Introducing musician, Matt Keil

Those of you who follow my blog will know that I love music just as much as reading and writing. My obsession with music leads me to seek out new music on the Internet, and in the last few years I have discovered many Independent musicians who are extremely talented. My guest today is one of those musicians. I first came across Matt Keil when he was part of the rock group, Le Monnier. After following him on Twitter, I found out that he had a solo album of piano music. I downloaded a free track, 'Skating in Circles', from his website, and liked it so much I asked Matt if I could use it as the background music for my book trailer for Coincidences. He very kindly agreed. For those of you who haven't seen the trailer, here's a link: Coincidences - Book Trailer - YouTube

I recently bought Matt's Album Regression Play, and would recommend it if you like piano music. I invited Matt here to talk about his music and his other projects. He is a very talented guy, and has lots of experience as an Independent musician.


Here's the interview:

I read on your bio that you play piano, guitar and drums. Do you have a favourite instrument, and if so why is it your favourite?

It would definitely be the piano but I never quite practice as much as I should be! I started playing when I was eleven years old and sixteen years later I'm still fumbling my way around a few tricky Beethoven Sonatas. Because I studied piano for so long and had a great teacher, I feel I can be so much more expressive and creative with it, much more so than the guitar or drums.

You have released a solo album of piano music, Regression Play, and also played guitar in Le Monnier, a rock band. You are quite a versatile musician. Which bands were your favourites when you were growing up?

Metallica was the band that got me into rock music. I remember having bought my first acoustic guitar when I was 12 and didn't really know much about rock. One day I heard a friend of a friend playing 'Nothing Else Matters' on his guitar and thought 'Wow! That's awesome!'. From there on it was a slippery slope and I soon got into other bands such as Megadeth, Alice in Chains, Machine Head and In Flames.


What is your favourite type of music to listen to these days?

I go through phases to be honest. I'll go for weeks on end just listening to classical music and film scores then all of a sudden, get in the mood for some grunge music like Alice in Chains, Mad Season and Pearl Jam. I'm not sure if I should admit this, but I do listen to Phil Collins too when I go running!

LOL, What's wrong with Phil Collins? He has some great music... now I am showing my age!

If you could tour with any other band, who would that be, and why?

I'm secretly hoping Metallica decide to release a prog album and need me on keyboards!


I saw on your bio that you also write film music and your work has been shown in independent films in the UK, US, Australia and Africa, and includes films such as Beneath the Thoughts (2011), The Shake Off (2007) and Our Time To Live (2007). That's a great accomplishment. Were there any films in particular that inspired you to start writing film music?

Okay, I'm about to mention Metallica again on this one. I promise I'm not obsessed with them! In 1999, Metallica released an album called 'S&M' in collaboration with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. The guy who conducted and wrote the orchestra side of things was Michael Kamen who was a hugely successful film composer. In 2003 he died and I remember reading about it on the internet. I'd never listened to any of his film music before so I went on his website and started listening. From then on I was hooked and that's all I wanted to be at that point - a film composer. Apart from his film scores, I was heavily into the Bond film music by David Arnold and some of the work done by Thomas Newman. The Shawshank Redemption soundtrack is one of the most beautiful I've ever heard and is probably my all-time favourite soundtrack.

As well as the music, you are also into making videos. Is it correct that you made the music videos for the band Le Monnier? The videos are very good.

Thanks! It was one of those skills I ended up acquiring through necessity as there weren't the funds to pay someone else to do it. Glad I took it up to be honest, worked with a Grime artist a few months ago and have one or two more projects lined up. I'd like to think the videos got better the more experienced I got, but who knows.

I know that you're also a photographer. There are some stunning photos that you've taken, on your website. When did your interest in photography start, and is it something you do professionally or just as a hobby?

I was probably in my early 20s before I took up photography. I like it because it allows me to have a complete break from music. It's sometimes necessary not to live and breathe music every now and then, I guess like any other career-focused creative thing. For me, it'll only ever be a hobby. There are far better photographers out there than me so I'll leave it to the pros. Malcolm Gladwell has a 10,000 hour rule that says this is the amount of time you need to practice in order to have a chance of getting to a successful level. If I was to compare my practice time for music compared to photography… I think I'll stick with the music!

Do you have a favourite photo that you've taken, and if so, why is it special to you?

Wow, this is a hard one. I've always struggled to connect on an emotional level to any of my creative work, even my music. I have some unbearably cute photos of my parent's dog, some cool shots of rap artist Mirakool, some nice sunsets and stuff… But I have some shots I took last year in St. Katherine's Dock in London which I like. Not my best photos, but it's probably my most favourite place in the whole world - centre of London but really quiet, a beautiful place at night.



I understand that your album Regression Play was written between 2004 and 2010. Can you take us through the album track by track and tell us in a couple of lines what inspired each track?



Starlights and Streetlamps
This track, I actually came up with the title before I had written a note of music. I used to take walks at night around my University campus and (depending on the day of the week) it was generally pleasant and quiet. When I listen to the track now, it kind of reminds me of the opening to Dario Marianelli's score to Atonement, but this wasn't an conscious decision.

Frühling
A bit of a silly tune, using the German word for 'Spring' (the season). Quite a simple idea in A major that I played with. Can't remember when or why I wrote it to be honest!

Dance of the Hungarian Cats
Several years ago my former piano teacher gave me her husband's piano as she needed the space. It's a wonderful Bechstein with candlesticks, probably around 80 or so years old. This was the first piece that I wrote on it. At the time I was studying at University under a wonderful composer called Dave Smith and I guess this is a little bit inspired by his compositions.

Skating in Circles
This is my favourite track from the album and generally is the favourite of people who have heard my music. It's got a bit of an Einaudi influence to it, with it's minimalistic approach and calm mood. It's actually quite tough to play in terms of Stamina and the rhythmic differences between the left and right hand parts. Like most of the titles of my pieces, I have no idea why I called it this!

Live Another Dream
This is one of the older tracks on the album. It doesn't move much from the centre notes of the piano, mainly because I wrote it on a cheap Yamaha keyboard when I was a student!

Bad Weather
In 2009, I wrote a series of three experimental piano pieces, all of them very short. Unfortunately this is the only one that has survived as I have lost the sheet music and cannot remember how to play the other two! I'll keep looking though and hopefully they'll make an appearance on the next album.

The Turning
This is the oldest track on the album. I wrote this in 2004, during a gap year before University when I had saved up loads of money to buy a digital piano. It was the first proper piano piece I've written during a time I was feeling very inspired and dreamt of being a film composer.

Like Nothing Else
Another favourite of mine and a highly unusual piece of music as it's the only one I've ever written about a person. Not in a romantic way, I should add. No one but me knows who it's about and I'm keeping it that way!

Regression Play
The last track I wrote for the album. I always picture myself watching an episode of 'Jonathan Creek' whenever I hear it. This was the last piece I wrote on that digital piano I bought years ago before I sold it. I've always regretted selling it.

Drum Kit
This was actually a University assignment. It's called 'Drum Kit' because it's rhythmically based around paradiddles and warm-up rhythms on the drums. Has a kind of 1930's bank robbery film atmosphere to it.

One of the tunes from Regression Play has been available as a free download for some time, Skating in Circles, and more recently, you are giving away free downloads of another track, Dance of the Hungarian Cats. I assume that offering the tracks free is for promotional purposes. Often, writers will do the same thing, i.e. give away a free copy of a book in the hope that this will act as an advertisement for the product and lead to sales. This is a controversial subject, as many artists feel that they should not have to give away their work free but are almost forced to do so because of the current trends. What are your thoughts on this topic?

It's something I know a fair bit about because I've seen the future. I'm a teacher so I know lots of children and teenagers and I'm acutely aware of their listening habits. When they want to listen to music, they go to YouTube. They don't use streaming services or anything like that - only YouTube. Who can blame them? It's easy to get to and appeals to the public's instant gratification attitude that the Internet has cultivated.

I guess by giving away tracks from my album, I'm pandering to convention and public perception as to what is normal in promoting new music. Unfortunately it's a necessary step. Giving away tracks helps get 'likes' and 'follows' on social media which us creative people hope will translate into sales in the future.

The internet has empowered writers and musicians to be able to create, distribute and sell a product with no third-party involvement. We're moving quickly into a post-publisher and post-record label world. It's completely unclear as to what it'll be like on the other side.

One thing that I have noticed about independent authors and to some extent musicians is how cheap they price their product. Before ebooks you could never buy a brand new book for 99p, but many people sell their book at this price and I often wonder why. Independent authors and musicians need to avoid falling into the trap of lowering prices in order to try and promote more sales. We risk devaluing our own industry. Short-term promotions and giveaways are fine, but authors shouldn't be afraid to charge more for their product. It surprises me authors have to occasionally give their work away too. This is what the previews on the Kindle and iBook stores are for.

Thank you, Matt, I agree with that. It's difficult these days, however, as there are so many free e-books available, authors need to try to reach a larger audience by giving away a lot of books. I agree that low pricing devalues work. It's a bit of a catch 22 situation for now, but we shall see what happens... these are interesting times, and things are rapidly changing in the publishing industry

Do you have any tips for bands or musicians who may just be starting out, for example, what things that you or your band have done did you notice helped most with promotion, and are there any social media networking sites that you think are helpful for bands to join?

I don't want to give away too much as I'm writing a book on it! One massive tip I would give - and to some extent this could be applied to writers too - is you must treat your fans as fans, not customers or consumers. It doesn't matter how many social network sites you are on or how good your product is, if all you do is shamelessly promote, people will become tired of it. The key is to interact, treat fans as friends, communicate and take an interest in them. Every human-being has an innate desire to feel special or appreciated and if you can take advantage of this in the right way, you'll do far better.

Well said. I couldn't agree more!

As I'm interviewing you on Goodreads, which is a site full of book lovers, an appropriate question is, do you like reading, and if so who are your favourite authors?

I'm currently re-reading the Red Dwarf books! Yes, yes, I know not very high-brow, but it's for more nostalgia purposes than anything else.




I like to read a lot of non-fiction - books on History mostly. I've been wanting to read some of Christopher Hitchen's books for a while, but I've been limited by time. My all-time favourite books however, are the Sherlock Holmes books by Arthur Conan Doyle. They are incredible books and so well written, I've never been so excited to pick up a book than I have with his stories.

As a reader, do you prefer print books or e-books?

I bought a Kindle shortly after they came out in the UK. I hardly ever read before then, but read lots now. There is something quite nice about reading on a Kindle, it's just so easy and comfortable to hold. I actually think that's the key. I don't have to hold a book in bed at an awkward angle to try and keep the pages open.

I agree, I love my Kindle :)

I understand that you are currently writing a non-fiction book about the music industry. How is that going? What kind of topics will be covered in the book?

The book will be a help-guide for musicians on how to promote their music online. Social media websites only work to some extent, but there is so much more you have to do in order to generate and maintain hype about your product and brand. It will cover things like how best to release a product, what to do in the build up to release date, how to communicate with fans and most importantly, how to generate money from your music in a relatively simple way.

Will you be publishing your book through a traditional publishing house or will it be independently published?

This is an independent project, just like my music. Being independent is great as you have total creative control and the Internet means we're no longer limited in what we can achieve.

Agreed

Are you working on any more music-related solo projects at the moment?

I have begun forming ideas for a second piano album, but it's release will be some way off. Over the next few months I have a 'classical' style chamber orchestra piece I will be releasing as a one-off single. I think it'll be quite popular in the same quirky way that 'Eliza Aria' by Elena Kats-Chernin was (The music from THAT Lloyd's TSB advert).

Where is the best place for people to find you on the Internet and to buy your music?

Okay, here we go:
My official website is: http://www.mattkeil.com - You'll find my blog, photos, music and video portfolio here.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mattkeilmusic - I'm giving away two FREE tracks when you like my page.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/mattkeil

My album 'Regression Play' is available from:
iTunes: http://goo.gl/Xc744
Amazon: http://goo.gl/o12id
Spotify: http://goo.gl/tFn27


Thank you Matt, for a very informative and entertaining interview. I wish you every success with your music and future projects.

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I hope you will all go and download Matt's free music from his Facebook page and if you like it, why not show your support for a brilliant young musician and purchase his excellent album?