MANCHESTER, NH – In an era of music where there’s an abundance of formulaic songs and a good amount of bands and musicians are blatantly ripping off somebody else, being purely original can seem like it’s becoming a lost art. Even though this claim is very apparent, there are still a bunch of acts who are forging their own stylistic path. One of the many examples is Keep Flying, who are based out of New York City. The core group of lead vocalist and guitarist Henry Menzel, trombonist Rick Coates, saxophonist John James Ryan, and drummer and percussionist Peter Vriones exhibit an amplified blend of amplified punk, upbeat pop and aggressive hardcore.
Folks in Manchester will get the chance to see what these guys are all about when they take the stage at The Shaskeen on October 16. The show is being put on by the local scene staple Kinetic City Events with melodic hardore act Milk St., Boston alt-pop rockers Everway, and ska-punks Sotah rounding out the bill starting little after 7:30 p.m.
Ryan and I had a talk ahead of the show about Keep Flying putting out their first ever full-length earlier this year, having a positive message with their music, having a history of performing up in New Hampshire and big plans for next year.
The Shaskeen Pub
The Shaskeen is located at 909 Elm Street, Manchester.
Ticket Link
Rob Duguay: Back in April, you guys released your debut album titled “Time & Tide”, so what was the experience like making the album and what was the collective vision you all had during the creation process?
John James Ryan: Since we had only done EPs previously, it felt like we needed to really leave our mark. That said, we decided to do a few things differently throughout the writing and recording process. We spent the most time we have sending the ideas and songs around as well as spent a good week in Nashville doing pre-production and real demoing for the first time ever. Visually, we wanted to take the main theme of the record being the title, and spread it out across all the songs, videos, and social media presentation.
RD: Very cool. Leading up to the album’s release, you guys released a series of music videos, including one for the tune “Stormchaser” that has a post-apocalyptic setting, so who had the initial idea to have the video presented this way and how did you guys go about making it happen?
JJR: Honestly, this is one of the videos that didn’t go through too much change. We always wanted to showcase the song with a video that was literal storm chasing. After bringing our friend Tom Flynn on board to shoot and direct, we switched gears a little leaning more into a “Dune” type setting to still showcase the fact that we must persevere and not give up. When we bond together, we can overcome any odds, even if we have to walk right into the issue head on.
RD: That’s a great message to convey. Do you feel that in the age of streaming services, music videos have a different importance when it comes to marketing and promoting your songs? In an overall sense, what are your thoughts when it comes to making music videos?
JJR: I think that it truly depends on the artist. Because we were releasing our first ever full-length, we wanted to increase the quality of our music videos. We’ve always done them for most of our songs, but we needed to try to go a little harder. I’m not completely sure that what we invested into them will ever pay itself off, but for every person who hadn’t heard of the band but found us from YouTube or the videos, that speaks for itself. We are willing to try everything that way so no stone is left unturned. We want to connect with people and perhaps the message helps for something they may be going through.
RD: Being from New York City, what are your thoughts on coming up to New Hampshire to perform at The Shaskeen?
JJR: We’ve done The Shaskeen once before but Manchester, that’s a different story. Our band has been coming up to New Hampshire nonstop since our inception. We’ve got a very closeknit affinity for “The Granite State” and I’d love to keep it that way. Grateful to our buddy Richie for all the years he put into us to bring us up and now Aaron at Kinetic City is doing the same. We can’t wait!!!
RD: After this year comes to a close, what are some of the goals Keep Flying is looking to accomplish in the future?
JJR: I’ll tell ya, it’s going to be 10 years for us as a band next year, so we will be celebrating that. I think we will put some more tunes out for a deluxe edition of “Time & Tide.” We’ve got our live album being mixed now, and of course, we’ll be going back out on tour. We will be back, baby. We can’t stop now, it’s been too wonderful.