Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandon Keeks.
Hi Brandon, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Growing up in New York City…I was introduced to music at an early age! My grandfather (Donald Keeks Sr.) was a jazz drummer in Harlem and he always pushed me and my siblings to learn an instrument. Because of his influence and the band program at my elementary school, I got my start playing bass drum in my 4th-grade orchestra.
I couldn’t afford a drum set growing up, so I learned how to play a drum kit at my church. I stumbled through playing for my youth group until eventually Alex the music director took me under his wing to show me how to take my musicianship to the next level.
My introduction to house music came from my brother and I stumbling upon the music video for “One More Time” on Galavisión at my grandfather’s apartment. From the moment I heard the track and saw the Interstellar 5555 paired with the anime music video, we knew we had to have that record…so we bugged my dad to buy the Discovery album that same day and we all instantly became Daft Punk fans that night.
Once in high school, I joined several bands and started picking up the bass as well as DJing using a copy of Virtual DJ. Through my high school music experience, I started collaborating with one of my closest and oldest friends to this day, Joe Endozo. Joe and I have worked on multiple projects together and from there my production journey began.
My college experience was further expanded my experience as a DJ. My college friends (we called ourselves The Shades), encouraged me to DJ small house parties here and there, and then it evolved to all five of us DJing Homecoming and several other bigger paid gigs.
Senior Year and Post-college had me pursuing music seriously back home in New York City as I spent most of my time playing drums and programming backing tracks for an indie-pop artist named Talain Rayne as well as playing in a synthpop group named Radial with three of my close friends at the time.
Fast forwarding closer to today, My wife and I end up moving to Austin in 2018 and I really started stepping into my production element when I started a new project called “Hot Fun” with my friend Joe. I started diving into Ableton and spending more time making music. I purchased a new bass and we started writing tunes. Once the pandemic shut things down, I decided that I wanted to focus more on making house music (specifically French House/French Touch music) which has always been my first love. I went into it under the assumption that I would be making tracks that no label would want to sign. However, the first demo I sent out, it was picked up, and then the next one, and then the one after that. It was validating knowing that people were really enjoying my music and that’s what continues to drive me to produce today.
Through the course of two years, I’ve had the pleasure of releasing my music on several labels that I look up to, meet some incredible friends, collaborators, and peers who are on this journey. It’s been an adventure that has led to some incredible opportunities in the Austin music community such as opening for Purple Disco Machine at The Concourse Project and even opening up for one of my long-time musical heroes Roosevelt. I’m happy where I am today, but I still have so much to share as I continue working on what I would consider my passion project.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
There’s always challenges. As much as I love making music, I have a fear of playing my own stuff when I’m playing DJ sets here in Austin. There’s just something fearful about playing your own tracks in front of a new crowd of fresh faces. What if it flops? What if it kills the mood and clears the whole floor? These are all things I think about when I’m queueing up tracks to play in the middle of a set.
I think another thing too is that you’re only as good as your last record. I’m always striving to improve my previous effort. I’ll be totally honest, I get a lot of rejection emails from labels that I would love to release on, but hearing “no” is just the nature of the business. However, it keeps me going and the doors that are closed help keep me grounded to get better at my craft.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a music producer. When I perform, I typically use the medium of DJing to play my own music but I also include some other tracks that I would love to share with whoever is out there listening! My genre of choice is French House/French Touch and Disco House music. I think one of my proudest achievements was being able to release a track on vinyl. Being able to see my music being played physically is something I will treasure for the rest of my life and I can’t wait for the opportunity to put out another physical release.
I think what sets me apart is my genre of choice. It’s not necessarily the most current genre, however, it’s what speaks to me and will always remain timeless in a sea of different house music genres. I think it’s important to be passionate about genres or things you enjoy most, it also allows for more diverse taste in the community that you’re a part of. People know me as “The Disco Guy” in certain circles and to me, that just means I must be doing something right (hah)
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
Books: Never Be Alone Again: How Bloghouse United the Internet and the Dancefloor (One of my all-time favorites)
Podcasts: Hot Robot Radio by Jamie Jones (for music) | Data Transmission…this kind of goes into multiple avenues but Grahame Farmer the founder is a wealth of information on how to get your records signed, he hosts regular A&R track sessions, and has helped so many up and coming artists get signed to their dream labels.
Blogs and Resources: I watch a lot of YouTube to be honest…and what makes me know that people are good in this world are the amount of tutorials people make to spread knowledge and information to one another. So I spend a lot of time looking at YouTube videos. The “You Suck at Producing” series was a great place for me to get started especially with mixing and writing songs in the early stages.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boogietraxx
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Boogietraxx
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/boogietraxx
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/boogietraxxatx
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2CMUIHJ41MQbfrEoG6Jsof?si=aCHTJrzERHCpR0ICIKa91w
Image Credits
Clark Terrell Marcus Shaw Mallory Keeks
