Buster Keaton

Buster Keaton on their new EP! This Central Florida based and born new wave band grabs influences from funk, jazz, hip-hop and soul. With the band’s first EP they have incorporated inventive songwriting and improvised solo as well as numerous guest appearances. Buster Keaton features Nick B on guitar/vocals, Derek E with drums/vocals, Chris M on bass/vocals, and Keegan M on keys, Christian R with alto/ sax and Mathew M on trumpet. You can catch the band Every Thursday @ Tanqueroy’s in Orlando 10pm-2am addmission is Free. And on December 7th The Plaza Theatre @ 6pm $tba BusterKeatonMusic.bandcamp.com

Define your band name? *ha* I don’t remember why, but the discussion about a band name was ongoing for a while. One day Nick answered a text and called me “Buster Keaton.” I liked the way it rolled off the tongue and asked some friends what they thought and people gave it good reviews for the same reason… and Alas, we became Buster Keaton. How long have you been performing as a band?  We’ve been together about a year now. We all met through local jazz jams and discovered a taste for our original music while rehearsing and playing out for cover band gigs. Soon enough we found ourselves digging more on each others’ original music and decided to go in that direction.  It took us a bit of time to realize our sound and to get a baring on which direction we want to take it, but the process has been lots of fun and we’ve already come a long way since then.  Major musical influence’s? Really, as a band, we all have a background in jazz, but enjoy lots of music. I think some of our biggest influences would be Steely Dan, J Dilla, Herbie Hancock, The Meters, Led Zeppelin, Fela Kuti, Jimi Hendrix… really a bit of everything. Describe your sound? Our sound combines elements of jazz, funk, hip hop, and rock, all at once. We really have fun improvising, but the structure and message of the music are very well-composed. When it comes down to it, we really just play what feels good and want to give our listeners a sense that they’ve seen something real. Where did you get your inspiration? I think the biggest inspiration comes from seeing other really great artists perform. Recently we all went to Bear Creek Music & Arts Festival, and we saw some really amazing musicians doing their thing and pushing the boundaries of music as we know. Bands like Antibalas, The Roots, Bootsy Collins, Lettuce, Dumpstaphunk… they all have a great thing going on and we’d like to be a part of the modern live music movement. Seeing others display such high caliber musicianship really motivates and pushes us to improve and evolve.   How does the band write the songs? We all bring original music to the table and all share our ideas and input often improving each other’s unfinished work. We have sort of an open forum to try new ideas and we keep the good ones and move on past the ones that don’t work. We use charts and sheet music too in order to solidify structure and make it more accessible to guests and new additions (you never know who might be interested in sitting in or joining the band!) Besides social media, and flyers do you practice any unique methods of promoting upcoming shows? I’ve really been trying to break us into more mainstream outlets such as Orlando Weekly, Orlando Sentinel, and working to get us features on Grooveshark, JamBase, etc… but really, word of mouth is the most powerful tool. If we play a really killer show and give people something to remember, the word is sure to spread.  Is there anything you would like to tell our Reader’s? We play at Tanqueray’s every Thursday, so come out and see what we’re really about. Live performance is where we really shine, and we really like to share the experience with new people. We also have a new EP out and is something we really had a lot of fun working on. Keep in touch with us through facebook atwww.facebook.com/busterkeatonmusic.