SXSW Artist Spotlight: The Keystones
The Keystones, a hard rock band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, pay homage to the early 2000s rock they grew up listening to, bands like The Strokes, Queens of the Stone Age, and Arctic Monkeys. In addition to their heavy riffs and catchy hooks, the four-piece throws in some social commentary, offering biting critiques of capitalism, the health care system, and more.
The Keystones will be performing a SXSW showcase at Marlow on March 12 at 9 p.m. We sat down with singer Jack Sherman. In this Q&A, Sherman talks about their new synth-laden single “Shinjuku,” writing a chorus about Newport cigs and Topo Chico hard seltzers, and why their SXSW set will leave you head-banging and moshing.
Editor’s Note: This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity. Scroll to the bottom to view the full video interview.
360°Sound: For our readers who aren’t familiar with The Keystones, please start by telling us about the music you play.
Jack Sherman: We play kind of a mix of heavy rock and some alternative stuff. We’ve got influences like those early 2000s indie sleaze bands like The Strokes, The Killers, and Queens of the Stone Age. We’ve been influenced by a lot of good modern rock bands as well. Some of the stuff we’ve been making lately is a little bit like Royal Blood, they’re one of our influences.
We’ve been around in one way, shape or form since like 2017. It’s me, my younger brother, Matt, on bass. We have our childhood best friend Eddie, on drums, and then as of last year, we have Ryan Walkoe, a good friend of ours from the city, who joined the band as our lead guitarist.
You recently released the single “Shinjuku,” and it’s a bit of a departure from a lot of the music you’ve made in the past with its big synths. Tells us about how that song came together.
There was a point in life where I swore we would never use synthesizers in any music we ever made. And clearly that time is long dead and gone. “Shinjuku” is part of an EP that we’re releasing single by single, and it is definitely the weirdest track on the EP. Its got this heavy, low bass line chugging through it, and those big synths and everything. Its pretty glossy. It works with the other songs in the EP, which are all about work and burnout culture. I think all of us, whether its a creative passion or just in our day jobs, can pretty easily work yourself to the bone and not realize it until you have a big crash out, which we’ve done a number of times in both music and in our day jobs.
With “Shinjuku,” we wanted to look at not just American culture and how we do this, but another culture that’s very similar to us in our dogged, capitalist ways is Japan, so it’s a little bit Japanese-inspired. They have the concept out there of salary men who will work a 12-hour shift and still be staying after to conduct meetings and things. It’s the same kind of rat race where its, how long can you keep doing something like that until you inevitably push yourself past your own event horizon.
Your 2024 single “Wolf of Walgreens” takes aim at the profiteers in the American health care system. Talk about the genesis of that song.
It kind of all came together when the name happened because we thought it was just too perfect. Theres a band in the UK that we absolutely love called Kid Kapichi. Our drummer is a videographer in his day job, so he’s had the chance to shoot them a few times. Its kind of Brit punk, but with a little bit of glossiness – they do awesome stuff. And in addition to their sound, we’ve always liked the nature of the themes of the songs that they do. It’s a lot of social commentary stuff.
“The Wolf of Walgreens.” We felt we were being inspired a little bit by Kid Kapichi at the time and trying to take a look at what’s happening in our country right now. I felt like the healthcare system is probably one of the most deeply flawed parts of what isn’t working with our country. “The Wolf of Walgreens” felt like the right place to start this EP off with a mix of that social commentary and that burnout culture and also just what’s not working right now. And talk about it in a smart or cheeky way.
Your song “Newport” references Topo Chico, the sparkling mineral water, which I love. That song has a really catchy hook. Do you remember how you got the idea for that one?
When we play live gigs, I feel like I have this canned line I always say. We’ll introduce it, and I’ll say, “Hey, this one’s called Newport. It meant very little when I wrote it, and it means even less now.” It started with that riff, and I knew I wanted it to be about smoking and drinking, because it’s kind of a trash-talking rock song. And I was like, ‘What are two good brand names that work well together?’ And I guess Newport and Topo Chico were the ones that seemed to fit.
What can we expect from your live show at SXSW?
You can expect four very smartly dressed guys giving their ‘70s best. We like to get really high-energy on stage. Our lead guitarist was talking about setting his guitar on fire, which is not going to happen, we’d like to get invited back. I think our set is one where, because we’ve had so many different influences, and we’ve started with more alternative and then gotten into harder rock, it’s one of those sets that takes you by surprise. By the end of it, you’re full-on head banging and moshing. I think people should look forward to that. If we got any hard rock fans out there, come on down.
The Keystones will be performing at SXSW at Marlow on Wednesday, March 12 at 9pm.
