BALCONYTV.COM 22/04/2007
PRESENTED BY PAULINE FREEMAN
Keith Burke is a songwriter, a musician and a producer. He grew up in the Dublin coastal town of Skerries. In the late 90's his first band Calling Walter Cracker became known for their entertaining live show.
Later, while studying in Spain, he took an evening job in a local bar as a singer. On his return to Dublin his focus turned to song writing and in Nov 2002 he reached the finals of "The Naked Sessions" song competition in Balbriggan.
Keith's first album "The Dancer who stole your shoes" began life as a solo project but quickly turned into a group effort. With brother Adam on drums and cousin Ian Langton on bass, the group called themselves "the KB band". Recordings were made on a digital 16-track machine with borrowed microphones and feature guest appearances from other musicians including the legendary John Earle on saxophone.
The band were encouraged when, in 2004 they received the coveted hotpress "pick of the fortnight" award, with Jackie Hayden describing the music as "having a funky rhythm to tempt even the most stubborn feet". Gareth Maher from cluas.com described the album as "a remarkable debut".
On the strength of their live shows and positive reviews from the Irish music press, the KB band were taken to southern Italy to play a series of summer concerts for the "Francesco Longano" association and were featured on Italian regional television. The band made guest appearances on Dublin's Near FM, Anna Livia, Dublin South FM and enjoyed airplay on RTE's Maxi show. In 2005 the KB band recruited saxophonist Mervin Seyers and played three dates in the Guinness Cork Jazz festival.
Keith looks at music in a spiritual way, as a means of helping people celebrate life. It is a way of encouraging people to appreciate little things in everyday life, perhaps otherwise overlooked. Everyone has a story, but not everyone realises how important it is.
The new project features a collection of optimistic songs that aim to highlight familiar experiences and sentiments. The new songs are stories about life and aim to remind the listener how it felt to live them. Maybe there are things we didn't realise we'd like to remember.
Now a science graduate and having spent several years as a software engineer, Keith returned to University and in 2006 graduated with Masters Degree in Music Technology. The past two years have been spent working on a new album, on course for release in the summer of 2007.
www.myspace.com/keithaburke
www.keithburke.com
Tune in again tomorrow!!!
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