Keith Buckley, former Every Time I Die frontman is touring the UK and sharing his view regarding the breakup of the band. Buckley has been out on the road this week with Matt Stocks of the ‘Life In The Stocks’ podcast who is serving as host of his solo tour which sees Buckley being interviewed, participating in audience Q&A’s, doing book readings and performing on these dates which started earlier in the week.
Buckley performed a track from the album Radical, “Thing With Feathers,” with acoustic guitar accompaniment. You can see fan video if you scroll down. Last month saw Every Time I Die split as growing tension between Keith and the rest of the band began spilling out on social media leaving Keith on an island. Keith has been digging deep into the roots of tension between he and guitarist Jordan Buckley, his brother, going back as far as childhood.
Here is some of what Buckley had to say:
“The term ‘artist’ never came up in my family. We never referred to each other as artists, we just kinda existed. And it wasn’t until I got sober that I realized that that artistic spark is fundamental to every venture that you do as a human being, and if that spark isn’t there, then there’s no energy to push you into the next thing.
So once I got sober and I realized that that spark in me had just been caked with resentment and anger and confusion and a lack of faith in anything, I saw it for what it was. And it was this poor little thing that was inside of me from the beginning, that made me want to be a writer, that made me want to be a musician, that made me want to go on tour, that then made me figure out how to deal with life in the public eye…
There’s been something that’s been driving me on. I think that it’s an objective fact that Every Time I Die existed for longer than most bands, so there was something in that formula that was alchemic, that was completely singular to us.
And I think it was the rivalry… I think it was just those two forces constantly battling which kept pushing the band along. And once I got sober, and I realized that that was a very antiquated way to power shit… [I thought] we don’t need to push the band forward with negativity, we can talk about things now.”
“I went to the band, and I went to the manager at the time, and I said, ’I fucked up a lot’. A lot of it was because of my drinking, a lot of it was exacerbated by a co-dependent marriage, but I said I’m on to that now, now we can really just address the problems that aren’t coming in from any outside sources, now it’s us. That’s all I ever tried to do.”
Keith said that he began to isolate himself from select situations, due to his sobriety. Choosing not to try and dictate situations to his new lifestyle.
He said of that:
“I really felt that that was was a good thing good thing for everyone, because I knew that there was friction between Jordan and I. There were a lot of things that happened during the pandemic that still haven’t come out between he and I that led to this, there were multiple attempts at communication, therapy and everything. I love therapy… and I went to it, and I encouraged it for the band, but it was cut off, and I didn’t know why.
I just feel like I was looked at in bad faith. And I understand that, because I was an alcoholic and I did a lot of terrible things, and so it’s easy to see someone who’s constantly fucking up their own life and just realize that every decision they make is gonna suck, no matter what… And I know that that bad faith filter had been put on for 20 years…
All I hoped to do was get a clean start and say, take all those filters away and try to look at me now as someone who is totally changing the way they’re living and thinking and speaking and interacting and communicating, and give it a chance: just pretend that I’m not the guy that you got used to. And they couldn’t do it. And it broke my heart.
“On that [final Every Time I Die] tour…it was undeniable that I was performing better than I ever have. I was at the top of my fucking game. And I did not see this coming… I was led to believe that everything I was doing was working for the betterment of the band.
I wanted the band to come out of the pandemic shot out of a fucking cannon, Because I knew that [2021 album] ‘Radical‘ was going to do it for us, it was going to be the one that finally got us to a Mastodon level, or whatever… I’d come out of a marriage with a new approach, and a new confidence to life…and I just wanted the band to have their time to shine.
It’s heartbreaking, heartbreaking. However, it is not the end of anything: I can’t even say what the state of the band is right now.
I don’t know what the future holds, but I know that, right now, this is exactly where I fucking want to be, and I’m very thankful to be here.”
Keith says that he is open to the many different options before him musically. As of right now, he has not decided on anything.
“I’m very open to making more music though and may even learn an instrument or two myself so I’m not so heavily reliant on other people to make creative decisions, have a little more control. I just want to work with people who are in love with the music and do it for that reason, you know? There are people I’d love to work with – [Cave In/Mutoid Man vocalist/guitar] Stephen Brodsky, [Fall Out Boy duo] Joe Trohman and Andy Hurley [both members, alongside Buckley, of The Damned Things]… I have options now where I’ve never had them before and so I’m just going to go where feels best.”
The remaining dates for Buckley‘s ongoing solo UK tour include:
02/10 Leeds, UK @ The Key Club
02/11 Belfast, IRE @ Empire
02/12 Dublin, IRE @ Whelans
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[via ThePrp]
