Mark Keyo
Origin: None
Mark Keyo is a Trance and Progressive DJ/Producer from Orange County California. In love with music from a young age, he started his musical journey learning the guitar when he was just 5. From that moment, he found his first love. Mark then moved on to the clarinet and tenor saxophone, playing jazz and classical through both middle school and high school. It was there that he learned about music theory, structure, and how to read and write notated music. His major change in musical style came when, and he quotes, “I realized that while playing these instruments, I was only one part of a larger sound. I wanted to BE the sound.” While this change of musical direction didn’t happen over night, he quickly caught on to the technique. With his already significant musical knowledge, he was able to transition into the world of electronic dance music with ease. During in the process, he became keen upon separating himself from the rest of the pack, by putting his own unique sound into every piece of work he does. With originals and mashups featured on worldwide radio shows such as Paul Oakenfold’s Planet Perfecto Radio, and recently launching his new monthly NightShift Podcast, Mark Keyo is quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with. This is just the beginning. You’re definitely going to want to keep an eye on this quickly rising star.
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Music and I have always been very close. My mom enrolled me in guitar lessons when I was around five years old, but unfortunately I didn’t have the attention span to continue at that time. I picked up the clarinet in 5th grade, and continued into middle school, but in my first year my band director needed to fill the chair of a jazz tenor saxophone due to a student moving. As soon as I picked up that saxophone, I had found my first real musical love. I continued with the tenor sax all the way through middle school and high school, culminating in our high school jazz band winning our division in the Reno Jazz Festival and being asked to perform on stage in front of about 6000 of our peers and their families. I still have that sax to this day. My most major (and probably most relevant) change in musical style came when I was practicing my saxophone one day. I realized that while I was playing through my part while practicing at home, I could hear all the other parts quite clearly in my head, but there was no way of actually piecing them together without the whole band being there. So I got a copy of Sony Acid and started messing around with a keyboard, trying to recreate my part, and then attempting to play all the other parts and put them together. Then, when I heard “Love You More” by Armin, it hit me that people were actually making real music like this. That really got the fire burning. In my bio, I quote that “I wanted to BE the sound.” That is the best possible way I can describe that feeling. Since then, music is in literally everything I do. I’m listening and learning constantly, practicing and fine-tuning all the time. When it comes to music and I, I guess you could say our relationship is getting’ pretty serious!
Interview
Home Town: Yorba Linda, CA
Currently Living: Still in my good ol’ hometown
Origin Of Name: Well my real last name is Keough. It’s pronounced the same, but there are way too many silent letters. I wanted to stick with my own name for my music, but realized how hard it was for a lot of people to pronounce it with how it’s spelled. So I decided to go with the phonetic approach. Also, for as long as I can remember, my dad’s license plate has always read KEYO, so I give him somecredit!
Weapon of Choice: If we are talking musical terms here, specifically live performance, I’d say my weapon of choice is definitely song selection. Mixing comes very easily to me, but I feel that a truly good performance comes from selecting songs that not only sound good together tonally and percussively, but also continue to deliver a consistent amount of energy or emotion. I’ve always compared it to writing (or reading) an essay. There are certain things that need to be in certain places and phrases that need to be in a certain order for the essay to make sense. The same goes for performing or listening to a performance. If, in the process of mixing between two tracks, the energy of the overall sound is lost, the audience can immediately tell. And without an audience feeling the energy, you don’t have much of a performance!
Source of Power: The one artist that started it all for me is without doubt Armin Van Buuren. In fact, there’s a bit of a story behind it. My mother and grandmother rented my friends and I a beach house one summer during high school, and my friend brought his iPod and a speaker dock. He said, “Oh I have to show you guys an awesome song!” and he started playing a song called “Love You More” by Armin and Raccoon. I’m not sure what happened in that moment, but by the end of that song, I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I know, this sounds so cliché but I swear it’s true! Other major influences include Above & Beyond, Arty, and Cosmic Gate, and more recently, Maor Levi, Norin & Rad, Chris Schweizer and Mat Zo.
What do your parents think of what you are doing?
They could not be more supportive and proud of what I do. My dad consistently gives me good advice on things that I’m working on, and I’ve actually taken my mom out to some local clubs, and even to see Markus Schulz and Kristina Sky at Marquee Las Vegas!
What’s the biggest misconception about being a DJ?
Behind the LED walls and well-stocked VIP tables, there are a lot of long flights, hotel rooms, andwork. You spend just as much time alone on a plane with a sore lower back as you do in front of a crowd.
What is your ultimate career dream?
I want to make and perform music that evokes emotion in people, whether that emotion causes them put their hands in the air, to break down and cry, to pause a moment and listen, or to dance till they drop. As an artist, I feed off of the energy of the crowd, and there is no greater feeling in the world than to play a song that I made, and watch the emotion it creates.
Do you have a list of people you’d like to collaborate with in the future?
Definitely Norin & Rad. They have that sound that can lull the crowd into a daze and then jolt them back to reality with a big slap in the face! That’s becoming more and more my style. I love the contrast. I’d also love to collaborate with Audien and Ilan Bluestone, who I feel have by far the best chord progressions in the business right now.
If we pressed Shuffle on your iPod while you went to the bathroom, what would you be embarrassed to come back to us listening to?
Probably anything by Eiffel 65. Hey! They had some good ones…
Do you have a secret passion?
Video games. It’s almost to the point where I have to hide my PlayStation and Xbox if I have a deadline on a track!
Tell me about your most memorable night out.
As an artist, performing at EDC New York was completely unreal. I was so physically and emotionally drained after I stepped off that stage, but never have I felt so much personal pride. As a fan, I had the opportunity to go to Miami Music Week in 2012. I wasn’t performing anywhere so I was just there to observe and support. I ran into one of my friends in the industry one day, and we discovered that we were both going to see Above & Beyond that night. When the time came, we hopped in a cab to North Beach and when he got out, all he said was, “follow me.” We went around the back of the venue and he checked in on a list, and handed stage wristbands. I ended up in the green room of the Klipsch Amphitheatre with basically the entire Anjunabeats roster of artists. I’m forever grateful for that, because I ended up meeting Matt Lange and Bruce and Nick (aka Norin & Rad), who are all still very good friends of mine.
What advice would you offer someone thinking about entering the Discovery Project competition?
Produce produce produce!! You can only go so far playing other peoples’ music! People want to hear new and exciting music, and who else is going to give it to them besides us? We are the new order of this scene, so make your own mark!
Any last words?
I really just want to thank the people that got me to where I am today. My parents, who are the foundation of everything I do, Cole Plante and his dad Josef Plante, who believed, and continue to believe in me and my music, and my friends and fans. Without these people, I’d be playing to an empty room. Thank you!
EDC New York Recorded Mix:
Mark Keyo Discovery Project Submission Track “Forward Momentum”:
Soundcloud:
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