Photo Credit: Stormy Bragaw
A number of years ago you couldn’t walk five feet at Warped Tour without seeing a t-shirt defending pop punk. Today Warped is a memory but there are still bands out there defending the genre and building it up stronger than it ever was before. One of them being Kansas City’s own Keep True. Still surprised by the love and support of their latest singles, they’re looking forward to what’s to come in 2019.
Kendra: With a love of pop-punk that predates the Hot Topic days of the early ’00s, who are some of the bands that got you to where you are today?
Keep True: Our biggest influences have definitely been Green Day and Blink-182. That’s the stuff we grew up on and originally sucked us into this genre. As well as the early days of Sum-41 and New Found Glory which came a little later!
Kendra: What are some elements you’ve taken from that era in an effort to get back to those days of bands like The Descendents on Digging Up Bones?
Keep True: We just put a big focus on keeping the drums fast and upbeat, the riffs simple and catchy, the structure basic and familiar, and the vocals memorable. Bringing in the old school pop-punk sound wasn’t anything forced or wasn’t something we really had to try to do, it was just all we really knew. We hadn’t heard much of the modern sound of pop-punk until after we had written most of these songs.
Kendra: Digging Up Bones does play into the more modern era of the genre with songs of growing up. Much like Real Friends and The Wonder Years. All of you take on the idea of growing up as adults which in a world where millennials are forever struggling, what do you feel is the biggest hurdle for adults today?
Keep True: The biggest hurdle is trying to balance doing things you love to do with doing things you are supposed to do. Time stops for nothing and no one. So balancing happiness and survival seems to get more difficult the older you get.
Kendra: With “Deal with It” you’re diving into a more somber topic, breakups. What’s the first sign you feel is a telltale that a relationship is said and done?
Keep True: When you start to feel like you don’t really know them. You can see them or yourself change. You can feel a loss of interest from one side or both, there’s just a shift, a feeling of emptiness.
Kendra: When will we be hearing these songs live?
Keep True: We have played a few shows so far around Kansas City. Don’t have any more lined up as of right now.
Kendra: Lastly, tell the people what you currently have going on!
Keep True: Currently, we are just trying to develop a plan for the band over the next year. We didn’t expect these songs to make it even past our friend groups. So the response and support been amazing and honestly a little shocking! Then continue to spread our music as best we can!