KEYAN - Black
The Gradients Between
Written by: Tom Wilson – Sense Music Media | Wednesday 09 February 2022
He’s already built a strong following on YouTube and social media for his guitar videos, but now Keyan Houshmand has taken the plunge and released his first creative work, imprinting his soul on the stuttering chug of djent. Black is a shuddering plunge straight into the deep end of instrumental metal, and it forms the opening of a three-track EP that will be launched in March. He spoke to SENSE from Adelaide.
The Interview
Can you take me through the concept of the EP?
Pictured: Keyan Houshmand
Sure. “Gradient” is obviously one colour flowing into another, and I’ve always been a big believer in the fact that nothing is black and white – everything is grey, in the sense that there are always some other variables at play in determining something. It’s not just this or that, it’s all little things coming together. I thought I’d just play around with that a little bit, so Black is very dark, super heavy, White is supposed to be the almost pop-punky song with a couple of progressive metal/djent elements in there, and Grey is the marriage between both. It's more of a melancholy feel – it’s not super dark and heavy, and it’s not super happy, it’s the bridge between both – and that’s meant to be the resolve of the whole EP, motifs and all.
So we start with Black?
Yep, start with Black, then go to White, and finish on Grey. Altogether, I know it’s only three songs, but I think altogether it ends up being sixteen minutes-ish. It’s on the shorter side of EPs, but conceptually the way that everything works, it would be a bit weird if I added another song in there and called it another colour or something like that!
Black is a stunning track, and the finale sounds like the end of the world … [I have zero musical skill, so] When I’m hearing music, it conjures up images for me, as opposed to hearing the intricacies of the [musicianship] … When you hear music like this, or music you’ve created yourself, are you always thinking about the notes? Or does it conjure up images?
I can’t read music, so I’ve got no idea about anything musical theory. I mean, I have a little bit, but not like someone out of Berkely or something like that, but to make this music, it’s on seven-string guitars, it’s fairly chromatic in nature, like everything is chug-chug-chug all the time. Especially in regards to the ending, when making something like that, before I even started recording, I was like, “This is going to be the single,” coming from sitting on a fanbase already with the YouTube and Instagram and stuff like that. I found myself in the position where it was like, it wasn’t like I was pushing out music and I’d have to fight for people to hear it. I already knew people would be listening to it when it came out, so there was that expectation looming over me, and I wanted to make the heaviest-sounding thing I could possibly make! [Laughs] So that last twenty seconds was literally just me seeing how heavy I could get it while still remaining relevant to whatever is happening. So just going in, pitch-shifting … I knew I was going to pitch-shift, I knew I was going to add layers, but I just didn’t know what it was going to end up sounding like. Obviously, taking influences from other bands … A major one for that track was SPIRITBOX, they’ve just blown up in the past year especially in Aus, and I’m a massive fan. What they do in terms of songwriting definitely shaped the way that that track ended, because they love doing the pitch-shift and all the dissonance at the end of their songs as well. That definitely rubbed off, for sure.
You’ve got this huge back catalogue of videos that you’ve done about guitar playing and whatnot. Do you see your main role as a YouTube content producer, or as a musician who also just happens to do tutorial vids?
It would be weird to say that I was a musician first, in terms of my online presence, because this is the first track that just came out, and I’ve been doing YouTube for a couple of years, but even through all the YouTube stuff, I never really saw myself as a YouTuber. It was more like, “Let’s film a video and put it out there” kind of thing, or “People want me to talk about this, so let’s talk about that.” Moreso educational stuff, but this is me dipping my toes into actually writing a track from start to finish, as opposed to doing a thirty- or forty-second demo riff for some plugin or something like that, and that was a challenge in itself. I definitely want to be perceived as a songwriter and as a musician, because that’s my first passion, guitar. Everything that comes with a guitar can make its way into a YouTube video, but in terms of what I want to be known for from this point onwards, I’d like to be known for the songwriting aspect as opposed to the YouTube videos, but the thing is, I wouldn’t be able to do any of this if it wasn’t for the YouTube stuff and the Instagram stuff, so yeah … It’s a weird amalgamation of things.
If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be, and why is it Tobin Abasi? [Laughs]
[Laughs] Honestly, I don’t even want to touch a guitar if Tosin was anywhere near me, because he is just out of this world. If I could collaborate with anyone … People are probably going to expect me to say Misha Mansoor, obviously, because I’ve got so many of his guitars and stuff and he’s a major influence for sure – I love PERIPHERY – but I think I’d like to go with Mark Holcomb of PERIPHERY as well, because I think I’m more influenced by his songwriting style; super-slides across the fretboard and stuff like that, very acrobatic in nature. That’s something that I’ve always tried to mimic in the best way possible. So yeah, probably Mark Holcomb from PERIPHERY – that would be a dream collaboration for sure.
You’ve got the live show booked to launch Gradient – do you have any plans or inclinations to play anymore live shows after this?
I’d love to, for sure. When I was talking to the booking agent, I originally went into it with the idea of going domestic – going to Melbourne and stuff like that – but with everything that’s happening with the borders, everything’s still a bit uncertain. So just having this first show, which honestly is looking like being just friends and family anyway [laughs], that will be good in a sense to dip my feet in and make sure everything is running smooth before it gets taken somewhere else. Obviously I would love to go to Melbourne and do all that and support bands over there and stuff, but again, it’s not up to me – it’s about what ScoMo says, I guess!
Will this be playing with the drummer I’ve seen on your Instagram?
Yes. Funny story: Steven [Mathews] is his name, and Steven’s dad is also a drummer, Brad, and he plays in a pretty prevalent Adelaide cover band called THE EX MEN. My friend’s dad used to be the vocalist, and one day we went to see them, and this is when I was starting to conjure up the idea of writing the EP, and eventually I’m going to have to play it live one day, and I have to find a drummer, blah blah blah. I was just talking to Steven’s dad, and he goes, “Oh, my son plays drums.” … I go, “Oh cool, what stuff does he play?” He’s like, “Oh, ANIMALS AS LEADERS, PERIPHERY, TESSERACT…” I’m like, “If this guy can play that stuff [at 19] he must be a god!” [Laughs] So I was like, “Get me in contact with your son!” Since then, it’s all been happening. He will be coming with me, for sure.
If I make you think of live shows now, what are some that just absolutely blew your mind?
POLARIS always put on a great show. I’ve seen them five or six times now, back when they were doing The Guilt & The Grief EP, when they would still come out to say hello to everyone after the shows! [Laughs] And then, obviously, they just got massive, and props to them because they’re really cool guys. In terms of pure musicianship, the best band I’ve seen live is CHON … Instrumental, proggy, very guitar-oriented … They came 2020, February, and played at the Jive, and they’re very low gain, not much distortion, they have real amps and cabs onstage, mic’d up, and they’re playing very intricate stuff – probably the most intricate I’ve ever seen performed in front of me live – and they did not miss a single note. It was actually insane watching them. I didn’t know that guitar players could be that good, but they were insane. So in terms of technical prowess, CHON for sure. It doesn’t even come close.
KEYAN launches his EP at the Lion Arts Factory in Adelaide on March 18th.