One year ago, Keeno came up with the idea of starting a label all about orchestral drum & bass. One year later he managed to sell out an event in Bristol (the home of his very own Bristol Mix Sessions), and play two piano-DJ sets at Fiber and Sun And Bass. He built his dream even further with a celebration album and a label night inviting the best liquid DJ’s around. 

After 10 years at Hospital Records, Keeno is now well on his way to carving out his own distinctive niche within the scene with orchestral drum & bass. His Keeno Music label is now reaching new heights with the 1 Year Of Keeno Music album, a Bristol event on the 1st of December and the launch of drum & bass’ first Piano-DJ Set. We had a chat with Keeno and looked back on one year of Keeno Music, some other milestones, and most importantly, looked forward to the future. 

Congratulations on one year of Keeno Music! How does it feel to be able to celebrate this? 

It’s all kind of coming together, which is really a reassuring feeling. This time last year I didn’t have a way to distribute new music, I was still wondering how I want to present my releases, and I wasn’t sure if everything was going to work out. Now I’m like ‘I did it!’. It’s really inspired me in a different headspace, it’s opening up new possibilities for where my music can go, on the dancefloor as well as outside of it..

For this occasion, you’ll be celebrating with an album and an event. Can you tell me a bit more about the 1 Year of Keeno Music album?

1 Year Of Keeno Music is a collection of everything I’ve done during my first year as an independent artist along with a few surprises. I’ve been carefully crafting what I want to say with my music for as long as I can remember, but only now do I have the opportunity to develop my unfiltered musical identity. I want to take my time with that, and this album marks the starting point of this journey. It’s a celebration for what orchestral drum & bass can and will be. 

You say you want to tell your story in your own words. What’s that story?

Music has always been my outlet. Whenever I feel overwhelmed, I turn to my piano to let it all out. Writing songs is my safe space, and it allows me to stay grounded and expand my horizons. I want my music to be a place where everyone can feel 1000% themselves. 

I’ve experienced myself that going out on your own is always scary. Taking this step out into the world with nothing but my own music was terrifying at first. It’s taught me to have more faith in myself. Hopefully my story of taking that leap of faith will inspire others to take their first steps pursuing their own courageous adventures.

The artwork of your Courage EP really told us a story as well. 

This year has definitely been about going out of my comfort zone. Before Courage EP I had never put my face on artwork before, but I want to connect with my audience on a deeper level. I wanted to reintroduce myself to the audience, so putting a face to the name made sense to me. 

You’ll find that the artworks represent a gradual face reveal: the first artwork, for ‘Lights On’, is a silhouette where you can only see the glimpse of my glasses. Then you move into ‘Hypnotised’, where you can see me but I’m covering my eyes. And then you get to ‘Courage’ and I’m looking right at you. I have removed my glasses so you can see the ‘real me’ as it were. You get the idea! I love being able to be as expressive as I possibly can into every level of my work. 

Awesome! Sounds like you care a lot about the community around your music.

Absolutely. I have a podcast and event series running called ‘Bristol Mix Sessions’, which I’ve had for 6 years now. There’s a few people that have gone from listeners of the Bristol Mix Sessions to my best friends whom I see all the time. It means that when I go to “work”, those people lift me up and make me feel at home, and that to me is invaluable.

Keeno fans are super nice people and tend to approach me like a friend – even on the other side of the world! The other day I had a couple of ravers staying at my house, from New Zealand. I met them while I was out on tour there last year. I’ll be going back in a few weeks and now I know I’ll be welcome at theirs. These connections are so invaluable – they lift me up and make me feel at home. That’s what I love about the drum & bass scene, that it’s so global, everyone is so connected.

What do you have planned for the artwork for 1 Year Of Keeno Music?

The artwork for that will be within the same theme of the Courage EP: a very prominent object in the foreground, a vibrant background and a symbol in the top left corner. The artwork for ‘The Tower’, which will be out on October 18th, is a picture of a tower in Farringdon, where my father-in-law is from. I went to visit there about three days after the release of my Courage EP, and felt humbled by its magnitude. The track itself is quite epic as well, so it felt like the perfect match. 

Are you still working with other labels or are you only releasing on Keeno Music from now on?

I want to share orchestral drum & bass with the entire world, so I will still release with other labels – I actually had a Liquicity release coming out a couple weeks back! 

Has your feeling of community changed, or will it ever, since there is now a lot more drum & bass music in the Top 40 and the scene has been growing lately?

Honestly, not that much has changed from my point of view. There’s been a lot more interaction, especially with the current campaign and the launch of my label. I tend to put the emphasis on real life interactions. I actually don’t spend a huge amount of time online if I can help it, and so, if I’m sharing something online, speaking to people, it’s wonderful, but then I take those interactions to real life where possible.

The amount of conversation about d&b you can see now is insane. People just love it, and you can really see that. There’s so much new material all the time. To see my peers in the charts, people like Chase & Status, Bou, Hedex.. There have only been so many drum & bass tracks in the Top 50…ever… so this is genuinely exciting. 

For your 1 Year Of Keeno Music celebration, you’ll not only release an album, but you’re also planning to do an event on the day of the release. You organised a sold out Keeno Music night before, this year in May. Can we expect something similar?  

The goal of Keeno Music nights is to bring back that feeling I first got when I started playing liquid in front of a crowd – for people going crazy to melodic drum & bass but also be able to relax and enjoy the music on their own level. Small clubs, intimate vibes, great systems. The idea is to bring the best liquid DJ’s in the world to Bristol (and more of the UK as we go into 2024).

In May I only used one room, but this time I’ve got both rooms. The second room is not going to be another D&B stage but a place to connect and hear different musical styles. In terms of line-up and tickets and everything else, that’s all done. Makoto and Riya are joining as well, and we’ve only got 40 tickets left with 2 months to go!

Grab your tickets here.

You’ve been saying how you want to tell the story about orchestral drum & bass, and you playing the piano is a big part of that, right? Can you tell a bit more about your upcoming Piano-DJ sets? 

I’m a pianist and I’ve always been a pianist. You can have the best sound system, the best DJ’s and the best stages in the world, but there’s a different energy seeing someone play a real guitar or a real piano. With my Piano-DJ Set I am able to add a live element while maintaining the energy of DJ sets. You can think of my piano as a fourth deck that enables me to evoke a much wider range of emotions and improvise in the moment. I can play the most heartfelt music with vocals and piano, and then go all the way to the heaviest bangers. I hope to bring this Piano-DJ set to the biggest drum & bass stages in the world. 

The Piano-DJ sets in May at Fiber and at SUNANDBASS in September were incredible. The reason behind wanting to do this, is because there’s something to be said about bringing live elements into drum & bass. Just look at Pendulum, Fabio & Grooverider + The Heritage Orchestra and New Zealand Shapeshifter… people understand that the realness, the liveliness, it can’t be matched. 

Playing the piano at Let It Roll, that’s the dream!

Yes absolutely. The show is now at the point where I can be very flexible with the tune selection, and I can improvise through the show so each set will be unique. I’m really excited about this new adventure into the live world!

You’re telling me how you play the piano while mixing. How much preparation and practice went into that?

It has taken a few months of constant rehearsal, but it’s kind of second nature now. The piano parts I’m playing aren’t virtuoso level because I want the keys to complement the music rather than to show off. When I’m playing I’m trying to feel my way through the set, so every performance is completely different.

When playing a set, you say you switch it up every time, why is that?

One of the most exciting things about live performances is that it’s a unique experience every time. One of my biggest inspirations in this concept is Damien Rice. I went to see him at a concert in London recently. He didn’t even have a tracklist, and he made up the show as he went along. He asked the audience for recommendations, it was the greatest thing I’ve ever seen. This is something I want to do, I love to involve the crowd and make them part of the show. 

Jacob Collier is another one of my inspirations. There’s a few videos of him conducting the audience, and having them sing in harmony. The control he has and the engagement and communication level he has with his audience enables him to bring out this beautiful sound from them. I think if you combine Damien Rice’s improvisation and Collier’s connection with his audience, and the further need for drum & bass, you’ll get quite close to what I want my liveshow to feel like. 

One last question. In April you played a UKF On Air set on the mountains of Andorra, how was that? 

That’s a funny story actually. We were supposed to film the set on a mountain terrace, but the location cancelled the event one hour beforehand. So me and my manager Rafael had to choose between shooting at a worse location, or driving up to the mountains hoping to find a better spot. Next thing we know we’re walking over a sketchy, snowy mountain side with over £10,000 worth of gear!

That’s quite the adventure!

It was a bumpy ride. The worst thing was, it rained, and then it got cold, so the spot behind the DJ table turned into an ice slide. I was half dancing and half holding myself up. But it was such an amazing experience. This was definitely the epiphany of Courage, and everything I was going through at the time. I love music and I’m willing to cross a mountain to share it. 

1 Year Of Keeno Music Album is out on December 1st. 

Follow Keeno: Spotify/Instagram