Photo Credit: Steven Keene
I had the chance to sit down with Americana Folk Artist Steven Keene to talk about his latest record, “It Is What It Is.”
Brooke: Hi, Steven, this is Brooke with Sonic Live Media. How are you doing today?
Steven: I'm good. Thanks for the interview. Thanks for the call!
Brooke: Of course. How have you been holding up with the current events?
Steven: Oh, pretty good, you know, hunkered down. I still get out, but I'm in New Jersey, so it's pretty locked down still. And like New York and New Jersey are kind of the epicenter, but, it's sort of starting to, ease up. How about yourself?
Brooke: Doing good. We're in Detroit so things are starting to ease up a little bit. There is still a little social tension with the protests, but, things are starting to open up and I'm able to get out of it.
Steven: Well, that's good. I know it's crazy everywhere with the protest. I just finished a song really about it. I'm recording it tomorrow. So it's a protest song about racism. And ironically enough, I wrote it a month before this whole stuff hit the fan. It's kind of weird, but that's another tune that's going to be coming out soon.
Brooke: I wanted to talk about your recent album, “It Is What It Is.” It’s largely considered your comeback album. What was the inspiration behind it, And how does it compare and contrast with your upcoming album "Them and Us?”
Steven: “It Is What It Is,” I hadn't really put out an album in a while and I just sorta slowly got back to writing last year and we released that in January. And that's just a collection of songs that are, I don't know, it there's a country song on there. There's a variety of songs. I'm from that folky vein, you know? As a singer-songwriter from Greenwich, I was playing in Greenwich village for years. And guys like Dylan, Leonard Cohen, that whole genre of the style of music is always what I've been attracted to. And the difference really between them and us, is it's a continuation really of just songs that are observational, and also the "Them And Us" album, the title track, which I'm recording tomorrow is, a kind of a protest song. But it's of the folk kind of vein, about racism in America.
And I wrote it ironically four or five weeks ago, before this whole thing happened. The mindset of that song is obviously about the racial separation and, the idea of "Them and Us." When I originally wrote it, it was really about politics. Republicans, Democrats, religions, against each other, sexism in America, men and woman them and us being a wall.
A divide between them and us. We all touch upon it in all aspects of our lives daily, whether it's racism or sexism or religions against each other. That song in particular just took a turn because with everything that was happening, after I wrote it, I dropped the verses that related to everything else and just focused on my last verse I just wrote last week, which was specifically about the knee incident. This one's a little bit more politically charged between that and "Save Yourself,” which was kind of a song about the tie in. There's a video out on "Save Yourself,” and it has a tie in for COVID. The record sorta took the twist on that.
Brooke: How are you promoting your album? And what kind of platforms have you been using to keep your listeners engaged with your music? Do you have any plans to tour either album?
Steven: Now it's really rough with the touring kind of aspect, obviously, cause everything is shut down and there's really not much happening. But the digital platforms everybody else is using Spotify, SoundCloud, Apple, We did a video for "Save Yourself" which is now on YouTube.
I'm in the middle of the new video for "Them and US" which is coming out great. And it's really all about the racism in America. The protests. A visualization of the sixties protests and the protests that are going on today and the walls that divide them out. So I'm excited about that album. And I'm excited about that title track in particular.
Brooke: Are you using any sort of social media platforms?
Steven: Oh yeah. We're on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. The record company's constantly updating everything and putting out photos that are new and old. When I used to play in the city. They're always doing throwback Thursdays, all the stuff of the clubs I used to play.
CBGBs, The bottom Line, the Lonestar. These are all clubs in the city that back in the day, where were the places to play. So yeah, hey're always posting basically on those three.
Brooke: Would you consider doing any live videos or live streams on Instagram?
Steven: Definitely. Yeah, I would definitely love to. That would be great. My studio that I record everything in, where I'm going tomorrow is in long Branch, New Jersey. A big wide open space with great sound. So I can always get a few guys from the band and we can always do something.
Brooke: How has your involvement in the nineties Greenwich Village folk scene influenced your music stylings?
Steven: Back in the day in those kinds of clubs in Greenwich village, there were two or three in particular that I started out in planning that was very folky. Almost called the Speakeasy.
The Sun mountain cafe, and the other one was called the Chameleon. And these were singer-songwriter folk clubs were a lot of people were coming in and out. Like Beck. Beck and I used to play in the all those clubs together and swap songs.
That's where I met him. I met him in the Sun Mountain Cafe. Suzanne V was playing sort of in that time period as well. Shawn Colvin, those kinds of artists. Playing those kinds of clubs is how it shaped me. It was just basically that it was very singer-songwriter influence and folky influence.
The types of songs that were coming out of there were more of the folk side. Words meant more than just, heavy metal or any of that kind of music. It was just more about the word. So it shaped me and just, being able to learn how to write songs.
Brooke: What do you think of the folk music scene today? And are there any acts and folk music that influenced you now?
Steven: Hmm, good question. You know, I'm really not up on today’s folk, to be quite honest with you. I mean, I used to love Billy Bragg, and I know he's playing around a lot still.
You know, I'm so entrenched in just my own writing and music that I know when I turn on to like Spotify, I'm listening to the old stuff. More blues, guys like Helen Wolf, Muddy Waters, Elmore James, or jazz. There's so many other guys that I'm listening to. I'm not really listening to a lot of today's music. I'm hooked on a lot of the older type music.
Brooke: What is your backstory involvement and partnership with ShoreFire Recording Studios. And what has your experience been like recording with them?
Steven: ShoreFire is a great studio. Very low key and very cool. The guy there Joe is just an excellent engineer, musician, and collaborator. And we basically produce the songs together and really do a deep dive into every mix, and the instrumentation on every song. He's been great to work with and all the players that come down there to play with me.
It's a great studio that has a really good history. A lot of greats have come through there. Bruce Springsteen actually, I think he recorded some of "Tunnel of Love" down there. I think that was the album. It's a landmark studios from New Jersey and a great place. Easy to work with and a lot of fun in that studio.
Joe's been great to work with and I got introduced to him through the record label actually. The record label and my manager pulled me down there, Jason Jordan, and introduced me to Joe about a year ago. And ever since then we started recording and laying tracks down.
Brooke: Oh, that's great. It's nice you can have like a good cohesive relationship with your recording studio .
Steven: Yeah. It's great. Great, great partnership.
Brooke: Is there anything else that you would like to share? Such as what you have planned with your upcoming album and, things that you're going to be putting out for the rest of the year?
Steven: Well, this one should be wrapped up. "Them and Us" is actually, going to be recorded tomorrow, along with three other songs. Tomorrow and Thursday. There'll be another single after that called "She Ain't Right For Me, But She's Right For Me Now" . And probably one other before that we release in August.
So I'm excited about these songs. I think some of this stuff is the best I've ever done, the best work I've ever done. And I'm looking forward to getting the album out. It's a little tough now with COVID. This is the first time we're going back into the studio in three and a half months because everything was closed down, and people were kind of gun shy about getting back in. Which is totally understandable. But I'm excited to start laying everything down and writing some new ones. So we should have a full album out by August. And then I'm sure we'll have another one out by the end of the year.
Brooke: That's great, wow! Thanks for speaking with me today at Sonic Live Media. I really appreciate you taking your time out. We look forward to the new album coming out!
Steven : Thank you too!
You can learn more about Steven Keene and check out his album and upcoming tour dates at: www.stevenkeene.com
Follow his on Instagram at: www.instagram.com/steven.keene.music
Follow his on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/StevenKeeneMusic
Follow his on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/music_keene
Interview by: Brooke Elizabeth, Sonic Live Media