The Nite Visions – This Nite Visions were here with Ken (Keenhouse), so Ken is there a story behind the name Keenhouse, or is it just something you randomly chose?
Keenhouse – Well, the keen part came up sometime in high school and was sort of a nickname for me. The house part just stands for a place of coming together.
The Nite Visions – At what age did you start producing and writing your own music?
Keenhouse – I started sometime between fourteen and fifteen. I took piano lessons before and then picked up drums and guitar. At that time I also started to get into midi, programming and all of that. Then I started to work in some studios either as a writer and sometimes also engineer.
The Nite Visions – Tell us a little about your band “The Decade” and how that’s going?
Keenhouse – Haha how do you know about that? That was a band I had in Hamburg. Me and a friend put it together. We played acid jazz and jazz funk.
The Nite Visions – You seem to have a few side projects going on besides your solo keenhouse gigs, can you tell us what projects you have coming up or are currently in the works with?
Keenhouse – Sometimes I work out song arrangements, instrumentation programming and some engineering. Basically producing for other bands or singers. Occasionally I write for movies. Me and my girlfriend have a jazz/ Bossa Nova duo. That is mostly in Japanese though. Not too long ago there was a remake of ‘Sideways’ for the Japanese market and they got us to write some music for it. That was probably one of the funnier and stranger things I did. As of now there are some remixes ready for release, some remixes are in the works as well as new original material and a few collaborations.
The Nite Visions – Did you go to school for writing and producing music, or are you self taught?
Keenhouse – The production, writing and programming was pretty much autodidactic. I went to school for piano performance , where I also got to study the more traditional side of music, composing and arranging and older styles of music. Arranging was always one of my favorites. It was a good experience I would say and definitely helped to look at music from different perspectives.
The Nite Visions – Who are some of your influences musically?
Keenhouse – I guess I always liked the musical content more than any styles or labeling. Probably that includes some of my favorite artists that happen to be associated with a certain style but I always admired what Chick Corea did, mostly the Return to Forever stuff, Joe Zawinul or Klaus Schulze then there was all the Jazzanova stuff, Richie Hawtin, Laurent Garnier and the Chemical Brothers.
The Nite Visions – What’s your ultimate goal as a musician?
Keenhouse – Probably being able to always stay in touch with music itself. Keep all channels open, keep listening to what’s coming together and put it in shape.
The Nite Visions – What’s the craziest thing that’s ever happened to you guys when you’re on the road?
Keenhouse – There was this loud crazy guy in front of our hotel when we went on tour last fall and he kept walking up and down in front of our door threatening to kill us. Enter Dillon, booking agent and super hero. He tried to get the police there but they just wouldn’t show up so the whole thing kind of turned into The Shining for a little while. Not pretty but all worked out.
The Nite Visions – How would someone else describe your style, fashion wise?
Keenhouse – I don’t know. Trans European, pan amerika way too skinny? No seriously I have no idea.
The Nite Visions – What’s the most memorable gig you’ve played so far in your career?
Keenhouse – At the Echoplex in Los Angeles. Binary put it on and Valerie was on tour with College and Anoraak. I don’t know, it seemed like a really great night to me.
The Nite Visions – What’s the most memorable artist you’ve worked with or collaborated with?
Keenhouse – Probably Van Dyke Parks. I helped him with some recording and just watching him was inspiring. He would go over his scores for some corrections. He had some stuff written down for some eastern instruments and it was layered with some fx and synth. The whole thing was very unconventional and he just went back and forward between ‘okay this is what I wrote down’ and ‘scrap that let’s just improvise’ and in the end it all came together how he intended it to be. The whole work process of going through something really complex and just having trust really stuck with me.
The Nite Visions – What’s your favorite country or city you’ve visited and why?
Keenhouse – Tokyo. It’s just a beautiful city.
The Nite Visions – What’s your favorite new song you’re digging at the moment?
Keenhouse – 4 Hero -Universal Love (Sonar Kollektiv Orchester Orignal Mix),Thomas Fehlmann-Permanent Touch
The Nite Visions – How was your experience in Vegas?’
Keenhouse – I loved Vegas this time. Good fun and great vibes.
The Nite Visions – Thank you Ken, Dillion, NiteWaves, and LexiconDon, you guys were really down to earth we all had such a great time and really enjoyed your company. Ken you played a great show, you can tell you truly love what you do. We will definitely catch your next gig in LA, till then see you soon.
Keenhouse – Civic_Transit-EP – deep_in_the_forest.mp3
Keenhouse-Civic_Transit-EP – mecho_maniac.mp3
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