I found that I liked was Grease Face and then I saw the three of them in a picture but I didn’t really remember what they looked like except for Brendan’s giant eyebrows. But anyway, I was trying to go see them play but missed their set, and then Brendan walked out of the house and I started talking to him which turned into setting up a time for us to jam. This pretty much was the birth of The Keychains. It was pretty much everyone in Grease Face minus Liam. But then some things shifted around a bit and it became me, Carney and Tyler. The root of it was that Jackson and Brendan already had their band going and so they couldn’t really commit to it unfortunately.
hope: Where did the band name come from?
Lucas: I came up with the name and the concept is pretty much just that if you hear keychains clanking on someones backpack or something thats how we sound.
Tyler: It used to be Lucas and the Key Chains.
Lucas: But I like The Keychains better
hope: How do you guys feel about the Burlington music scene?
Carney: I feel like the thing that I like the most is how many people I’ve met and become close with quickly. Its nice that the community is small because I consistently see them around which reinforces all of these on going relationships which for me is super dope. I’ve just made all of these friends without really trying which is super nice when you don’t have to feel any sort of social pressure.
Lucas: I second this. Everyone is just super close one another and there’s so many different combinations of people that make up all of these different bands. Everyone is in each others bands too which creates a lot of fun dynamics and different lineups.
hope: Any crazy stories that have happened to you guys in the scene?
Lucas: I had recently broken my foot skating at one of our first shows and it was a big thing in my mind to be careful not to get hurt skating before the show, but it always happens that when you try to be careful you end up hurting yourself and thats what happened essentially. It was kind of funny though because I had this huge cast on my leg which made it look like my foot was swollen to the size of a huge club.
Carney: One of our friends asked me behind your back, like “what’s up with Lucas’s foot?”
Lucas: Oh yeah, that was because I had a sock over the cast which made it look like I just had a sock on my foot and not over the cast. There was this other time though when we were driving our car full of gear and this lady was sitting on the corner of the street and while stopped at a stop sign and started yelling at us. We were just shocked so we didn’t say anything but we couldn’t really make out what she said.
hope: What was the inspiration for the album / recording process?
Lucas: Brendan works at Champlain studios and we were thinking of recording it just the three of us but we didn’t really want to keep going with that process (there was a lot of stopping and starting and listening back) and so Brendan actually asked me if we wanted to record and we set up a date and time and tracked the album in like three days. He set up all the mics and such and did the engineering which was so helpful. Some of the last songs on the album were from when I was in El Salvador and I’d just sit in my room and write in my notebook without chords or music and I feel like a lot of the time one might start writing and just keeping writing and then ask the question “where am I going with this?” But when the process is finished you know and it was helpful coming back to VT to work on the music aspect with the guys for some of the songs.
hope: What artists are you inspired by?
Lucas: I was super inspired by Bob Dylan because of his narratives.
Tyler: this might sound kind of pretentious but I kind of get inspired mostly from what I see come out of Lucas and Carney when I’m playing. I just try to be as helpful as possible and support whatever they’re doing.
Carney: I’m not super sure to be honest… but as a band we’re super inspired by The Lemon Twigs and Cut Worms.
hope: What has it been like being creative together coming from different areas? Has your individual upbringings shaped or inspired how The Keychains operate?
Tyler: we all have a bunch of crossovers in our music taste and it kind of hits you in places you might not expect at times. Like old country for example. But also, Lucas speaks Spanish! I also can speak a little bit because I grew up with a Spanish family.
Lucas: Carney is from Newton, MA and so I would always think about what he was doing in high school while I was in El Salvador. While I was in El Salvador I didn’t really think that playing music with other people was a thing.
Tyler: yeah, I just didn’t really know anybody that was into music in the way I was.
Lucas: yeah, I mean honestly with Tyler, he’s from New York, I will see the Empire State Building shining through his eyes because he can kind of get feisty with people sometimes. Also the three of us have this parallel with rap at different points in our lives. Carney was convinced he was going to be a rapper when he grows up and I loved rap along with Tyler. All of us wanted to be rappers.
Carney: Free styling in the shower.
hope: Would you ever put your Spanish in your songs?
Lucas: oh yeah, we totally would. We have in the past, but not for this record unfortunately. Soon though. But I love music like Django Reinhardt which def adds to the inspiration.
hope: If you were to describe your sound what would you say?
Lucas: Boutique punk…? I don’t know if it works, but yeah! We definitely have a punk side to it because we play pretty loudly. I believe this is the case just because I wish I could play my instrument better. Punk poems comes to mind as well which is probably my favorite description so far.
hope: Going forward, what is the short and long term plans for The Keychains?
Lucas: I want to get better at guitar so that I know more about what I’m doing. I’m trying to constantly grow with that. I want more of a polished sound in the future but have more of a sophisticated sound.
Carney: We’re just going to continue to play with Lucas until he gets polished.
Lucas: I would love to be able to do complicated things on my instrument but make it sound good. The biggest thing is to keep moving forward and not make the same thing twice. I always want to continue taking a step forward.
hope: What’re some interesting facts about you guys that you want others to know?
Tyler: Lucas is a filthy skater!
Lucas: Thanks, Tyler. Well, Tyler writes a lot.
Tyler: Yeah, I mostly write fiction and stories. I write everything down though. I recently wrote a screenplay with some people for a short film. It was a short story I wrote and my friend is adapting it.
Lucas: Also, Carney does some sick animations.
Carney: Lucas also painted the album cover.
Lucas: Yeah, it was a random idea I had that snowballed into something that ended being a super fun project for me.
hope: If you guys were stuck on a deserted island what albums would you bring or have on this island?
Lucas: I would bring Blonde on Blonde by Bob Dylan. Theres a lot of songs that you can dance to and some dreamy songs that if I were stuck on an island I would want that to be the vibe. Also Batter Batter which is Tyler’s band.
Tyler: Live Cream Vol II or Doris by Earl Sweatshirt
Carney: I would honestly probably take Neil Young’s Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere and honestly… the longest album I could find.
hope: How has being in a band impacted your lives outside of the band?
Carney: probably the most negative thing was that I failed a class last semester for thee first time because I wanted to play music most of the time and now I’m trying to revaluate what I’m trying to do and create more of a healthy balance.
Lucas: For me, its been hard to have the balance because as mentioned earlier with the question “music or something else” comes up a lot. Its hard when you’re doing well in one thing but maybe dropping the ball on the other thing
hope: Any shows coming up?
Lucas: we’re playing the Fryer this Friday, Feb 28th. Contact us on IG @keychainsmfg for the show this Friday and the album is out everywhere. We’re also playing a free show in March at Nectars.
THIS ARTICLE WAS GRACIOUSLY CONTRIBUTED BY:
Micah Rubin is a second semester (or freshman) at Berklee College of Music. While balancing school work and his band, he loves digesting music like eating food — consuming daily.