Artist Biography
by Jack Leaver
Hailing from Bethesda, Maryland,
Tommy Keene is a guitarist and singer/songwriter who plays and writes melodic guitar-based pop/rock. As a child,
Keene played classical piano before picking up guitar and drums. He spent his teenage years drumming in a rock trio called
Blue Steel, whose original guitar player,
Mike Lofgren, was the younger brother of
Nils Lofgren. Consequently,
Keene's first notable gig was when
Blue Steel opened for
Lofgren's band
Grin. In 1977, while attending the University of Maryland,
Keene switched to guitar and formed the short-lived band
the Rage with songwriter
Richard X. Heyman. During this period,
Keene left
the Rage to join a popular Washington, D.C. rock band called
the Razz, who opened for such notable acts as
the Ramones,
Devo, and
Patti Smith. It was in
the Razz that
Keene met bass player Ted Nicely, who would work with him throughout the '80s.
After
the Razz,
Keene embarked on a European tour as a sideman for new wave singer
Suzanne Fellini before co-founding a band called
Pieces in New York. Unhappy with the music,
Keene decided to form his own group with Nicely and drummer
Doug Tull (also from
the Razz), plus a guitar player named Michael Colburn, who was soon replaced by
Billy Connelly. Using
Keene's name, they released
Strange Alliance on their own Avenue label in 1982, before being picked up by the Dolphin label out of North Carolina.
Keene recorded two EPs there before being signed to Geffen, which released two full albums,
Songs from the Film and
Based on Happy Times, as well as
Run Now, a six-song EP of previously recorded material, before dropping
Keene from its roster.
With a new backup band that included bassist/vocalist
Brad Quinn and drummer
John Richardson,
Keene inked a deal with Matador in the early '90s, recording the EP
Sleeping on a Roller Coaster and a full-length album entitled
Ten Years After in 1996. In 1993, Alias released
The Real Underground, a retrospective of
Keene's
career that included a wealth of unreleased tracks and out of print
material from the '80s. In addition to recording and touring behind his
records,
Keene spent some of the '90s as a guitarist for hire, on the road with both
Velvet Crush and
Paul Westerberg. In 1998, he released a new studio album,
Isolation Party. Four years later, he hooked up with his longtime rhythm section of
John Richardson and
Brad Quinn,
Wilco's
Jay Bennett, singer/songwriter
Adam Schmitt, and ex-
Gin Blossoms frontman
Robin Wilson to issue
The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down in June. In 2004, he switched lineups and released
Drowning, and two years later, his tenth solo record,
Crashing the Ether, came out on Eleven Thirty Records.
In the Late Bright followed in 2009 on Second Motion. The following year saw the release of the double-disc career-spanning compilation
Tommy Keene You Hear Me: A Retrospective 1983-2009. In 2011,
Keene returned with the studio album
Behind the Parade. Two years later, he released a collection of covers called
Excitement at Your Feet, which he then followed in 2015 with the all-original
Laugh in the Dark.
Tracklist
| 1 |
Going Out Again |
2:19
|
| 2 |
Turning On Blue |
4:16
|
| 3 |
Today And Tomorrow |
4:29
|
| 4 |
Your Heart Beats Alone |
4:03
|
| 5 |
If You're Getting Married Tonight |
2:21
|
| 6 |
On The Runway |
2:55
|
| 7 |
We Started Over Again |
3:14
|
| 8 |
Silent Town |
4:02
|
| 9 |
Good Thing Going |
2:54
|
| 10 |
Compromise |
3:03
|
| 11 |
You Can't Wait For Time |
2:11
|
| 12 |
Before The Light Go Down |
3:57 |
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